July 31, 2009
Sunday Scripture
Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
BY FATHER DONALD DILGER
After Jesus provided food for five thousand people in the wilderness, the crowds proclaimed him “the prophet,” then tried to force him into being their king. Jesus fled into the wilderness. The disciples got into a boat and rowed toward the northwest, toward headquarters in Capernaum. A stiff wind prevented progress and raised huge waves. Suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water and approaching them. They were frightened. His response to their fright: “I AM. Do not be afraid.” They took Jesus into the boat and immediately reached their destination.
The people left behind on the eastern shore noticed that the one boat that had been moored there was now gone. Other boats soon arrived, so all headed for Capernaum. There, as expected, they found Jesus. They want to know how he got there, since he had not joined the disciples when they left the eastern shore. No direct answer. Instead Jesus sears a double oath, “Amen, Amen . . .,” that they were looking for him because through him they had their stomachs filled. “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, for on him the Father has set his seal.” As is typical of John’s gospel, the author’s careful construction of this preslude to the “Eucharistic Discourse” attempts to lead hearers from material concerns to spiritual concerns.
Two miracles had taken place before the Eucharistic Discourse began — feeding the five thousand and walking on the water. John calls these miracles “signs.” They are a clue to the identity of Jesus. Behind the feeding of the five thousand was the common belief that when God renews the manna in the wilderness, the Messiah is at hand. Recall that Jesus alone, not with the help of the disciples in this gospel, fed the huge crowd. Thus John proclaims the divinity of Jesus, that is, God renewing the manna, and that Jesus is the awaited Messiah/Christ/King. This gives meaning to the closing of last Sunday’s gospel, when the crowd wanted to make Jesus their king.
The second miracle, walking on water, is an additional sign or clue to the identity of Jesus. In the Old Testament only God is said to walk on water, Job 9:8; Psalm 77:19; Isaiah 43:16. The genius of John is now evident. If Jesus walking on water is not sufficient to proclaim him as God to readers and hearers, John adds to Jesus the divine name by which God is known in the Old Testament. Jesus says to the frightened disciples, “I AM. Do not be afraid.” Having established that Jesus in Messiah/Christ and God, John can now proceed with the assurance that what he is about to teach is absolute truth. This is why we find repeated double oaths, “Amen, Amen,” throughout this chapter.
As the discourse begins, the crowd asks what they must do to accomplish God’s will. Since the contents of the discourse will require profound faith, Jesus answers, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one God sent.” The crowd next refers to the manna by which the Israelites were nourished in the Exodus. Here John takes the first of three steps in a progressive revelation developed out of the ancient manna theme. It would have been helpful if John had here quoted Deuteronomy 8:3, where the authors of that book interpret the manna as a symbol of the Torah, the word of God.
Since John interprets Jesus’ words and Jesus himself as the new and ultimate Torah or teaching of God, Jesus now says with a double oath, “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you (right now) the true bread from heaven.” Meaning: the teaching in the Eucharistic Discourse has the same value as the Torah of the Old Testament and is even superior to it. Jesus brings that teaching, that Torah, in this chapter. That is the first step in John’s progressive revelation proceeding from the sign of feeding the five thousand. As today’s gospel ends, John proclaims the second revelation in these words of Jesus, “I (myself) am the bread of life, etc.” The teaching that Jesus brings is the true bread from heaven, (first revelation) and Jesus himself is the true bread from heaven, (second revelation), not yet revealed as Eucharist but as God’s final Torah.
This reading is the story of the giving of the manna to the Israelites in the Exodus. The connection between the manna as bread from heaven and symbol of the Torah and Jesus’ teaching plus Jesus himself as God’s ultimate Torah or teaching has been noted above in the commentary on today’s gospel.
There is no intended connection between this reading and today’s gospel, but one can establish a connection through Paul’s reference to “How you learned Christ assuming that you have heard of him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus.” This is what John attempts in today’s gospel — to teach Christ as truth is in him.