Eternity For Those Who Will Believe

𝐌𝐀𝐘 𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟖:𝟐𝟔-𝟒𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟔𝟔:𝟖-𝟗, 𝟏𝟔-𝟏𝟕, 𝟐𝟎 “𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐨𝐲.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟔:𝟒𝟒-𝟓𝟏

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝒗.48) 

         This was the second time that Jesus told the Jews “𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝒗.48) as the people kept arguing among themselves as they could not figure out how someone they knew who came from humble beginnings could come forward to say he was the one whom God has sent to redeem Israel.

         What was apparent in the story of Jesus as depicted in the four Gospels was that Jesus and the Jews were coming from two different planes. Jesus knew whereof he comes from, but the Jews were consumed by their passion to judge things by human values and by external standards.

        This was evident in this Gospel passage today and we see that the Jews have already judged Jesus for what he was. To them, Jesus was the son of a carpenter. They saw him grow up in Nazareth. It doesn’t matter if he was the best yoke maker in Judea. What consumes them was their judgment that a tradesman who came from a poor home could not possibly be a messenger of God.

         And this was their undoing because what they didn’t know at this point was that when they rejected Jesus their actions kept them away from the eternal life that he was offering them. What was also clear at this point was that the Jews did not learn anything from what Jesus was saying.

         There are different levels of listening to someone. We listen to find faults and to criticize. We sometimes listen but we resent what we hear. At times we listen only to make a judgment that our views are superior to what the other person says. We also listen but remain indifferent to what we hear and there are times we listen simply because we are not given the opportunity to speak.

         And the Jews missed the point of what Jesus was saying because for all the religiosity that they have this was one instance when they failed to ask God to guide them in qualifying the words they heard from Jesus. What they failed to realize was that salvation was an initiative of God and not from men.

         The Jews or at least those to whom Jesus was talking to in this passage failed to grasp what he was saying because they failed to draw on the power of God and this remains true to this day. God initiates and we are given the choice to believe or not such that no one can believe in Jesus without the help of God, and this was what he meant when he said: “𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒎” (𝒗.44)         

         In this Gospel passage, Jesus makes a claim that only God can make that He was and is the true bread of heaven that can satisfy the deepest hunger we experience. When Jesus told the Jews and he is telling us now “I am the bread of life” he is saying something that is essential for life and to refuse or reject what he says is to miss out on that life he is offering us and this could mean death.

         Conversely, as with Jesus in this Gospel today we sometimes experience a heavy load when we can’t seem to get our friends converted to share the faith we have but this shouldn’t preoccupy us because we can only go as far as tell them about the eternal life that they can have by believing in Jesus.

         And the eternal life Jesus offers is largely dependent on how well we listen, and this was what Jesus emphasized when he said: “𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝒗.47) because to believe in Jesus is a continuing process and not just a one-time happening. To believe in Jesus is to keep on believing and trusting Jesus with our life.

         Jesus drew on the Old Testament Scripture to remind the Jews that their forefathers died in the in the wilderness because they refused to listen to God who urged them to go to the promise land. What Jesus was also telling the Jews when he claimed to be the “𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞” was a prefigurement of the abundance of the supernatural life of God that sustains us for all eternity that we can find in the Holy Eucharist.

         When we receive Jesus who is present in the Eucharist, we not only unite ourselves with Christ, but it also makes us sharers in his body and blood and partakers of his divine nature. 𝐒𝐭. 𝐈𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐜𝐡 describes the Eucharist as the “𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭.”          

         To reject Jesus as what the Jews did in this Gospel today is to refuse eternal life and an unending life in the bosom of the Heavenly Father. To accept Jesus as the bread of heaven is not only life and spiritual nourishment for this world but glory in the world to come.

         Jesus is offering us much more than what we can ask for and we cannot imagine the width and breadth of the life he offers. There are two ways we can be united with Christ and these are by believing in his death and his resurrection that we can relive each time we partake of his body and blood present in the Holy Eucharist and, by living our lives as Jesus had commanded us – a life spent in believing and trusting in his Word with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘔𝘢𝘺 8, 2025)