18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 – Thus says the Lord: “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites…I will rain down bread from Heaven.”
Psalm: 78 – “The Lord gave them bread from Heaven.”
Second Reading: Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 – “You should put away the old self of the former way of life.”
Gospel: John 6:24-35 – “I am the Bread come down from Heaven.”
In the First Reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel, the Lord feeds His people bread from Heaven. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, He fed them quail in the evening and manna in the morning. The Israelites had grumbled against God and against Moses, wishing that they were again enslaved in Egypt, for at least then they had bread and fleshpots! In the Gospel, He tells the crowd that He will feed them with His very Self – His Body and Blood. Jesus first chides the people for following Him not for the signs which proclaim that He is the Messiah, but for their full bellies from the day before. Do we follow Jesus for the right reason, because we know that He is God and worthy of our worship? Or do we follow Him for what we can get out of Him?
Paul reminds the Ephesians of the Gospel message they have received: the Good News that Jesus, the Messiah, is all righteousness and Truth. We are called to live in righteousness and truth and to put away the old self to live in the newness of life after our baptism. We ought not to harken back to the “fleshpots” of Egypt: the time that we valued things over God. Remember the First Commandment: I am the Lord your God. Do not have any false gods before me. We must place God first in our lives and all other things – including our desires which are contrary to His law – come second, third, fourth, and so on. Keep our eyes on the prize of Heaven and you will be filled spiritually!