Christ the Cornerstone

Let us receive Jesus, the bread of life, with reverence and great joy

The Gospel reading for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Jn 6:41-51) tells us that “the Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven’ ” (Jn 6:41). Hearing this for the first time, we might sympathize with them. What could Jesus possibly mean by this? Even if it were just a metaphor, which for Jesus it’s clearly not, what does it mean to say that he is “living bread come down from heaven”?

The eucharistic theme that dominates much of St. John’s Gospel is meant to call attention to the spiritual hunger and thirst that every human being experiences. There is an emptiness inside us that cannot be satisfied by anything that the world has to offer. Wealth, power, sexual gratification and even “success” as our culture defines it, cannot fill the vacuum, the intense longing, that is characteristic of the human condition.

Only God can satisfy our hungry hearts. Only bread from heaven can provide the spiritual nourishment that we require. Just as God sent manna to provide physical nourishment for the Jews who were wandering in the desert, our heavenly Father has sent us the only thing that can satisfy our hearts’ discontent. He has sent his only Son, the Word Incarnate, to nourish us spiritually and to feed us with the living bread (Christ himself) that alone can sustain us through life’s difficult journey.

“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?” the people say. “Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (Jn 6:42)

Jesus tells them to stop murmuring. The Jews—Jesus’ friends, neighbors and extended family—are most likely jealous of the adulation and fame that surround their fellow Nazarene. “Who does he think he is?” They undoubtedly think to themselves, “He’s no different than we are.”

But Jesus is different. He is both God and man. He was born of a young Nazarene woman, and so is very much their countryman, but he comes from heaven. When Jesus says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:41), he is not exaggerating his importance or claiming a false superiority over his neighbors. He is speaking the truth—especially when he adds: “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (Jn 6:51), and “the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn 6:51).

In the ancient world, bread was recognized as the staff of life. Without bread and the nourishment it provided, people starved. When Jesus identifies himself with bread, he is saying that without him we cannot truly live. The emptiness inside us cannot be filled except by the bread from heaven that Jesus himself is.

During last month’s National Eucharistic Congress, we celebrated with great joy the magnificent gift that God has given us in Jesus, the bread of life come down from heaven. Through eucharistic processions, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the celebration of holy Mass and many other reverent, joy-filled events, we proclaimed our complete faith in Jesus’ words: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die” (Jn 6:49-50).

Now that we are in the third year of the National Eucharistic Revival, we must commit ourselves to spreading the good news that abundant life is available to us and to everyone who is willing to overcome their doubts and give themselves to Jesus, the bread of life.

“So be imitators of God, as beloved children,” St. Paul tells us in the second reading (Eph 5:1). “And live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma” (Eph 5:2). The sacrifice in which Christ our Lord is handed over reoccurs every time Mass is celebrated, and ordinary bread and wine are transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

This extraordinary gift of Christ himself is what allows us to “live in love.” Every time we receive holy Communion, our souls are nourished by the living bread come down from heaven. Every time we worship God in eucharistic adoration, we give witness to the real presence of God’s only begotten Son in the Blessed Sacrament.

Let’s never take for granted the living bread that we have been given to satisfy our hungry hearts and to free us from the burden of sin and death. Let’s return to the Lord—again and again. Let’s recognize Jesus as the source of all life, and may we receive this astonishing gift with reverence and great joy! †