“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 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.”
Today’s Gospel continues the Bread of Life Discourse. The claim Jesus makes is out of this world. It reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: the food and drink of immortality. Does Jesus mean this in a symbolic sense as he seeks to speak to the crowd to move them to conversion? Hardly! Instead, he says as clearly as possible, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my Flesh for the life of the world.” He’s speaking of the first Eucharist, the Last Supper: “Take; eat; this is my body which is given for you.”
God, how can I begin to comprehend this? It’s an essential facet of Christian faith that one accepts early on and becomes taken for granted, or taken as an event in human history, it is a staggering reality: the Son of God came down from heaven, gave his body and blood, soul and divinity, so that whoever believes has eternal life. How much am I able to trust Jesus if he himself gives an account of his Father’s plan?
God, I believe; help my unbelief! There is no exaggeration in saying that Jesus is speaking to me and everyone who hears his words just in the same way he speaks to the crowd when he says, “whoever eats this bread will live forever.” He is the bread of life, and in him I have eternal life. That’s Easter joy!
Today, on this Thursday of the Third Week of Easter, let me remember that Christ rose from the dead. Let me remember to pause from time to time, even for a moment, and be “overcome with paschal joy,” knowing Jesus fought and conquered death for everyone.
https://anchor.fm/lectio-divina-daily/embed/episodes/Thursday-of-the-Third-Week-of-Easter-e1i453s