As the story
continues to be heard, and as the audience finds itself duly impressed with the
structure and flow of this Gospel, it is not possible to move much further
along without again being struck by what it is that the author is
presenting. Still in the sixth chapter, and following Jesus’ comparative
mention of Moses and the giving of bread from heaven, Jesus is heard to say
“For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to
the world” (6:33). Again, this serves in the role of comparison and
contrast with Moses and the manna, in an exile and exodus framework in which
eternal life is equated with the kingdom of heaven, the presence of which is
connected to Jesus’ presence, that belief in Him as the foundation of that
kingdom, and that the love of the Creator God that is the tool to be used in
the founding and spread of that kingdom is on display by and through Jesus and
His disciples.
One must never lose
sight of the fact that the presence of the kingdom of the Creator God on earth,
with the restoration of that God’s creation, is always a front and center,
primary concern for Jesus and for His church, as it was for the Jews. The
primary concern was not and is never, ever escaping earth and going to heaven,
or its antecedent---seeking heaven to avoid hell. If this becomes the
motivating force underlying the Jesus movement, then it stands somewhat in opposition
to the ideal to be realized by action of the Creator, which, according to this
Gospel presentation, involved His stepping into His creation, in contemplation
of and intending a supreme act of love and self-sacrifice, in order to redeem
it whole and to set things right.
This time, the
response of the people to the words of Jesus concerning the bread from heaven
is “Sir, give us this bread all the time!” (6:34) This is a good
response. Jesus does not appear to be displeased with this response, as
His reply is “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to Me will never
go hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty” (6:35).
If one is paying careful attention to the narrative on offer in John, these
words and the entire scenario that has brought forth this portion of the
recorded exchange, this should serve as an alert to something that has already been
heard.
Remember, it has been
said to Jesus, after He had spoken about what God requires, “Then what
miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you?
What will you do? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as
it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” (6:30-31) As has
been seen, Jesus took this as a reference to Moses. Of course, also already
established was the direct reference to Moses through the citation from
Deuteronomy, in regards to the “Prophet who is to come into the world”
(6:14b). Why bring this up again? Of what should the hearer/reader
be reminded by this portion of the story?
All of this sounds
remarkably like the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman.
Though that conversation begins with Jesus saying “Give Me some water to drink”
(4:7b), rather than with the woman requesting water in the manner of the people
requesting bread with their statement of “Sir, give us this bread” (6:34), the
parallels are fascinating. As those parallels are considered, one does
well to keep in mind what it was that was
learned about love and the community that was being addressed with this Gospel,
in that it gave an insight into concerns with Gentiles, the role of women in
the church, and the way that a mixed community of disciples were supposed to
treat each other. Likewise, it is not at all surprising to find yet
another parallel, as the story of the Samaritan was found to nicely parallel
the story of Mary Magdalene, her encounter with the resurrected Christ, and
what stemmed from that encounter.
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