Homily 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B - 4th August 2024

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B. The readings

today reflect on the importance of physical and spiritual bread in our lives. In the first reading taken

from the book of Exodus, we read the narrative of the Israelites complaining against Moses and

Aaron in the wilderness, after which God provides quail and manna to them. Even though they are

seen complaining against Moses and Aaron, they are, in fact complaining against God, accusing Him

of bringing the whole community into the wilderness for annihilation by hunger, not liberation. God

responds to the people’s murmuring with the promise that bread will be rained from Heaven.

However, God wanted to see if the people would obey His instruction or not. Thus, He commanded

the people to gather only as much as they needed each day without leaving any for the next day.

The people, however, did not obey and gathered more than they required.

There are a couple of lessons we learn from this narrative. First, the gift of manna was a test of faith.

God could have provided it once and for all giving the Israelites everything they needed for their

wilderness wandering, but He didn’t. He gave them only enough for the day. Every demand God

makes of us is a test of faith. Faith is not a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence it is a daily thing. Second, it

is natural and easy to grumble and complain. We could point fingers at the Israelites for their lack of

faith, but how often do we react in the same way when faced with problems in life? Too often we do

what they did: argue and grumble because we don’t trust God enough. Although God has never

promised to remove obstacles from our path, He has promised to be with us through whatever we

encounter in life.

In the second reading taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, Paul emphasizes that because of

our higher calling, Christians should live in a different way than the world around them. The life of

Gentiles was characterized by ‘the futility of their minds’ – because they were alienated from the life

of God. Not only were they in a foolish denial of God, but they also harboured moral failures like

licentiousness, uncleanness, and greediness. Think of a prisoner who is released from prison, but still

wears his prison clothes and acts like a prisoner instead of a free man. The first thing we’d tell that

person is that they should put on some new clothes. Similarly in our lives, the idea is to “change

into” a different kind of conduct. Just as putting on different clothes will change the way you think

about yourself and see yourself, even so putting on a different conduct will start to change your

attitudes. This means that we shouldn’t wait to feel like the new man before we put on the new

man. Fundamentally, Paul says that for Christians, there must be a break with the past. Jesus isn’t

merely added to our old life; the old life dies and He becomes our new life. The new man is the new

creation. It is the person created according to the image of Jesus Christ and instinctively becomes

righteous and holy in contrast to the old man, who is the person inherited from Adam and who

instinctively rebels against God.

In the gospel taken from John, we read about the Bread from Heaven discourse which is a

continuation of last week’s narrative of the feeding of the 5000. The crowds were pursuing Jesus

because they wanted him to keep providing them with free bread and you can’t blame them, can

you? After all who doesn’t like free food? However, while the crowds were looking for someone to

feed their stomachs, Jesus was talking about satisfying a much deeper hunger – a hunger of their

souls. Quite often, we too have a similar relationship with God: we seek him through our quick

prayers for whatever it is we need; it could be a decision we need to make or something that we

lack. But, we keep missing what Jesus wants to offer - food that would feed our hungry hearts and

souls, not just our stomachs. The sad truth, however, is that we generally don’t care about what

Jesus wants to offer till something hits us hard and wakes us up.

Jesus explains how the manna is not simply a story from Israel’s past but is an ongoing gift of God in

the present. He says “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). This is the first of His seven “I am” sayings,

each of which elaborates an important aspect of His own identity. So what does it mean for Him to

be manna? The Israelites experienced God’s salvation in their escape from Egypt, but they still failed

to entrust their needs to Him. Faced with hunger, they immediately began to complain. Similarly, the

recently-fed crowd misunderstands the nature of what Jesus has offered them and its implications

on the present time. Like the manna that gave life to the Israelites in the wilderness, Jesus’ bread

provides life to those who trust enough to follow God’s word. As manna, Jesus is the trusted source

of life.

We all have hearts that are hungry for something. While some are concerned about deeper

questions like their identity, belonging to a group, and purpose in life; others hunger for acceptance,

self-worth, peace, and hope. Our consumerist culture offers us temporary solutions to distract us

from our deeper hunger, but they never fulfil them. The one thing God wants us to do is trust that

Jesus is the one who can really satisfy our deeper hunger. Jesus accepts us just as we are and values

us by telling us we’re worth dying for by giving His life for us on the cross. No matter what our hearts

and souls might be hungry for, Jesus can provide us with what we need. What is your heart hungry

for? What might you be missing in your life that is keeping you from living your life to the full that

Jesus promises?

The readings today are an invitation to bring our deepest hunger to God in prayer because Jesus

promises that when we trust in him for what our hearts and souls are hungry for, we’ll never be

hungry again. I pray that we may be filled with gratitude for the gifts we have received in our lives

and without grumbling turn to Jesus to fulfil the hunger in our life. May God bless us all.