Bread of life

 Father Pothin's Reflection for March 26, 2017

God promised that he will feed his people well with the bread of life. Given this promise, the story in the Gospel reading appointed for this Sunday makes perfect sense: Jesus feeds the people who come to him with bread.

The scene for the miraculous feeding of thousands takes place in a desert as did the miraculous feeding of the Israelites with manna. Desert or wilderness is often understood in the bible as a place of trials, dryness, emptiness, a place of temptations, but also a place God revelation. The desert is the place when man discovery his limitations and dependency. It is a symbol of our emptiness. Both the disciple and the large crow that followed Jesus in the desert realized how fragile, limited human life is and how dependent man is. The inability of the apostles to find enough food to feed so many and their request to dismiss the crowd speak of the enormity of the problem and insignificance of theirs means. They are learning to depend on the abundant care which God has for them. Jesus has the power and love to provide. So instead of resigning, giving up and dismissing ourselves or other every time we are in the desert, we shall call upon Jesus, the only one who can provide for our needs.

There are different kinds of hunger and different kinds of life. The bread Christ offers stills the deepest hunger of all, and the life that Christ gives conquers all death. So the sufferings of this world—hunger, death—remain. But they cannot separate us from the love of Christ. Somewhere in the mystery of God is an unlimited bounty, whether it makes sense to us or not. This God we meet in Jesus just does not work according to our ways. The promises of God, that he will feed us and we will live, are fulfilled in the bread of life that is the Lord.

–Fr Pothin