Our Venerable Father Theodore Trichinas (that is, “the one who wears a hair shirt”); Holy Anastasius of Mt. Sinai (686)
Acts 8:5-17; John 6:27-33
Read John 6:27-33
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.
The Gospels of John, Mark, and Matthew record the miraculous feeding of the 5,000 immediately followed by Christ walking on the water. This placement shows that from an early stage, these two miracles are seen as connected. In John’s Gospel, the miracle of Christ walking on the water is then followed by what is known as the “Bread of Life Discourse.” Today’s gospel reading includes approximately the first half of this discourse.
John 6:4 informs us that these events occurred while the Feast of Passover was drawing near. By this time in history, the Feast of Passover merged with the Feast of Unleavened Bread in which the Jews remember the giving of manna in the wilderness. This background explains the question posed to Jesus in today’s reading: “What sign are You going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe You? What work are You performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat’” (see Exodus 16).
Shortly after multiplying the loaves and fish and walking on the water, Jesus is again asked for a sign. Today’s reading begins with Jesus calling them out on the fact they were searching for Him not because they saw a sign but rather because He fed them, satisfying their physical hunger. We need to remember that, yes, God has the power to satisfy all of our physical needs, but these are not the most important. At the time of Moses, God sent manna to feed the Israelites wandering in the wilderness to satisfy their earthly hunger, but our concern should not be on acquiring this bread but rather the “true bread from heaven” which satiates our spiritual hunger and brings us to everlasting life. Let us remember that Christ did not come for the purpose of making our earthly lives comfortable. Rather, He came to us as the Bread of Life to give life to the world.