The Holy Priest-Martyr Basil, Bishop of Amasia (c. 322)
Acts 8:18-25; John 6:35-39.
Read John 6:35-39
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
Earlier in chapter 6, we heard the account of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand (Jn. 6:1-11). Having performed this miracle and satisfying the bodily needs of the huge crowd, in today’s Gospel reading Jesus now announces: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (Jn. 6:35). Eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ, offered for us on the cross and risen from the dead, we will never spiritually hunger or thirst.
At the end of today’s reading, Jesus tells us about His Father’s will: “that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day” (Jn. 6:39). It is God’s will that all of creation be saved from the curse of sin and death. When Adam and Eve were cast out from the Garden of Eden, God tells Adam that “in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). Jesus has undone the curse of Adam and Eve! Christ our God, being the Bread of Life, offers Himself to us in the Eucharist that we might be granted eternal life. Death now is no longer a “dead-end.” By suffering death, Christ has conquered it, transforming it into a passage unto eternal life where we can dwell with Him in the heavenly mansions (see Jn. 14:1-6).