Our Holy Father Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome (655); the Newly Revealed Martyrs Anthony, John and Eustathius (1342)
Read
Acts 5:21-33; John 6:14-27
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
One of the reoccurring themes of the Gospel of John is how the people around Jesus misunderstand who he is. Having seen the miracle of the feeding of the five-thousand, the people recognize that Jesus is a prophet – but when they move to make him king, Jesus slips away by himself, since he knows that they don’t really understand who he is. Similarly, the disciples in the boat are afraid of Jesus, and he has to reassure them not to be afraid. And at the conclusion of this reading, Jesus tells the crowds that have come to him that they are seeking him for the wrong reasons. So what is the right way to understand Jesus? What is the right reason for seeking him out?
The last verse of today’s gospel gives us an answer to these questions: “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” In other words, don’t understand Jesus in purely human terms (as a king, as someone who travels by normal means at normal speeds etc.) – instead, come to know him as the Son of Man, the only one who reveals God the Father to humanity. Only be knowing Jesus as God, the God who gives his life for ours, will we be filled with the food that last forever.