The living bread which has come down from heaven

Homily

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday 11^th August 2024

First reading	1 Kings 19:4-8
Responsorial Psalm	Psalm 33(34):2-9
Second reading	Ephesians 4:30-5:2
Gospel	John 6:41-51

 

In today’s first reading, we hear that Elijah has had enough and wants to die. He wanted God to take his life. In his exhaustion he fell asleep but was disturbed by an angel who woke him up to feed him in preparation for a journey. Elijah stubbornly laid down again and was forced by the angel to eat more, so he could survive a journey God wanted him to undertake. A journey of forty days and forty nights.

Up until this time, Elijah had been following what the Lord had asked him to do. The ruler was Ahab who was a follower of Baal, encouraged by his wife, Jezebel. She had had God’s prophets butchered. Not many were left but Elijah was told by God to present himself to Ahab and chastise him for abandoning the Lord.

Four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal were gathered on Mount Carmel to challenge Elijah to bring down fire from heaven on a sacrifice. The punishment for those who failed was death. The prophets of Baal attempted first but no matter what they did, nothing happened, and this went on all morning and beyond midday. Then it was Elijah’s turn.

It was a time of drought, so water was precious but Elijah, having taken 12 rocks to represent each tribe of Israel, built an altar and ordered a trench to be dug around it. The sacrificial bull was cut up and a wood pile built for this burnt offering. Then Elijah asked for the bull, wood, rocks and trench to be covered with water, so the trench was full. Wet wood is hard to light. Elijah began to pray, ‘O Lord, God of Abrham, Isaac and Israel, let them know today that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, that I have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so that this people may know that you, the Lord, are God and are winning back their hearts’ (1 Kings 18:36).

Immediately, fire fell from Heaven, consuming the rocks, the wood, the sacrificial bull and all the water in the trench. People fell on their knees shouting, ‘The Lord is God, The Lord is God’ (1 Kings 18:39). All the 450 prophets of Baal were put to death. Elijah told Ahab to eat and drink before the rain came, then climbed Mount Carmel. After Ahab finished his meal, he raced back on a chariot to tell Jezebel what had happened. Before he reached his destination a torrent of rain fell. Jezebel was furious with Elijah and vowed to have him killed, which is why he fled in terror for his own life.

Elijah had given in to his own fears, even though all the while God was showing him that He was with him, and nothing could go against him. God sent his messenger to feed Elijah, to give him the strength to carry on, even though he wanted to give up. What he was given sustained him for forty days and forty nights to allow him to complete his journey.

Jesus was baptised in the Jordan. As he came up out of the water the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove, as witnessed by John the Baptist (John 1:32; Luke 3:22). Then filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led into the wilderness for forty days and nights to be tempted by the devil, who tried to encourage him to turn a stone into a loaf of bread (Luke 4:3). Jesus said’ “Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone” ‘(Luke 4:4).

Each of us are tempted to give up as Elijah did, but in today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us we can come to him, only because God the Father calls us to do so. Our Father in Heaven called Elijah and provided him with the bread he needed to accomplish his journey. Mark’s Gospel tells us all through Jesus’s trials in the wilderness, ‘the angels looked after him’ (Mark 1:13) Matthew’s Gospel tells us it was the devil who gave up (Matthew 4:11).

In John’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us that when the Israelite’s were in the wilderness, God provided them with bread from heaven, so they would not die. Yet, we get to share, today the living bread from Heaven as we celebrate the Eucharist. The manna only lasted a day, if anyone kept some for the next day it smelt and was maggot ridden, except for on the sixth day when they were allowed to gather enough for the Sabbath, when God rested (Exodus 16: 19-20; 22-24).

However, Jesus tells us he is the living bread which has come down from heaven. And when we eat this, we will live forever. This bread is his flesh which we receive today. On the cross, Jesus sacrificed himself so that we would live.

Through our baptisms, we have been indelibly marked with the Holy Spirit’s seal, which sets us free from the slavery of this world. We are encouraged to imitate God and be forgiving, as we have been forgiven. If we continue to go our old ways, holding grudges, getting angry and shouting, name calling and being nasty toward our fellow humans, we are not walking in God’s way.

Every human being on this planet is one of God’s children. He is everyone’s creator, whether we believe it or not. Paul tells us we are to “be friends with one another, kind, forgiving each other as readily as God forgives us in Christ” (Ephesians 4:32). All through the Old Testament, the Israelites were reminded they were foreigners in Egypt and therefore must not mistreat other foreigners. If you look at anyone of our DNA, you will also find that we are strangers in the land we call home.

We still have a long journey ahead. Jesus calls us to his supper so that we can be sustained with what we need to complete the course.

Amen.

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