Friends
Peace be with you.
If you have ever seen the movie “The Lord of the Rings'', you may remember that, after the wizard Gandalf gave custody of the Ring of Power to Frodo, he disappeared. Frodo lived in the house of his Uncle Bilbo, named Bagend, for seventeen years until Gandalf reappeared. At this point, Gandalf reveals that, while Frodo was growing up, keeping the ring secret and safe, and living his best hobbit life, Gandalf had been searching for information about it. He reveals that forces of the evil wizard Sauron are searching for the ring and, since he cannot take the ring himself, Gandalf sends Frodo and Sam on a journey with it. Yet, rather than accompanying them, he disappeared again off on what turns out to be a futile journey seeking help from his friend and mentor, Saruman, who has become a servant of, Sauron. When Frodo makes it to Rivendell and sees the face of his friend Gandalf for the first time since he left home, his first disappointed question is where Gandalf has been and why he didn’t meet them. Frodo has no idea of the torture his friend has undergone.
Have you ever had an experience where you realize someone has been working for you without your knowledge? I feel like this often happens with kids, or at least it did for me. I was never as grateful for the work of preparing a meal my Mom and Dad did for me daily as a kid as when I started working at Loras College. My Mom did all the food prep, though Dad sometimes had to put the food in the oven when Mom was working late. She’d set the table and then the two of them would wash the dishes after the meal so they could have a little time together while the kids went out to watch TV or do homework. Now, I’ll acknowledge we were spoiled but I think this kind of things happens a lot. From changing furnace filters and light bulbs to encouraging kids to get involved in sports and the arts and working so that the family has money to do all of this, parents have to do things that the kids won’t appreciate until they are much older.
Today’s gospel follows closely after last week’s, the feeding of the five thousand. Between now and then, Jesus got into a boat and sailed from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other where the town of Capernaum lies. It’s sort of his homebase with Peter and Andrew’s family located there. Shortly thereafter, some of the people who have received the bread and fish get into boats and follow them to the other side. When they arrive, they awkwardly ask when he got there. I can’t help but wonder if they were asking if he’s been there long enough to multiply more bread and fish. Jesus knows that they are not there because of a conversion of faith but because they think he’s a traveling cafeteria. The apex of this beginning of the Bread of Life discourse is when the crowd says that, like the sign Moses provided in the First Reading, Jesus should provide bread from heaven. The problem is they give Moses the credit they should be giving to God. Moses is God’s servant, not God himself. Like me, Moses has a position of leadership granted to him, for a time, from God. But God provides the bread, not Moses. Jesus also reveals that he was there with Moses when the manna was distributed in an answer that had to be absolutely baffling to his hearers. He was and is the bread from heaven. He is the gift God gave from heaven that we always have when we gather as the church at Mass. He has been working with the Father in the Spirit for the salvation of the world from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus and all the way to our times, even if we aren’t always aware of it. We can be like children unaware of how hard our heavenly Father has worked for us through his Son in the Spirit, can’t we?
As we begin several weeks of reflecting on the Eucharist, it’s good first to ask if we are aware that the one who comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine has, is, and will continue to be working for our salvation?
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