Wednesday of the Third
Week of Easter
(Acts 8:1b-8; John 6:35-40)
Jesus calls himself “the bread of life.” He means that just as the body digests bread
in order to live so must one come to Jesus if she is to have the fullness of
life. Later on in the “Bread of Life
Discourse,” Jesus will equate coming to him with participating in the
Eucharist. In this passage he intends
that the person believe what he teaches.
After all, Jesus is not teaching his own ideas but what he has learned
from God, the Father.
Jesus lives among the Jews, but his message is intended
for the whole world. He declares that he
will reject no one. He is saying that no
longer are the Jews the exclusive people of God. Rather pagans and Africans and homosexuals
and others that some people cannot tolerate who come to him will be accepted
into God’s people.
We sometimes think of ourselves as God’s people because
we partake of Jesus in the Eucharist. We
are right in considering eating Jesus’ body and drinking his blood as a distinct
privilege. But we are mistaken if we
discount people from God’s chosen family because they do not join us in the Communion
line. It is wiser to judge ourselves as
well as others on the basis of love for Africans, homosexuals and others whom many
people tend to reject.
