Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
(Acts 8:26-40; John 6:44-51)
New Testament Greek has different words for the verb to
eat. To simply consume something,
the Greek word is phago. But in
today’s gospel the evangelist uses trogo for eating which is more like chewing
or gnawing. What the evangelist
John implies by trogo is that Jesus is offering himself not just to be
consumed, but to be savored.
Jesus is in a contentious dialogue with his fellow
Jews. He tells them that he is the image
of God sent into the world. As God gave
physical life to all creation, he is giving life everlasting to all who believe
in him. Belief, he says, is like
savoring good food. It is not just
paying lip service but meditating on and doing what he says.
Some of Jesus’ teachings are difficult to practice. Caring for an aged relative can be physically
and emotionally trying. We do so because
Jesus told his disciples that as he washed their feet, they must wash the feet
of one another. Such service done out of
love renders us not only saintly but also heirs of everlasting life.
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