18th Sunday Ordinary Time (B) 4 August 2024 Aiming high
Jesus is saying one thing and the people are taking him at a different level. They are thinking only of the physical benefits of the miraculous bread while He is talking about higher matters, eternal concerns.
Many would regard the religious dimension as an unnecessary intervention. They like to receive good results, but do not want to get involved any more than ‘necessary’.
But God is not a machine that can be activated by the touch of a button.
He will bless us, yes, and more than we expect ([He]who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3,20). But it will be on His terms not ours.
He wants most of all to win our hearts and minds to submission to Him. This is a blessing for us, though it may not seem so at first glance.
Jesus tells the crowd He is giving them more than they presently realize. They came because of the earthly bread, but He is offering them the living bread (Himself).
He gave them food to eat, but gave them also the ability to see what that food symbolises – God in their midst. He wanted them, and us, to relate to Him at a deeper level of our being.
We do have to concern ourselves with economic matters, and they are important. But not as important as the spiritual life where we seek conformity with God's will.
He helps us to organise our lives around His holy will.
He wants us to reach a point where we do not call on Him only when we need something, (like a Mr Fixit) but anytime and all the time.
Implied in all prayer is a searching for God. Lord, deliver me from this or that problem but most of all help me find Thee. It may not always be at the front of our minds or the first thing we would say, but it is there, at the root of all else.
‘Do you love God?’ is the most important question we can be asked.
We want to say, Yes, but how do we love God? Put Him first!
We can love other people and other things, but God first.
Exposure to the love of God, coupled with experiencing His mercy, will awaken love in us, and we are then developing as His children.
It is easy to stop too soon on this trail. To stop at having enough to eat and to wear, and to live comfortably, with a few friends and some spare time etc.
Why go further than that? Because God wants us to know, love and serve Him, and whatever is needed to get to that point.
We reach the point that we prefer God's will to our own, even if it presents difficulties.
All of Jesus’ miracles have this deeper level. It is great to be able to see, hear and walk, if we could not before; but great for the rest of us too, as we learn to seek spiritual sight, hearing and motivation – simply to love God more than we ever have before.
Whatever we do or whatever is done to us, it can all be negotiated, as we draw upon God's closeness to us.
This is the ‘spiritual revolution of our minds’ referred to in the second reading. (Ep 4,23).
Our Lord has been appealing to every generation for the last two thousand years – all who eat this bread will live forever. It will be real life, eternal life.
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