Monday, Third Week of Easter

There are several stories in the gospels of people who go looking for Jesus. In the gospel of John, Nicodemus went looking for Jesus at night. In the gospel of Luke, Zacchaeus goes looking for Jesus in broad daylight, even climbing a sycamore tree to see him. In today’s gospel reading, the people who had been fed by Jesus in the wilderness go looking for him, getting into boats and crossing the Sea of Galilee to find him. When those who look for Jesus eventually find him, they often discover that they get more than they had bargained for. Nicodemus heard Jesus say to him that he needed to be born of water and the Spirit. Zacchaeus heard Jesus invite himself to his home and go on to declare that salvation had come to this house. The people in today’s gospel reading heard Jesus say to them that they were looking for him for the wrong reasons. Having been feed with bread in the wilderness, they wanted more of the same. However, Jesus offers himself to them as someone who can satisfy not just their material hunger, but the deep, spiritual, hunger within them. He can give them not just physical food that cannot last, but food that endures to eternal life. He can offer himself to them as the Bread of Life, as one who responds to the deepest yearnings of their heart, for truth, for a love that endures, for a life over which death has no power. Believing in him as the one sent by God will open them up to receive all that he wants to give them. We are all invited to turn towards the Lord as the Bread of Life in trusting faith. We come before him because we know he has a fullness from which he wants us to receive, so that our deepest hungers and thirsts can be satisfied. The Eucharist is a privileged moment when we come before the Lord as the Bread of Life and open our hearts to all he can offer us.