Some words about our longing and search for meaning.

Hey! =)

This are some thoughts made into words, about John 6:25-29.

You can find the text here.

Jesus, after his miraculous multiplication of bread in the shore of the sea of Galilee, goes to a mountain in order to escape the crowd, eager to make his king. By the evening he meet the twelve crossing the lake towards Capernaum, and join them walking on the water. The next day the crowd realizes that Jesus is missing and go towards Capernaum in search of Him and His disciples. Attention must be given to the fact that Jesus, for more than once, is faced with the crowd and runs away from them. That mus tell us something about the nature if them. Jesus knew they wanted to make him king, and he avoided them. "It would be awesome", they thought, "let's make Him king! Those miraculous signs don't lie, He is the prophet that was to come!". In answer to that desire, the gospels always told us that "Jesus knew their hearts", also He knew His mission and His time on earth. He was to be killed, to be a living sacrifice in order to justify sinners, not to be held as king on earth. The crowd didn't rule His heart and will, he never gave space to the crowd's will, but He himself repeatdly affirmed that He came to earth to do God's will, not His own (which is, in some way, paradoxal), nor crowd's will.

The crowd reaches Him (6:25) and Jesus promptly says: “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” (26-27). Again, He knew the nature of the mass: they were not interested in listening to Him, they were not interested in what endures, they were seeking bread. There's nothing wrong about longing for bread, but Jesus wants to teach them a lesson, wants to show them something. Actually, the miracle of the multiplication on itself remembered them of the times of Moses, which would lead them to think that Jesus was the actual Messiah they were to expect."Do not work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life", He said. The human being is in a constant search for food, something that fills his sense of meaning, belonging, existence. Jesus knew that very well. Our attempts of sucess, of being accepted, loved, wanted are all a reflex of our longing. There are "food" for that, none of them endures. None of them fulfill our desire. Buying, selling, addictions, endless events, nights, lovers, studying, working... Salomon said that's all vanity, meaningless, striving after wind (on the book of Ecclesiastes). C.S Lewis compared it to a car: if you don't use the right fuel, it might work for a few minutes, but you will notice it doesn't work at all. "You are using the wrong fuel to your lives. Strive for the fuel that doesn't end, that endures to eternal life", He says.

"Sir, from now on gives us this bread", the crowd said. Did they really want it?, i ask myself. "Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. (...) For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life” (35-37;40). "I am the bread, I give meaning, who fulfill your strive, I am here to give you the right fuel, and that's me", He says. The longing, exhausting, meaningless, ends in Him. In Him our longing turns in a new life, on which He starts to write everything again. Our striving is towards a new goal: it's to walk with Him, to rediscover everything, without the need to use the wrong fuel, without having food that spoil. Our constant efforts to fill our longing without Him just end in the same longing for love, meaning, acceptance, mercy and forgiviness.

The crowd was scared and skeptical. "This man's crazy, He's going against our traditions and history! He's the son of Joseph, no son of God!", thought the Jews. It's a hard and sometimes long way until we admit our stubborness. We think we're big and strong enough; we're not. Jesus knew them: "You've seen me and still you do not believe me" (36). But He keeps going: "Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (49-51).

Again the crowd rise again: "How can this man give us His flash to eat?" He answers: "Jesus said to them,“Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me." (53-57) Unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood, you have no life in you. He's refering to His death and rising: if you believe in my words, you'll have eternal life, now and forever; "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 4:17).

Jesus is saying something like "You know you don't have life in your lives, I don't need to prove you, look at the mirror and you'll see you're longing for something the world can't give you. The fuel always ends, the bread you eat always ends". He is talking about life in concrete ways, life now is gonna change. So, the one who feeds on me will live because of me, He affirms.

This is in the core of Christianity, living in Jesus, because of Jesus.

If He doesn't fill us, there's no life, no Christianity, nothing at all. Meaningless, meaningless!, Salomon screams. He invites us to give away our attempts to continually eat what spoils, what doesn't fill our appetite for love, acceptance, mercy, peace, forgiveness. That's called grace, an invitation, free, to come and eat of the bread of life, the banquet of life in abundance in and though him. "... And whoever comes to me I will never drive away". That's an invitantion. No need to be well dressed or to use polite speech. He's gently and kindly calling us.

Grace be with you.