If you noticed, we are still
lingering on after last week’s miracle of 5 loaves and 2 fish, in what is also
known as the Bread of Life Discourse. And, today is also not the end of the
story as the entire Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel is liturgically stretched to
cover 6 Sundays and we are just in the second one of them.
It is appropriately named as
the Bread of Life Discourse because food is closely associated with living, as
water and air are. Perhaps this Sunday we can focus on life and the art of
living and the relevance the Eucharist has to the endeavour.
There is a song, if you have a
chance, Google it and have a listen. There are different ways of interpreting
this song by OneRepublic—I Lived. The context of the lyrics is about living
with cystic fibrosis, whereby the victim may eventually end up with lungs so
damaged that they cannot breathe unaided without a ventilator. Like food,
without air, one cannot live.
What has this song to do with
today’s Gospel? If you listen to the lyrics it sounds positive because it
advocates a form of living which maximises what we have. For example, you may
have heard that it is not the number of years in your life which is important
but rather the life you give to the years that you have. “I owned every second
that this world could give, I saw so many places, the things that I did. Yeah
with every broken bone, I swear I lived”.
From a certain angle, this
definitely encourages people to appreciate life and to live it to the fullest.
But there may be an unintended consequence of this philosophy considering that
we share a common cosmology. What cosmology am I referring to? Wittingly or
unwittingly, we appear to have embraced an outlook in life which vaguely
excludes the Resurrection. If you still yourself enough, you might just catch a
glimpse of how prevalent this cosmology is.
In the name of health or
well-being or comfort, can you count the number of devices invented or
supplements created for these purposes? The number of people sporting Fitbits
for their 10000 steps is a good example. Or, do you know of anyone who wears
those magnetic bracelets or pendant that have been “discovered” scientifically
to promote good health? Let me clarify that I am not against good health. We
hear it said that health is indeed wealth because a person reasonably needs to
be in good health to enjoy life. What is the point of accumulating wealth and
riches only to “donate” to the hospitals? But there is a subtlety in this
narcissistic age which overly focuses on therapy as the solution to all life’s
problems. It is as if we are all in need of healing to be made whole.
But, take a moment to step back
and ask this question: What does it really mean to be made whole, to enjoy life
or to have a good life?
The people who got into the
boat definitely thought that they had stumbled upon the elixir of life in the
sense that they have found a permanent source of life, for food is life. Why
not? This miracle worker would have taken the concern for sustenance off the
menu. No need to worry and one can live rather comfortably. But, Jesus
introduced them to the idea of food not only for this life, but rather
indicated to them that there is a more fundamental search for the food that
promises eternal life.
Life is addictive. Even if
one’s life is boring, the truth is, nobody wants to die. Even those who commit
suicide, you might think that they do not want to live. But, actually they do
because they are protesting that there could be a better alternative to the
life that they presently have. So, setting death aside, our main fear is that
of a mundane and seemingly meaningless life. A fact which advertisers harp on
to increase sales of whatever products they are peddling.
Buy this and your life will be
complete. Eat this and you will live longer. Our Guardian—half of the things
there are for your face and the other half is to make sure you live forever. Go
to the auto-shop and you will be drilled that if you were to drive this
particular make, your adrenaline will surge. Live here in this locality and all
the amenities available there fulfil you. Or like a fat lady once tried to show
us, “Own this many Hermès Birkin bags and you would have arrived at the
pinnacle of power”.
In summary, our search for life
or the fullness of life is misdirected even if we embrace the positive message
of OneRepublic’s I Lived, that is, attempting to squeeze as much life as
possible out of every second.[1]
The failure of our self-absorbed generation is to recognise that our hunger for
physical food mirrors the human search for supernatural sustenance. Jesus in
today’s Gospel is preparing the crowd for the answer to this sublime quest that
He alone and nothing else is the nourishment needed for our spiritual
salvation. Life and the art of living well are not tied up to the length or
duration of life but rather to Him. It may begin with an appreciation of the
physical world we inhabit, that is, we start with food, enough of it and
healthy eating/living but it does not just end there. Life and the art of
living well find its fulfilment in the everlasting, that is, to live forever,
one draws immortality from Him who is none other than the Bread of eternal life.
[1] Therein also hides an unquestioned
rejection of the Resurrection. What about those who do not have the wherewithal
to squeeze life out of every second? Are their lives considered failures? The
promise of the Resurrection is also an assurance that death is not a permanent
closure to the chapter of one’s life, that whatever failure we encounter in
this life can find its redemption in the next life to come.
