19th Ordinary Sunday, Year B, 12.08.2012

1 Kings 19:4-8/ Ephesians 4:30-5, 2/ John 6:41-51


One of the most challenging places to work in is the service industry.

Essentially, the service industry caters to the needs of customers and consumers.

Actually, it is more than just the needs. The service industry must try to satisfy the demands of the customers and consumers.

Because in order to survive in the competitive service industry, one has to be able to fulfill whatever that  is “on-demand”, and that means whatever is demanded by the customers and consumers.

So for example, for a restaurant to survive, the food must be good, and the service fast and courteous.

For a telco or internet service provider, the rates must be value-for-money, and the customer hotline must be quickly attended to, and whatever problems quickly resolved.

For a hotel, the guests must feel like they are at home, and the longer they stay, the better.

By and large, the service industry thrives on the fact that people like to be served, and served quickly and courteously. 

Yet people can be hard to please. You give them a doughnut and some will ask why there is a hole in the center.

In other words, if you want to be in the service industry, you got to be prepared for all sorts of complaints.
And not just complaints, there will be hardly any compliments.

If complaining can be an Olympic sport, then we can get a gold medal for that.

Yet the word “complain” appeared twice in today’s gospel passage.

The people were complaining about Jesus (so even Jesus got complains against Him. That’s a great consolation actually).    And then He had to tell them to stop complaining.

The people were complaining that Jesus was talking nonsense – that He is the bread that came down from heaven, but they knew where He came from. Or at least they thought they knew.

Yes, Jesus had a difficult time trying to teach the people that He is the bread of life because their minds were already filled with complains.

When the mind is filled with complaints, the heart is already closed.

And when the mind is filled with complaints, then life can be a pain.

Even in the 1st reading, we hear of the prophet Elijah, who seemed to be complaining and even wishing he were dead.

His words of complaint were these : Lord, I have had enough. Take my life. I am no better than my ancestors.

Yet his complaint was not about the small stuff. His complaint was about a real mortal danger.

He was being pursued by his enemies, and they were hunting him down and bent on taking his life.

So even as a prophet, he felt he can’t take it anymore, and hence those words – Lord, I have had enough. Take my life!

Well, those are indeed prophetic words coming from a prophet in distress.

Because we too have our own complaints about life. 

Especially when all the work is arrowed and pushed to us, and no one would help us, whether it is at home or at work.

Or when our problems keep mounting and no one understands us. All they ever say is: Don’t worry, be happy!

Or when one is old and sickly, and no one bothers or cares, and loneliness has drained the meaning out of life.

In such situations, we will be tempted to say : Lord, I have had enough. (Take my life)

But God being God, He won’t take our life just like that. Rather He will give us the bread of life and the bread for life.

For the prophet Elijah, God sent an angel to bring him bread and water to help him go on.

The bread has a deeper meaning than just food to fill the stomach and to satisfy the hunger.

It was a sign for the prophet Elijah that God will be with him in the journey ahead.

So for his complaint, God did not give a solution; rather God became his companion.

The word “companion” is interesting. It is made up of two Latin words – “cum” which means “with”, and “panis” which means “bread”.

So “companion” means sharing and eating bread with someone.

It may be the bread of joy and happiness. But more often than not, it is the bread of suffering and loneliness, bread of pain and difficulties.

In these kind of moments, we will complain, and like the prophet Elijah, we will say : Lord, I have had enough.

Yet in our all complaints, whether it is about life or about God, let us realize that we are not asking for answers.

For the questions about life, pain, suffering and even about God, the answers won’t be of much help, even if we can get those answers.

Yet for all our questions and complaints, God comes to be with us and to be our companion on the way.

And that is actually what we really need – a companion to be with us in our difficult and painful moments of life.

With that, we will understand what Jesus meant when He said: the bread that I shall give is my flesh for the life of the world.

In other words, Jesus will send someone (someone in the flesh! someone for real!) to be our companion in difficult and turbulent times.

Just the other day, I was reading a blog posting from Mr Brown, the renowned Mr Brown, who is seriously humourous as a social and political satirist.

He was writing about an experience he had when he was watching the badminton finals of the Olympics between Datuk Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) and Lin Dan (China).

He was watching the exciting game when his 12 yr-old autistic daughter whose name is Faith, quietly snuggled up next to him.

Being seriously autistic, Mr Brown didn’t think she was into badminton or understood the game (but then again, who knows?)

Even though Faith does not talk, Mr Brown found himself explaining to her what was happening in that badminton match.

But he also thought to himself – while the battle for an Olympic gold medal was going on, he felt like a winner already.

Because he was so proud of being the father of an autistic child, who, without words, shows her affection in the simplest of ways, like sitting quietly next to her father to watch a game she probably doesn’t understand.

Mr Brown ended off by saying: I wouldn’t trade that for any gold medal in the world.

Indeed, the best service we can render to someone is to be a companion, to be with that person even if it’s just being there quietly, especially when that person is in difficulty.

Because no one would ever complain against a companion, especially a companion who shares in the bread of pain and suffering.