1 Kings 19:4-8 / Ephesians 4:30 – 5:2 / John 6:41-51
We need to eat in order to live and stay alive. Food is one of the basic human needs.
Food not only helps us to stay alive, it also nourishes our body and keeps us strong and healthy.
In other words, we eat to live.
But when there is food in abundance, we won't just eat any and every kind of food.
We will eat what we like to eat, and we will also be choosy about what we want to eat.
So, we eat to live. But when there is plenty of food, then we will also begin to live to eat.
Eating becomes a pleasure, and we want our food to be tasty, and maybe even look pretty.
And we will have our favourite foods, and we may even travel to the ends of the island, to eat some reputable food.
When we live to eat, food is no longer for sustenance. Food becomes a substance, which we will categorize into like and don't like, as well as tasty and not tasty.
And of course, when the food is not to our liking, and not to our expectation, we will certainly complain.
We complain, not because there is no food, but because the food is not to our liking, or not to our expectation.
In the gospel, the people were complaining about Jesus because He said this: I am the bread that has come down from heaven.
The people were expecting some kind of special bread from heaven.
Their ancestors had manna to eat when they were wondering in the desert for 40 years.
But now, that they have settled down, and their standing of living is better, their expectations were also higher.
So, they were expecting some kind of special bread from heaven, bread that will be a pleasure to their taste buds.
But when Jesus said that He is the bread that has come down from heaven, the people were disappointed.
They knew Jesus as the son of Joseph, and He was too ordinary.
So, they cannot accept it when Jesus said that He is the bread that comes down from heaven.
So, the people complained, because Jesus was too ordinary. He couldn't have come down from heaven, and they didn't understand this bread that He was talking about.
As for us, we know and we believe that Jesus came down from heaven to be the bread of life which we receive at Holy communion.
We ought to partake with thanksgiving and gratefulness that bread of life, because it is the bread of love.
Jesus sacrificed Himself in order to give us that bread of life and love.
We in turn are to be the bread of life and love for others, so that they can taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
There was one lesson that I learned at home, and that is about not taking for granted the meals my mother cooks.
I was eating away at lunch when my mother asked me about how is the food.
I said “okay”, and then she said something like she thought I didn't like the food because I said nothing about it.
Immediately, I learned my lesson, that I have taken my mother's cooking for granted, whereas I would compliment other people's cooking.
Through her cooking, my mother offered me the bread of her life and her love.
Let us take nothing for granted, especially when our mothers, or others, cook a meal for us. They have put in their life and their love to it.
And may we also never take the Eucharist for granted.
In it, Jesus gave us all of His life and His love.