Sunday, August 1, 2021 – 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Revised Common Lectionary passages for the Lord’s Day are:
– First Reading: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
– Psalm 51:1-12
– Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-16
– Gospel Reading: John 6:24-35

The liturgical color for the day is: Green

The Gospel Lesson has the crowd chasing after Jesus.  They know of the incredible feast from the loaves and fishes—they want more of Jesus.  They knew there was something about Jesus, but they were not able to get to the central matter.  Jesus challenged them and even corrected them.  It wasn’t Moses with the manna in the wilderness—it was God.  God was and God is and God always will be the one who is moving, acting, shaping, reaching out and all the way down.  Could they get it?  Could they understand that “I am the bread of life…” that they heard? 

But more to the point, do we get it?  Do we understand?  In John’s Gospel there is always this larger reality at play where there is much more than the surface meaning—there is this spiritual dimension to everything that reaches down and enfolds us into this God who is love.  Such love calls us to deeply hear, “I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The Jesus of these words invites us to believe in him (remember John’s Gospel emphasizes belief, while Matthew, Mark, and Luke emphasize faith).  He is the table set with bread that never gives out.  He is the cup filled with thirst quenching taste that never stops.  He is the what and the who of our living “the life worthy of the calling to which we have been called.”

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Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter and Stated Clerk