XVIIIth Sunday: Ex.16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

In 1980 a missionary who was working in Zambia went on vacation to South Africa, then known for apartheid and racial segregation. He returned to Zambia after his vacation excited to tell everyone how much better South Africa was in comparison to Zambia. He told of the wonderful preaching he gave in South Africa, calling on the youth to give up their anti-apartheid struggle. His reasoning was that since Zambia had Black majority rule and its economy was in shambles, and since South Africa had White minority rule and its economy was doing much better, they should give up their struggle for Black majority rule unless they wanted to be poor like Zambia.

Another missionary working with him had a different idea. "Why don't we do this," suggested this other missionary. "We lock you up in prison and then give you everything you want to eat and drink, but still keep you locked up in prison." Immediately he got the point. The hunger of the human spirit goes beyond the hunger for food and drink. We may have all the material food in the world but if we lack such spiritual food as freedom, truth and love our hunger will ever be unsatisfied and our hearts ever restless.

Human beings need two basic kinds of food to attain perfect happiness and satisfaction: food for the body and food for the soul. Both are necessary. Which one of these ranks higher in the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ? It is spiritual food. That is why he says in Matthew 4:4 "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." And in John 4:34 he says, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work."

When he multiplied bread to feed the hungry he did not mean to say that the solution to the deep hunger of the human heart is to give people more bread. No. He multiplied bread only as a sign, a sign pointing to the higher spiritual food that he was providing for the human soul.

But the crowd we see in today's gospel mistake the sign for the substance. They clamor for Jesus because they want more bread. They want to make him king, a king who fills the human stomach with bread. "Sir, give us this bread always," they pray (John 6:34). But Jesus berates them for not seeing beyond their stomachs: "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you" (John 6:26-27). Because of this, Jesus hid away from them. Jesus did not want to be identified primarily with feeding stomachs. He wanted to be seen primarily as one who has come to nourish the human spirit with the food that satisfies every hunger of the human heart, the food that does not perish but stays good and gives life eternally.

This  echoes the words that are found in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament. "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and you labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. " [Is. 55:2-3].

The big problem that Jesus had with the crowds seeking him was that while Jesus spoke of spiritual reality they misunderstood him to be speaking of material things. Jesus had a similar problem when he met the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well. Jesus spoke to her about the spiritual water that he came to give: "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life" (John 4:13-14). But the woman understood it in terms of ordinary water and replied, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water" (verse 15). Materialistic minds cannot comprehend spiritual truths.

The challenge for us today is to recognize that the false god of materialism, which promises satisfaction but leaves us ever more hungry, has seduced our society. We hear the spiritual truth of the word of God but we understand it in terms of satisfying our selfish desire for wealth and power.

When Jesus asks for their faith, they ask him for a sign, as if he hasn’t already given them one. They saw the miraculous feeding. But still they ask for more sign. This is what is wrong with seeking for material things. Even if you see as something satisfying at one point, the next moment that very same thing would turn out to be very unsatisfying.

Every day you really want something new: a new TV, a new car, a special pair of shoes, whatever. Then we buy it and we love having it for a few days. But over time we get bored or it wears out. You can see this pattern repeated constantly in our own life. For example, your parents and grandparents likely spent thousands and thousands of dollars on toys for you as you were growing up: Dump trucks and Barbie dolls and video games and electric cars and on and on and on. All of those toys got boring or broken or outgrown eventually. They brought happiness for a moment or a week, but over time they became worthless and your desire turned to a new object.

The cure is to follow the instruction of Jesus and flee the worldly allure and promises of materialism. This we can achieve as St.paul says today, only when we put away the old self corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new self, created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth. Otherwise we would be seeking after Jesus only for material food and not for spiritual food that lasts for ever. And we will never be fully satisfied in our life. Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to increase our spiritual hunger so that we may always look for food that never perishes.