The Eighth Sunday After Pentecost, Aug. 3, 2003 (Proper 13B)
Exod. 16:2-4, 9-15; Psalm 78:1-25 or Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25; Eph. 4:17-25; John 6:24-35
In all four lessons for today, including the psalm, we see the people of God caught between two worlds and urged forward to the new life. The epistle speaks plainly: The “former way of life,” the “old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts” (Eph. 4:22), is contrasted “with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (4:23-24).
In the Old Testament lesson, although the people of God are even then walking in freedom and have experienced personally the mighty deliverance from slavery in Egypt, when they are hungry they are drawn back to the bread they ate in captivity and hard labor. In the psalm, although the Lord “led them,” “split the hard rocks in the wilderness,” and “gave them drink,” they “went on sinning against him … demanding food for their craving.”
In the gospel, though the people had spent all the previous day listening to Jesus teach wonderful things about the kingdom of God, now they pursue him only “because you ate your fill of the loaves” he had multiplied (John 6:26). Jesus exhorts them not to settle for ordinary bread no matter how miraculously provided, but for the “true bread from heaven … that gives life to the world” (John 6:32-33).
In all four lessons, the people are urged forward to the greater things of God, and not to settle for too little. The freed slaves of Exodus and the psalm look longingly back to slavery; those who listened to Jesus and ate the loaves wish to stop at that point. At the end of this lesson, however, when Jesus urges them to hunger for the “true bread from heaven” (John 6:32), perhaps the people catch a glimmer of the gift the Father offers them: “Sir, give us this bread always (John 6:34).
God continually urges people forward to the incalculable riches of his kingdom, but always gives us the dignity to choose. We are invited, encouraged, assisted, even commanded by God to choose wisely and to “come up higher”— but we are never forced.
Look It Up
The short selection of the psalm, customarily preferred for use in the Eucharist, drops out verses 21 and 22. Objectionable as some people may consider them, why are these verses important for the overall teaching of the lessons?
Think About It
What does it mean that the “work of God” is “to believe in him whom he has sent”? (John 6:28-29)
Next Sunday
The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost, Aug. 10, 2003 (Proper 14B)
Deut. 8:1-10; Psalm 34 or Psalm 34:1-8; Eph. 4:(25-29) 30-5:2; John 6:37-51
