My Dear People,

The reading of Exodus today points out the complaint that the people have toward God. This is due to their lack of faith. God alleviates their need even though they do not deserve it. At the same time, just as Moses and Aaron listened patiently to the complaints, God too is always ready to dialogue with the sinner, sometimes listening to his complaints and sorting them out and sometimes simply giving him a chance to repent. Although God could inflict punishment on those whom he condemns without saying anything, he does not do so; on the contrary, up to the point when he does condemn, he speaks with the guilty person and lets him talk to help him avoid condemnation. The manna and the quails not only alleviate the people’s hunger; they are, above all, a sign of the triple presence of God: The Lord who brought them out of Egypt is not going to abandon them; he manifests his glory by dominating nature; he has not brought them out to die, but to make sure that they survive despite difficulties.

The manna was God providing for the people; this indicates that when Jesus did the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, it was God providing for the people.

Jesus begins pointing out that their attitudes are wrong: if they have the right attitude they will be able to understand this teaching in the Eucharistic discourse. 

The dialogue between Jesus and the Jews begins with “You seek me” for the flesh and not for the spirit. This is the beginning of the discourse on the bread of life which goes up to v. 58. In this dialogue our Lord reveals himself as the bringer of messianic gifts.  Then comes the first part of the discourse (vs. 35-47), in which Jesus presents himself as the Bread of Life, in the sense that faith in him is food for eternal life.

This dialogue between Jesus and his hearers is reminiscent of the episode of the Samaritan woman (cf. 4: 11-15). Jesus is speaking of bread coming down from heaven to give life to the world. There, the woman was asking Jesus if he was greater than Jacob; here the people want to know if he can compare with Moses (cf. Ex. 16:13). “The Lord spoke of himself in a way that made him seem superior to Moses, for Moses never dared to say that he would give food which would never perish but would endure to eternal life. Jesus promises much more than Moses. Moses promised a kingdom, and a land flowing with milk and honey, good health and other temporal blessings, plenty for the belly, but food which perishes; whereas Christ promised food which never perishes but which endures forever. (St. Augustine, In Ioann, Evang., 25:12).

These people know that the manna–the food which the Jews collected every day during their journey through the wilderness--symbolized messianic blessing; which was why they asked our Lord for a dramatic sign like the manna. But here was no way they could suspect that the manna was a figure (pointing to) of a great supernatural messianic gift which Christ was bringing to mankind—the Blessed Eucharist. In this part of the dialogue the main thing Jesus is trying to do is bring them to make an act of faith in him, so that he can then openly reveal to them the mystery of the Blessed Eucharist—that  he is the bread “which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world” (v. 33).  The disbelieving attitude of these Jews prevented them from accepting what Jesus revealed. To accept the mystery of the Eucharist, faith is required.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente