19B18.   1 Kings 19:4-8.   “Elijah went a day’s journey into the desert,” but could go no further on his own energy, “saying: ‘This is enough, O Lord! Take my life.’”  Nonetheless, an angel of the Lord came, providing him with enough food and drink that “he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb.”

John 6:41-51.   “The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  Since they knew his natural father and mother, seen him grow from birth till now, they thought, “How can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”  Jesus, because they have seen or heard of the stupendous miracles and things he has done, expects that they realize that he is not just of natural origins.  Jesus quotes the prophets, saying, “They shall be taught by God.”  Continuing on, Jesus says, “Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”  Listening to the Father requires that we are people of lives of a deep faith that enables us to have the eyes to see and the ears to hear a God who is both invisible and inaudible.  Often in the Gospels we read that Jesus went to pray.  In his divinity he needed no prayer but in his humanity he needed to nourish himself in conversation with his Father.  True prayer requires that we discern how the presence of God communicates with us through the manner in which things unfold in our lives, in what we may read or may hear that others say, in the thoughts and emotions that unfold around us and within us.  To be a truly faith filled, spiritual people we can no longer limit ourselves to a visible, audible world.  To open ourselves to the spiritual world requires that we be brave and trusting enough to let go of what we know so to land in the hands of caring and loving Lord into what we do not know, can see or hear.  In 2 Corinthians 5:6, Paul writes: “So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”  We look beyond a world that we readily grasp and comprehend.   Paul writes in 2 Corinthians  4:18, “As we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.”  Learning from God the Father requires that we have a mind humble and open to what God wants of us.  We let God be truly God over us.  That is what it means to believe in God and that belief leads to eternal life.  The bread of this life will only get us into the grave but not beyond it.  Eating the bread that is Jesus gives us the life that is forever.

Ephesians 4:30-5:2.  “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.”  The Holy Spirit is always trying to make us saints so that one day we will rejoice in heaven.  Do not make the devil dance by being people who not have life of Jesus within us.  “Be kind to one another, compassionate.” “So be imitators of God, as beloved children, (made in his image and likeness) as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”  In Matthew 5:48 Jesus says, “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

18B21.     Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15.    “The whole Israelite community grumbled” thinking that they might die of famine in the desert.  Rain was sparse in the desert but the Lord promised that he would be so magnanimous or generous that more than water he would rain down bread or manna in the desert in the morning and give flesh to eat in the twilight.  The Lord provides for our needs.  When we cannot provide for ourselves, we are forced to go outside of ourselves to seek what we need.  Our neediness ends up being a gift that drives us into the arms of our Lord.  We do not realize that, when we are able to provide for ourselves, that capacity or strength itself comes from the Lord.  Living each moment with a deep sense of faith in and dependence upon God is to live in genuine truth or reality.  Everything else is a mirage or delusion.

John 24-35.  The crowd was seeking Jesus because they wanted to get more of the food that had just been miraculously provided for them.  However, Jesus makes it clear to them that he provided the earthly food as a sign or indication that he was really there to provide them with the heavenly food that was his very self that gives eternal life.  “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.’”  As God provided the bread or manna in the desert, so does God provide us with the person of Jesus who is the bread of the spiritual life that is eternal.  Jesus was telling them and now us that the bread of heaven is infinitely more important than earthly bread that only maintains life to the grave.

Ephesians 4:17, 20-24.  Paul writes: “You must no longer live as the Gentiles do.” “You should put away the old self of your former way of life.”  “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”  The old self is the natural person of this world who stubbornly tries to live independently from God.  Our old self belongs to our bodies and this earth only; whereas the new self belongs to Jesus and to a wondrous eternal life. The new self is the self that lives as a branch attached to and dependent upon God, the vine.

18B18.   Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15.  “The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron” that things were better in Egypt where they had plenty to eat than in the desert where they had been led with so little to eat.  God hears their grumbling.  So he gives the meat of the quail and the residue from the evaporated dew that was the manna to be eaten like bread from the hand of the Lord.

John 6:24-35.  This Gospel follows last Sundays’ Gospel where Jesus had fed the five thousand and they sought him out to make him king so that they could get more of that miraculous meal.  Jesus says to them, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Jesus, answering their question as to what works do they need to do says, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”  Still seeking again that miraculous meal they ask Jesus to perform a sign or miracle that they may believe in Jesus just as Moses had given the manna.  Jesus replies that it was not Moses but God that gave the manna and that God will again give them the true bread from heaven that gives life to the world.  “So they said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.” Jesus is telling them that he has given them the bread of this world that gives life for one day as a sign that he, as the one sent by God the Father, is the One who can give them himself who is the bread that gives eternal life.  As bread or any food gives us the energy to do our daily work, Jesus, dwelling within us, gives us the strength to live a holy life in a world that tempts us to be a sinful people.

Ephesians 4:17, 20-24.  Paul writes, “I declare and testify in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their mind.”  Living life without Jesus who is the bread of life is an exercise in futility because it is a choice that leaves one without the light that directs our steps in the way to eternal happiness and without the spiritual energy to make our way through this world’s jungle of temptations.  Paul continues, The “truth is in Jesus, that you should put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires,” “and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.”  Only with Christ, as the nourishment of our spiritual inner self, the life giving force of our souls can we put away the old self and put on the new.  The new self must always be a creation of God to which we assent and actively cooperate.

17B21.      2 Kings 4:42-44.  “A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God, twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits and fresh grain in the ear.”  When Elisha ordered the offering to be given to the people, his servant objected that it would not be enough for a hundred people.  Elisha responded that he is to give it to the people anyhow because the Lord says, “They shall eat and there shall be some left over,” and there was.  God provides and will always provide in abundance.

John 6:1-15.  Because he was performing many miracles to cure the sick, a large crowd followed Jesus.  Philip says that a large sum of money “would not be enough for each of them to have a little.”  Andrew said to Jesus, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”  Jesus had the crowd of about five thousand men and those accompanying them recline.  After they ate their fill, “twelve wicker baskets with the fragments from the five barley loaves” were collected.  “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.’   Since Jesus realized that they were going to try to make him king, he fled to the mountain alone to escape them.  He had come to be the Messiah of a spiritual kingdom and not of an earthly one.   The miracle of the multiplying of the earthly food was to proclaim that he would feed all people of all times with a spiritual food that gives life for all eternity.

Ephesians 4:1-6.  While in prison, Paul calls upon the Christians of the Church of Ephesus to bear “with one another through love so to be one body that breathes its life through one Spirit in “one Lord, one faith, one baptism,” having one God and Father of all.”  He “is over all” and lives “through all and in all.”  When we live in Christ, we live in Christ together.  We are still each unique, united though different, diverse yet not divided.  Our life is God’s love for us; his love is the life that binds us to one another.

17B18.    2 Kings 4:42-44.   “Elisha insisted, ‘Give it to the people to eat.’  For thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.’” The Lord provides abundantly.  Spiritually, if we try to live on our own efforts with little or no support from God, we will starve to death.

John 6:1-15.  “Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee.  A large crowd followed him, because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.”  He feeds them all, five thousand men plus at least as many women and children, from five barley loaves and two fish.  “When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.’  So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragment from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.”  The power of God is infinite and he is always ready and willing to use it out of love for use.  However he wants nothing to be wasted, never using his power uselessly as just a way of flexing his divine muscles. He wants to see results or fruit that will benefit us eternally.  The people wanted to make him an earthly king but he wanted them to get to heaven where he would be their eternal king.  He had given them the bread of this world so that they would put their faith in him so to seek the spiritual life on earth that would give them a life in heaven.  He filled their stomachs for a day so to fill their souls for all eternity.

Ephesians 4:1-6.  If the bread of our spiritual life is God, then we are bound to one another in the one God who is the same source of spiritual life, common to all who find life from Him.  He gives us the love to bear with one another, since we all find that love in the “one God and Father of all.”  We are made one united by all going to the same table to feed our spiritual lives, Jesus, who keeps us in communion with him by sharing his divine life with us.  In Romans 12:4-5 Paul wrote: “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.”  In Ephesians 4:15-16 Paul writes: “Rather, living the truth in love, we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, with the proper functioning of each part, brings about the body’s growth and builds itself up in love.”  In Colossians 1:17 Paul wrote: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”  We receive him Body and Blood so to have him as the source of the body’s life, the unity that is the Church, over which he is the head.

16B21.    Jeremiah 6:1-6.   The leaders or shepherds of God’s People had not led the people well.  The Lord says, “You have not cared for them, but I will take care to punish your evil deeds,” “I will appoint shepherds for them who will shepherd them so that they need no longer fear and tremble.” “I will raise up a righteous shoot to David; as king he shall reign and govern wisely.”  “This is the name they give him: ‘The Lord our justice’.”  As Christians, we understand that shepherd to be Jesus.

Psalm 23.   “The Lord is my shepherd.”  He cares for us so that we live securely in his gracious love.  “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for years to come” in heaven.

Mark 6:30-34.  His disciples had just returned from a very demanding but wondrously fruitful mission.  Now Jesus wants them to retreat to a restful place so to grow spiritually in prayer.  However, people arrived there on foot ahead of them.  “When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and began to teach them many things.”  We must be hungry for what only the Lord has and not lost in the consumerism of this world.  What this world gives does not satisfy and is only good to the grave.

Ephesians 2:13-18.  Through Jesus’ sacrificing himself on the cross both Jews and Gentiles are united in Christ.  Jesus “came and preached peace to you who were far off (the Gentiles of Ephesus) and peace to those who were near (the Jews), for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”  Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:13: “For in the Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.” The same God who created us so that we may a life of love in him wishes us to be all united to one another in love of him.

16B18.   Jeremiah 23:1-6.  Jeremiah prophesies that God will appoint shepherds who will lead God’s People in God’s ways and not mislead them as past shepherds had.  Jeremiah goes on to write, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David, as king he shall reign and govern wisely; and on to: “In his days Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell in security.”  It seems to me that Jeremiah is thinking of an earthly king; whereas, we as Christians apply this to Jesus, the spiritual king, who will shepherd his people wisely.

Mark 6:30-34.  This gospel reading picks up from last Sunday’s reading after Jesus had sent the Twelve Apostles out to be the new shepherds of Israel, preaching repentance and validating and reinforcing their mission by curing the sick and driving out demons.  After that very demanding work, he says, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”  Jesus felt that they needed to retreat from the intense busyness of this world to nourish themselves interiorly with prayer.  However, the people were in such great need for what Jesus had to offer they hastened to that deserted place on foot.  “When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.”  He is the One to save them from being lost spiritually, and likewise us too.

Ephesians 2:13-18.   “In Christ Jesus you who once were far off have become near by the blood of Christ.”  The Gentiles have been brought near to their salvation by the redemption he has given them by offering himself as a sacrifice on the cross.  Paul also wrote in Colossians 1:20, “and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross [through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven.” Jesus made Jew and Gentile one “through his flesh, abolishing the law” “that he might create in himself one new person in place of the two, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile both with God, in one body, through the cross, putting that enmity to death by it.” “Through him we both have access to one Spirit to the Father.”  Paul wrote in Colossians 3:11, “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all.”  Jesus shepherds his flock together to the gates of heaven.

Psalm 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6.  “The Lord is my shepherd.” “He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake,” for he is true to who he is, the God of righteousness.  “I fear no evil; for you are at my side.”  God is a fatherly, all powerful God who uses his strength to care for me.  “You spread the table before me;”  “my cup overflows.”  God provides generously for all our needs. “In verdant pastures he gives me repose; besides restful waters he leads me.”  In Matthew 11:28, Jesus says, “Come to me you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”  Caring for us as a mother cares for her young; he looks to see that we are refreshed to face the challenges that are to come.  He neither overwhelms us with his demands nor allows us to be overwhelmed.  He is the awesome God using his might to protect us, yet at the same time a God so meek and humble of heart looking after us in the smallest details.

15B21.     Amos 7:12-15.   Amaziah, priest of Bethel, rejects Amos as a prophet.  Nevertheless, Amos declares that, even though he was only a humble shepherd, the Lord said to him, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”  Likewise, Jesus and his followers found that, though chosen by God, they too would be rejected by some.

Mark 6:7-13.  In last Sunday’s gospel Jesus had brought his disciples to his own hometown of Nazareth but was rejected by the people who knew him in the days before he started his public ministry, when he was still just a carpenter.  In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus sent out his Apostles “two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits.”  They were to bring almost nothing for their personal physical needs but be dependent on the accommodating hospitality of those who welcomed them.  For those who rejected them, Jesus told them to “shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.”  They “preached repentance,” “drove out many demons,” and “anointed with oil many, who were sick, and cured them.”  For using the spiritual power that Jesus gave the Apostles, they were to be justly compensated, “for the laborer deserves his payment.”  (Luke 10:7b)   Those who reject the spiritual grace that God gives in his paternal care will be without any resources whatever after death.

Ephesians 1:3-14.  God the Father chose us “to be holy and without blemish,” that is God chose us to be saints by living our lives in Christ and not as people buried in the ways and spirit of this world.  We were chosen from all eternity to be saints “so that we might exist for the praise of his glory.”  In baptism we “were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit, which is the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s possession, to the praise of his glory.”  May our lives be living acts of praise and worship of the God who has lavished us with the riches of his infinite love!   Accepting God’s love daily we are rich because of his infinite care for us.

15B18.   Amos 7:12-15.   Amos tells Amaziah, priest of Bethel, that he had a way to earn bread as a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.  The reason why he is a prophet was not to earn bread, but that God himself called him to be a prophet.

Mark 6:7-13.  As God had sent out Amos, Jesus sends out the Twelve, representing his founding the new Israel, to preach repentance to bring the people into his new People of God.  He sends them out with the spiritual authority over unclean spirits but with little material resources.  Those who accept the invitation to follow Christ are to supply for the material needs of the Apostles; those, who do not, will have testimony given against them.

Ephesians 1:3-14.  This text is incredibly rich.  We have been blessed because God the Father has chosen us in Christ, “before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.  In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with  the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved” Christ.  To be the sons and daughters of the Father, God’s People, we have been called to be holy as he is holy so that we may live with him who is our Father in our new family home, heaven.  To become holy as he is holy is the work of the Spirit in us through the grace that our Father has lavished on us.  In accepting his redemption of us, we gain our inheritance to become “God’s possession, to the praise of his glory,” God’s holy People made new in Christ.” Life on the way to heaven is a daily experience of growing in our friendship with God by cooperating with the Spirit.  Every day is a wondrous joy because more and more Christ becomes our life, helping us to live a little more of heaven even while we are here on earth.

14B21.       Ezekiel 2:2-5.     God said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, rebels who have rebelled against me.” “Hard of face and obstinate of heart are they to whom I am sending you.”  They were locked into their way of thinking and feeling.  How natural it is for humans to become self-complacent and self-indulgent, and to make that our normal way of being.  We can easily think, ‘I know what I think and who I am,’ and that’s that.  So many say to God: “I feel right at home with the way I am.  Go away and do not disturb me by demanding that I change what feels so comfortable and right for me.” We do not want to trade what feels so normal and comfortable for something else.

Mark 6:1-6a.    Jesus returns to Nazareth but with his disciples, which is to say he is a wholly different person than the boy those towns people knew when he left there.  The people of Jesus’ hometown were astounded at the change and refused to accept that he was so different than the boy and young adult they knew for so many years.  “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?”  “Where did this man get all this?”  For them, he was asking too much of them to accept him to be so much more than what they had so long  thought of him to be.  “And they took offense at him.”  “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed (miracle) there.”  Jesus performed miracles to enable and lead people to believe in him as the Messiah or Savior.  When they locked the door against belief in him as Messiah, performing miracles made no sense because they refused to believe in him no matter what he did.  “He was amazed at their lack of faith,” their obstinance of heart.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10.  Apparently Paul had an affliction, which he does not name, that he “begged the Lord about,” “that it might leave.”  However, the Lord responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”  In other words, the Lord was saying to Paul, ‘Your weakness invites me and enables me to be your strength.’  And so Paul writes: “For when I am weak, then I am strong,” because I am strong by the Lord’s strength and not my own useless attempt at self-sufficiency.  Our weakness leaves us open to replace our weakness with God’s strength. We live from what God supplies.