Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The Lord Jesus’ concluding words to the crowd in today’s Gospel may at first seem strange: “whoever comes to me will never hunger, whoever believes in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35) He is speaking precisely to a crowd of people who has come to Him with effort, having had to travel by boat to reach Him. Why then the back and forth conversation? Why speak about “whoever comes to me” as if there was more for those in the conversation to do to come to Jesus who stands before them? Why speak of “whoever believes in me” since it is precisely their conviction that Jesus can do something for them that has brought them in this journey across the sea to reach Him?
Too often in life we assume we have arrived even when we are far off from our destination. Having satisfied their stomachs, the crowds think that is all that they should be seeking from the Lord. But Christ has far more for us than food which perishes for a life that will cease. He has come to give them a bread which feeds far more than the stomach; a bread that promises to feed the heart and soul, which promises to give the person a life that continues beyond the death of the body.
The crowds have come to stand before Jesus whom they believe can give them something. They come with a worldly hunger. But the Lord calls them to realize a far deeper longing, a more pressing and pertinent hunger. To come to the Lord is to bring to Him our needs, our petitions, our very selves. But let us come to Him with our whole self, with our deepest longings, with our most profound needs. Let us bring all of our hunger to the Lord, that He may feed our whole person. Let us ask Him for the grace to believe that He who made our whole self wishes to fill not only our body, but our mind and heart and soul. Let us believe in this infinite fount that longs to slake humanity’s thirst.