This Sunday, we begin a cycle based on John 6, Jesus feeding the 5000. From there, we will develop the theme of Jesus as the Bread of Life. It is an interconnection of Communion, of the Passover, of the Bread of Heaven, of Manna in the wilderness during the Exodus-of Jesus pressing that he is indeed the Son of God and is God.
At the end of this cycle, he turns people away. They are not buying into the metaphor, they are not buying into the reality, they are not buying what Jesus has to say, they are not buying the bread. He will go from a crowd of thousands who follow him around the Sea of Galilee to his inner twelve, and one of those a betrayer.
This might be Jesus' most impressive miracle. It has been down-played as a miracle, not that five loaves and two fish feed five thousand men and their families, but that the example of one young boy, surrendering his lunch, leads to the mass sharing of the bits of food people 'must have' been carrying with them. The sentiment is wonderful, but how do we explain 12 baskets of leftovers?
Looking forward in the Gospel, John's is the only one that does not include the Last Supper. Jesus engages in food-washing of his disciples instead. Yet, in this chapter, there is perhaps the clearest reference to the divine structure of Communion in the gospels.
Jesus, the bread of life.
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