During his public ministry, Jesus performed many supernatural acts. He healed the sick, delivered the possessed, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. Many people call these acts miracles. However, in his account of the Gospel, John does not call these acts miracles; he calls them signs. For example, after narrating how Jesus changed water to wine, John says in Chapter 2:11, “Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee.” Last Sunday, after narrating how Jesus fed the crowd with five loaves and two fish, John commented in Chapter 6:14, “When the people saw the sign he had done, they said, ‘This is truly the Prophet,the one who is to come into the world.’” So, the miracles Jesus performed are what John refers to as signs.
What is a sign? A sign is anything that points to something beyond itself. For example, the signboard of a restaurant invites you to look beyond it to the restaurant. When you are hungry, no matter how beautiful the signboard may be, you must go beyond the signboard into the restaurant to get your food if you do not want to starve to death. So, when John refers to the miracles Jesus performed as signs, he wants us to look beyond those miracles to Jesus and all that Jesus represents.
After the multiplication of loaves and the feeding of the crowd which we read about last Sunday, the crowd wanted to make Jesus their king. From a human point of view, they felt it was a great success and a triumph; they thought they had arrived at their destination. They saw in Jesus, the man who provided them with free dinner. Yes, having such a man like Jesus as their king, there would be no need to work. But for Jesus, the people’s response was a sign of defeat, a sign of their failure to understand the deeper meaning of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish. So, Jesus had to escape to a quiet place on the mountain, to rest, reflect, pray, and re-strategize on how best to make the people look beyond his miracles. He must have felt disappointed and said, “What just happened? I did this for all these people, and they got the wrong message! How do I fix it?”
Today’s Gospel passage begins by showing us the crowd looking for Jesus a day after the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fish. When they finally found him in Capernaum, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus knew they were not looking for him for the right reasons. He knew they were not looking for him to receive the word of eternal life; he knew they were not searching for the deeper meanings of his miracles; he knew they were not searching for salvation; he knew they were there for their stomachs and not their souls. They came in search of him early enough the next day to begin the day with free breakfast, then free lunch, and probably another free dinner. So Jesus said to them, “Do not work for food that goes bad, but for food that endures for eternal life.” He wanted them to understand the deeper meaning of the signs he worked.
In today’s first reading, while the Israelites were in the desert, God fed them with what they called “Manna.” This Hebrew word for the food, simply means, “What please [is this]?” This name, a polite question, invited the Israelites to see the food as a sign. The food, manna, was to lead them to ask, “What is the meaning of this food?” The proper answer should be, “This food is a gift from heaven, a gift to be shared, a gift for community celebration, an invitation to rely on God, who is our salvation.”
My dear friends, are we better than those who came looking for Jesus in today’s Gospel passage? As Catholics, why do we go to Church? Why do we pray? What do we desire from God in our lives? Do we only desire abundant harvest, good jobs, good health, success in examination, life partner, children, political positions, and fame? And when these desires are not granted, how do we react? Do we abandon God and search for alternatives?
Some years ago, when my dad passed, I remember a family member who said, “Father, let us pray that Jesus, who raised Lazarus from death, may show himself again.” Without thinking twice about it, I asked, “But where is Lazarus today? Did he remain on this earth forever?” I went further to explain to my family that Jesus raised Lazarus from death to teach us that he has come to give us everlasting life. Raising Lazarus from death was only a sign pointing to eternal life; that’s why Lazarus later died. So, I shared with my family that God did not disappoint me by letting my dad die. I encouraged my family members to focus on the greater miracle, which was to pray that my dad may live forever in heaven. Yes, Jesus has not come to change stones to bread magically, he has not come to provide free dinner for us, and he has not come to keep us on earth forever. He wants us to understand the deeper meaning of the signs he worked. He wants us to reason beyond our stomachs to our souls. We must not let the beauty of the road make us forget our destination. In common parlance, “When a wise man points at the sun for the foolish man to see, the foolish man will end up looking at the wise man’s finger.” Let us look beyond the miracles to what they represent. May God grant us wisdom that we may inherit eternal life through Christ our Lord. Amen.
May his grace be sufficient for us.
May his grace be sufficient for us as we struggle to make heaven.