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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Wednesday of the Third Week of Easter
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Gospel text (Jn 6:35-40): Jesus said to the crowds, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst (…). I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me (…). For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day.”

John 6: Jesus is the "Bread of Life" because He reveals the Father

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today Jesus reveals to us the real “Bread” because He knows eternally the Father and He came down to show it all to us. The decisive key to Jesus’ image in John's gospel is found in the conclusive statement of the Prologue: “No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him” (Jn 1:18).

Only God can see God and it is Jesus. He really speaks from the Father's vision, from the permanent dialogue with the Father, a dialogue that is His life. If Moses could only show us God's back, then Jesus is the Word that comes from God, the real contemplation, the union with Him.

—Moses’ two great virtues to Israel —the revelation of God's Name (“I am who I am”) and the Torah— in God it acquired a definite form: He is the Son; He is the Road.

The will of God

Fr. Joaquim MESEGUER García (Rubí, Barcelona, Spain)

Today Jesus reveals Himself as the "bread of life". We realize that with these words the meaning of His mission is clearly stated: to save man and give him a new life. This is why, to perpetuate His saving act of giving Himself for us and His presence among us, Jesus Christ has become spiritual aliment for us.

Jesus Christ invites us to follow Him, to nourish ourselves through Him, for this is what it means to "see Him" and "believe in Him". At the same time, He shows us how to abide by His Father's will, just as He does. When teaching His disciples the "Lord's Prayer", He put together these two petitions: "Your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today the bread that we need". This refers not only to the material bread, but to Himself, as the bread of eternal life, whom we have to remain very close to with the profound cohesion the Holy Spirit provides.

—Therefore, with our faith, let us get close to Him who has decided to be our nourishment, our light and our life.