3rd Week in Easter, Friday – 23rd April 2021 — Gospel: John 6,52-59
Great Teaching in the Synagogue
This long discourse on the bread of life takes place in the synagogue in Capernaum (6,59). The crowd had followed Jesus and His disciples to Capernaum from the northeast of the Sea of Galilee. Right from His ministry, Jesus was teaching in Capernaum, the hometown of Peter, Andrew, and James. This was a town of commerce at the foot of the hill where he taught the beatitudes of the kingdom. It was the town where Jesus originally called his apostles, when they were working on the seashore of Galilee. It was in this town that Jesus challenged his apostles, religious leaders, friends and followers with the truths he came to teach. He did not shy away from the tougher-to-believe aspects of his messages, especially of His seven “I am” statements. He taught them in Capernaum synagogue the strongest mainline belief of the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. Although the truth that Christ is the Bread of God, which came down from heaven, who gives eternal life to all who feed on Him (6,58), was difficult to believe, yet they are extremely beautiful. God wants to sustain us in the desert of this life. Jesus wants His followers to be in communion with Him and to feed on Him in this life, which will give them eternal life in the future. Jesus enables all his believers to be with Him and endure faithfully all the challenges of life, as He is “the source” of nourishment and life. He loves us and wants us to believe in Him, even if we don’t understand everything of what he said in this discourse.
