In our gospel, Jesus is asking those thick-headed disciples a lot of questions to test their faith. Imagine if Jesus were to ask us questions to evaluate our faith. Perhaps those questions might sound like these:
- How’s your trust in Me these days?
- Do you read the scriptures and take my words seriously?
- How do you show others that you follow me?
- Do you really believe I love you?
Let’s hope we can respond better than his disciples did.
In that story today Jesus observes his disciples arguing about whose fault it was that they only had brought one loaf of bread on board the boat. Can you picture being on a boat with these burly, hungry, hardworking fishermen and discovering there was only one loaf of bread to eat for everyone? It must have been quite a heated ‘blame game’ discussion!
Jesus observed all this and made it a ‘teachable moment’. He began by asking them questions, 8 to be exact. Here are 3 worth noting:
- Are your hearts hardened?
- Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
- And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
Jesus was trying to get his followers to see who he truly is, and that he only is the ‘bread of life’ they need. He hoped they would have known this by now and would trust him with their lives, but they didn’t. They were more interested in their lunch at that moment!
For us, too, life gets hard and often we find it difficult to trust God. That’s when we really have to work hard at our faith and being aware of signs of Christ’s presence among us:
- a word of Scripture that comes alive in our hearts.
- an inspiration to do something good for someone in need
- Someone who reaches out and does a simple act of kindness for us
Christ works in so many ordinary everyday experiences to show us His presence. It’s up to us, with God’s grace, to work, and to work hard, at our faith. Most importantly, what a gift for us to have just been nourished by Jesus at this Eucharistic meal. Jesus is our bread of life, the one loaf shared by all and we believe this with our whole being.
The very last question Jesus asked the apostles in our gospel was: “Do you still not understand?” Hopefully, each of us might humbly answer: “Lord, I do believe, and I pray you will continue to help me understand your ways as I follow you each day.”
