I am the Bread of life.

Good afternoon you lovely people, I hope you are feeling OK, and are managing to continue to find moments of joy each day.

If we were in church today our Gospel reading would have included 

Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Jn 6.35

It is one of the best known phrases of Jesus, and has a depth that warrants a great deal of searching. The ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus are all very powerful. I am The Way, the Truth and the Life, I am the light of the world,… Resurrection and life, …Gate, …Good Shepherd, ..True vine.  “Truly, Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am”,

The origin of Jesus words takes us right back to the voice of God speaking to Moses from the burning bush. When Moses is afraid to go and rescue the Israelites, he says ‘Who shall I say sent me?  The voice of God replies, ‘Tell them I am sent you.’

So clearly theses sayings of Jesus are designed to help us understand something of his divine nature. He is one with God.
They are meant to point to a greater truth than the immediate. So, for example today’s ‘I am the bread of life’, means that Jesus  is the complete sustenance we need to experience the fullness of life that he calls us to. Not just the food that nourishes our body, but our soul too. And of course we embrace this fully in the Eucharist.

The  Greek, ‘Ego Eimai’ helps us understand it even more. It is where we get the word Ego from.
Ego is often thought of as that part of us that likes to draw attention, the bit that allows us to ‘show off’ or perform, or imagine we are very important.

It is, of course all these things, but the Ego is so much more. It is the blend of our conscious and subconscious that exists to put us as an individual at the very heart of everything.
It’s that petulant child inside every person, the one that chooses getting his or her way over anything or anyone else. 
It comes very naturally to us, and we can spot it first when babies begin to understand that something, like their favourite piece of cloth, is special, and is theirs. They identify things with themselves, and this goes on to become a huge part f some people’s life. What they have, or what they are seen to do, or their status or wealth become completely disproportionate.
In these circumstances the Ego, or ‘Self’ has taken over from the real self, who in essence does not have any of these things.

This is why these I am sayings of Jesus, and his total teaching are so important.
Jesus constantly moves away from ‘Self’, he puts others first, and he practices absolute humility, rather than seeking his own Glory.
Just a few example… Being born in a stable, Blessed are the meek, Entering Jerusalem on a donkey, not seeking to save his own life…. There are so many.
In the letter to the Philippians we read in chapter 2

 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God,    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing  by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

You get the idea. The life and ministry and teaching of Jesus are very much about letting go of the Ego, letting go of self,  and putting others first. It is in so doing that we experience the Fullness of life and therefore ultimate Joy that we are called to, and where we discover the most authentic expression of our nature.

Bless you,

Fr Marcus