THE BREAD OF THE HOUSE
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jn 6:41-51
For a time, I translated the word “Bethlehem” as “house of bread”. When I reviewed my Hebrew and re-examined the word, I realized that my translation was inaccurate, if not completely wrong.
“Bethlehem” is a contraction of two Hebrew words: be(y)th and lechem. Be(y)th is the genitive form of the Hebrew word for house (bayit). Be(y)th therefore means “of the house” and not “house of”. Lechem means "bread". Be(y)th lechem should therefore be “bread of the house”.
Of course, we know that Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus who today in the Gospel makes the bold claim that He is the “Bread of Life”, the “Living Bread” from heaven, infinitely better than the manna which our ancestors ate in the desert. Bethlehem is not the house of that Bread. Jesus is the Bread of that house. In such a case, anyone who belongs to the family of that house will never hunger because the Bread that feeds that household is Jesus Himself whose flesh is for the life of the world. May we always belong to that household.
Jesus identified Himself with bread, with food, for three reasons.
We must always feed on Him. By feeding on Him He becomes part of us and we become parts of Him. The more we feed on Jesus the more we become like Jesus. His life becomes our life and we receive divine and eternal life. Hunger for Jesus is the ultimate hunger that leads to real death.
We must always feed Jesus to others. We give what we receive. We receive Jesus and we give Jesus to others. Let Jesus be our gift to others always. He is the answer to the deepest hunger of our brothers and sisters. To feed on Jesus but not feed Jesus to others is spiritual greed that causes spiritual obesity that leads to real death, too.
We must always feed with Jesus. We feed on Jesus, we feed Jesus to others, and we feed like Jesus. And how does Jesus feeds? He gives us Himself. He feeds us with His own flesh. He laid down His life for us. He is the ultimate life-giver. To feed on Jesus and to feed Jesus to others but not to feed like Jesus is likewise a danger that causes real death either to the one we feed or to both the fed and the feeder.
Jesus is the true Bethlehem. May He always be the Bread of your house.
Jn 6:41-51
For a time, I translated the word “Bethlehem” as “house of bread”. When I reviewed my Hebrew and re-examined the word, I realized that my translation was inaccurate, if not completely wrong.
“Bethlehem” is a contraction of two Hebrew words: be(y)th and lechem. Be(y)th is the genitive form of the Hebrew word for house (bayit). Be(y)th therefore means “of the house” and not “house of”. Lechem means "bread". Be(y)th lechem should therefore be “bread of the house”.
Of course, we know that Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus who today in the Gospel makes the bold claim that He is the “Bread of Life”, the “Living Bread” from heaven, infinitely better than the manna which our ancestors ate in the desert. Bethlehem is not the house of that Bread. Jesus is the Bread of that house. In such a case, anyone who belongs to the family of that house will never hunger because the Bread that feeds that household is Jesus Himself whose flesh is for the life of the world. May we always belong to that household.
Jesus identified Himself with bread, with food, for three reasons.
We must always feed on Him. By feeding on Him He becomes part of us and we become parts of Him. The more we feed on Jesus the more we become like Jesus. His life becomes our life and we receive divine and eternal life. Hunger for Jesus is the ultimate hunger that leads to real death.
We must always feed Jesus to others. We give what we receive. We receive Jesus and we give Jesus to others. Let Jesus be our gift to others always. He is the answer to the deepest hunger of our brothers and sisters. To feed on Jesus but not feed Jesus to others is spiritual greed that causes spiritual obesity that leads to real death, too.
We must always feed with Jesus. We feed on Jesus, we feed Jesus to others, and we feed like Jesus. And how does Jesus feeds? He gives us Himself. He feeds us with His own flesh. He laid down His life for us. He is the ultimate life-giver. To feed on Jesus and to feed Jesus to others but not to feed like Jesus is likewise a danger that causes real death either to the one we feed or to both the fed and the feeder.
Jesus is the true Bethlehem. May He always be the Bread of your house.
posted by Fr. Bobby @ 3:00 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Jesus, thank you for feeding us thru your flesh and blood. Make us feel that by being fed with your flesh and blood,may we become eventually even a half of your virtues. Make this bread a radiant symbol in our heart so that in return we can share this grace to others. Come along with us side by side with our daily perseverance and be our strength for today and always.
Thank you Fr. Bobby for illustrating us the big difference of this parable. "The Bread of the House" who gives the life of the world .....and not what we usually connote the house of bread.
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