15 April, 2024 | Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Reading 1: Acts 6:8-15
Gospel Jn 6:22-29
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, his disciples saw him walking on the sea.]
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea
saw that there had been only one boat there,
and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat,
but only his disciples had left.
Other boats came from Tiberias
near the place where they had eaten the bread
when the Lord gave thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into boats
and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
And when they found him across the sea they said to him,
“Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered them and said,
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me
not because you saw signs
but because you ate the loaves and were filled.
Do not work for food that perishes
but for the food that endures for eternal life,
which the Son of Man will give you.
For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.”
So they said to him,
“What can we do to accomplish the works of God?”
Jesus answered and said to them,
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”
Reflections:
The crowd went looking for Jesus. Jesus, who knows in and out of human realities, understood that their motivation for seeking Jesus was not pure. They sought him because they were amazed at the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and they were puzzled at how he had crossed the lake without a boat. They did not realise that Jesus is beyond this material food because he is the source of eternal life. Everything in this world perishes because it gives only momentary satisfaction and pleasure. We must seek eternal life, which is found in Jesus Himself. The work of God is to believe in the Son whom he has sent. The "work" (in this passage) means hard labour and physical exertion. The work we have to do is the work of bringing our hearts (which can love independence and self-reliance so much) before the throne of God so that we can be changed. To believe in Jesus as Saviour, we are called to deny our desire for independence and submit our lives to Jesus instead.
Action:
Prayer, reading the Scriptures and serving one another must become our top priorities, for through them we make ourselves available to the transforming presence of the Spirit.
Voiceover: Sharlene Fernandes
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