Seek Jesus for Jesus’ Sake
The crowd said to Jesus: “What sign can you do, that we may see and believe in you? What can you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
So they said to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
John 6:30-35
In today's Gospel, Our Lord sets Himself above Moses, who did not dare to say that he gave the flesh which perishes not. The multitude therefore remembering what Moses had done, and wishing for some greater miracle, said: "You promise the flesh which is eternal, and does no works equal to those Moses did. He did not give us barley loaves, but manna from heaven."
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, not Moses gave you bread from heaven, but my Father gave you bread from heaven. For the true bread is He that comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." As if He said, "That manna was the foreshadowing of this food, of which I just now spoke; and which all my miracles refer to. You like my miracles, yet you despise the one they are signs of." This bread which God gives, and which the manna is a sign of is the Lord Jesus Christ.
How many seek Jesus for no other object but that He may give them a temporal benefit! One has a business on hand, he seeks the intercession of the clergy; another is oppressed by one more powerful than himself, he flies to the church. Another desires intervention in his behalf with one with whom he has little influence. One in this way, one in that, the church is daily filled with such people. Jesus is scarcely sought after for Jesus' sake.
參考 References:
Catena Aurea (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Tractate 25 on the Gospel of John (St. Augustine)
“Doctor’s Diary” Ep044