A Spirit of Contentment and a Heart of Gratitude! (HOMILY FOR THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B (AUGUST 04, 2024)

HOMILY FOR THE EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR B (AUGUST 04, 2024)

Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15; Ps.78; Eph.4:17, 20-24; John 6:24-35

 _Do not labour for the food which perishes..._ (John 6:27a)

A Spirit of Contentment and a Heart of Gratitude!

After the incident of the multiplication of loaves in the gospel reading of last Sunday, Jesus had to withdraw from the crowd who were wanting to forcefully crown him king. This means that the people perceived greatest in Jesus. In the gospel reading of today, the same crowd took out time to seek out Jesus; the miracle of the multiplication was just too amazing to let Jesus go like that. We may want to interpret the people’s reaction as gratitude, but it wasn’t. It is shocking to discover that the people were rather selfish than grateful. They wanted Jesus to be their king so that it becomes his legal responsibility to always miraculously provide them with loaves. In that case, Divine Provision will no longer be a gift but a right. Jesus clearly perceived this intention and challenged them for it.

See, the spirit of contentment gives rise to an attitude of gratitude. That explains why you can never satisfy an ungrateful person. This truth is also demonstrated in the first reading of today. Not too long after the sons of Israel were miraculously led out of Egypt that they started blaming Moses and Aaron for bringing them out of Egypt. With a sense of ingratitude, they said beautiful things about Egypt, making it clear that Moses and Aaron did them no favour by bringing them out. It is true that their complaint was motivated by hunger, but it is also true that anyone who because of the problems of today, forgets the favour received yesterday, is clearly ungrateful and lacks contentment.

Jesus said to the ungrateful crowd:  _do not labour for the food which perishes but for the food which endures to eternal life_ . Obviously, they are two types of food: the food that perishes is the physical food; while the food that endures to eternal life is the spiritual food. Acknowledging the fact that we are humans, Jesus is not asking that we do not work at all for physical satisfaction, but that we should work even more for our spiritual satisfaction. Hustle to feed, but hustle double to go to heaven. Truly, there is no real satisfaction with physical food (food, money, sex, fame, etc) that is why we can never get enough of this food. Come to think of it: after eating this morning, you will be hungry in the evening; after getting 1million naira in your account, you will want to have 2million; after having sex today, the urge will return days later; after becoming the Vice Chairman of your group, you will want to be the next Chairman, and so on. Physical food just doesn’t satisfy; so, those who commit their lives to chasing them, keep running fruitlessly while remaining empty. But with contentment, we are able to satisfy our physical hunger in such a way that our spiritual diet is not malnourished.

Having being introduced to spiritual food, the people asked Jesus for signs in order for them to believe him. This time, they were reacting to Jesus referring to himself as the one sent by God. They had no problem making Jesus their king; they had no problem calling him a prophet; but they had all the problem with acknowledging him as the Son of God. This goes to show that they were willing to be associated with Jesus but only to a certain degree. This attitude of the crowd represents us in our limited willingness to embrace conversion. Many Christians want Jesus to be their miracle worker, to answer their prayers, to make life easy for them, but not to reprimand them for their wrong doings. Like the crowds, many are attempting a type of Christianity whereby they will keep Jesus like a machine that does their biding but never like a master whose rule they must submit to.

In the second reading, St. Paul frowns against such type of Christianity in his letter to the Ephesians. If we must have Jesus with us, we must be ready to put off the old self that is corrupt, deceitful and lustful. There is no Christianity without on-going conversion. Conversion is not all about saying “I am sorry”. Infact to say “I am sorry” just so that you escape punishment, without the sincere desire to stop being/doing wrong, it’s actually manipulation, not repentance. The effrontery and audacity with which many of us return to our old selves after seemingly reconciling with God, strongly suggests that man is constantly trying to manipulate God. The God who constantly invites us to himself, is never pleased with any search for him for the wrong reason(s).

Now see this: the sons of Israel cried to God for deliverance. God delivered them through the instrumentality of Moses and Aaron from the Egyptians. When hunger came, they exalted their days in Egypt. Yet, God gave them bread from heaven. Even at that, they expressed ingratitude when they met with future challenges. But in the gospel reading, they asked Jesus to give them something as great like the manner from heaven in the wilderness – the same manner they were never grateful for. The point is, ungrateful people will always have a way of telling you that you have not done enough. This should teach us that if we allow ourselves to be stimulated by the desires of men, we will be the most pitiable of all men. Not even your own desires should motivate you. Man must not live by bread alone; he must live more by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

The man who is always motivated by God’s will, may often times contend with men and the self, but will surely be exonerated. Be careful with how you allow yourself to be controlled by what people will say. In most situations of life, people will know the truth but will not stand/fight for it, if it will not bring them material benefit. Just as the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, so will people castigate you for doing the right thing that did not benefit them. Like Jesus who introduced himself as the bread of life that truly satisfy, we must summon the courage to remain right even when we have been maliciously labelled wrong. No matter how you try to alter it, the true colour of falsehood will manifest with time.