Proper 13 | Ordinary Time 18, Cycle B

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

In story form this account is a testimony that the Lord provides and has provided “bread from heaven” for the people in response to their call for food. Moses and Aaron are depicted as silent in the face of the murmuring of the people against them. The Lord does not seem to object to the complaints of the people. Instead, the impression is given that the Lord was actually waiting with the bread from heaven and with the quail so that they could be provided whenever the people would need them. It is said that the Lord would provide the bread and the quail so that the people would survive in the desolate wilderness and realize that it was the Lord who had brought them out of the land of Egypt (Exodus 16:6, 12), that they might see the glory of the Lord (Exodus 16:7), and so that the Lord would test them to see whether they would conduct themselves in accordance with the Torah, whether they would be capable of following the commandments of the Lord (Exodus 16:4). There was to be no doubt that the bread had been provided by the Lord; it was not something that the people themselves had earned. The people had merely been in need and had expressed their need, even though it had been done in a childish manner. The bread and the quail had been a gift of the unmerited grace of the Lord God.

Psalm 78:23-29

Here within an extended psalm in which many mighty deeds of the Lord God in behalf of the people are recited, the rather prosaic story form of Exodus 16 is expressed poetically. Here in this psalm it is said that the Lord “commanded the skies,” and “opened the doors of heaven.” The Lord “rained upon them manna to eat,” and “provided the grain of heaven,” “the bread of the angels.” The Lord “rained flesh upon them like dust,” sent “winged birds as numerous as the sands of the seashores.” The people “ate and were filled,” for the Lord “gave them what they craved.” Within this segment of Psalm 78 there is no hint of complaint or disgust on the part of either the Lord or of the people.

John 6:24-35

This text is a short commentary on the Exodus 16 and Psalm 78 texts that was developed in John 6 into an extended dialogue of reflection over the same feeding of the multitude story that had been incorporated into the Mark 6 account. Johannine studies during the past century have helped us to see that the extended dialogue in John 6 is also in many ways a recapitulation of the story of the development and experiences of the Johannine community, of its increasingly high Christology, its struggles with Jewish groups, and its determination of its own destiny. The John 6:24-35 text, therefore, is best understood as much more autobiographical of the Johannine community than it is biographical about Jesus.

In retrospect, we may wish that the extended commentary on Exodus 16, the story of the development of the Johannine community and of its increasingly high Christology would have been done without the anti-Jewish polemic that is included in our gospel text for next Sunday. The anti-Jewish polemic in John 6:24-35 becomes more intense and bitter later in the John 6 dialogue where the Jews are represented as murmuring against the Johannine Jesus because he claims to be “the bread of life” and they do not believe in him. The anti-Jewish polemic becomes even more intense and bitter in chapters 7-9 in the Gospel According to John, especially within John 8.

We are called to proclaim next Sunday that Jesus is indeed “the true bread from heaven,” the “bread of life,” and to declare that whoever comes to Jesus will never hunger and whoever believes in Jesus will never thirst. At the same time, we realize, however, that in spite of the activities of Jesus during the 1st century of the common era and in spite of our faith in God and in Jesus as the Risen Christ, we and others still become hungry, and we still become thirsty. Millions of people each year die after suffering from hunger and thirst. The life that is provided is eternal life, at least within the context of this Fourth Gospel. We see also that Christian hymns such as “O Bread of Life from Heaven” are to John 6:24-35 what Psalm 78:23-29 is to Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15. At the same time, we who are relatively well fed have a responsibility that is much greater than the responsibility of those who developed our biblical traditions, a responsibility to work to develop food sources and to oppose those whose greed and oppression cause so many people in our time to suffer and to die because of lack of food and of good water to drink.

Ephesians 4:1-16

The two groups of people, that is, the followers of Jesus who were of Jewish background and followers of Jesus who were of non-Jewish background, whose coming together with one Lord, one faith, and one baptism into the one “body of Christ” is celebrated and encouraged in Ephesians 4:1-16, are not the two predominant groups in the current composition of the Church. In our life situation, however, there are other groups that should be brought together more closely within the Church. It is our calling to identify the groups within our life setting and to apply this text to our situation. Unity of the Spirit of God and much greater cooperation and fellowship within the Church are essential without, however, demanding uniformity and conformity where respect for diversity is needed.

2 Samuel 11:26–12:13a

The semi-continuous reading of the accounts of the David and Bathsheba relationship continues in this text with the “mourning” of Bathsheba for her valiant husband Uriah, David “graciously” taking Bathsheba as one of his wives, and Nathan the prophet adroitly confronting David with the parable of the one little ewe lamb. The powerful king is maneuvered into confessing the magnitude of his sins.

Psalm 51:1-12

This widely used call upon God for mercy and forgiveness is traditionally associated with what David may have said after the events portrayed in the 2 Samuel 11-12 David and Bathsheba relationship became public knowledge. We should note that although David is presented in 2 Samuel 12:13 as having said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord,” and although in Psalm 51:4 the sinner (David or every one of us) as saying to God “against you and you only have I sinned,” David in the 2 Samuel 11-12 account sinned first against the valiant warrior Uriah, and David and/or each of us sin against other people and at the same time ultimately against God. In our didactic and in our homiletical use of this David and Bathsheba account this should be discussed and reflected upon.