Many of us love to go on trips. That is why we have in Dumaguete a lot of travel agencies. They are there to help us with our travel plans. They prepare the tickets (of course we pay for them); they plan our itinerary; they tell us which hotel is good; and they tell us which of the places are fun to visit.
Some of us just plan our own trips. When we go to Bohol or Siquijor, we just buy a boat ticket and when we get there we look for a place where we can stay for the night. Or if we have some money to spare, we look for a resort where we can stay for a few days. Others who can afford will go to Hong Kong, or Europe or the United States (if one can get a visa).
Some of these trips have to be planned well in advance; some happen on the spur of the moment; some are planned for us.
Our lectionary lesson is about preparing for a journey. It is part of St. John’s narrative about the “Bread of Life.” This whole subject of “Bread of Life” began with the feeding of the 5,000. It continues to develop as Jesus and the Twelve make their journeys through the various towns, to the lake and mountainside, responding to the crowds.
These short scenarios in St. John’s Gospel cannot be taken literally. They are profound and they have double meanings.
In the passage, Jesus is talking about the “bread of God that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (vs. 33) And then he tells his disciples “I am the bread of life…” (vs. 35a)
It is said that life is a journey. And if we have our choice, most of us would choose a long life. So we take care of our bodies–we exercise, we eat the right food, we take our vitamins. And when we get sick, we take our medicine religiously. Yes, we strive to live long here on this earth.
However, as we journey through life, we do not measure the worth of a journey by its length in kilometers or time.
Jesus is saying in the gospel of John that in our life’s journey, quality of life is far more important than its length. Jesus has something like that in mind when he says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven, and anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” (vs. 35) It is not living a long, long life. Rather it is living a trusting and loving relationship with God made possible by Jesus Christ. The hunger of the human soul is ended when we know Christ.
I perceive my life as a continuous series of journeys big and little, short and long all climaxing in one grand journey to eternity. My prayer time is a journey. My sleep at night is a journey. My trip to the shower, to shave, to dress, to breakfast and get ready for the day–these are all little journeys. They are very short in time and small in most any way you might try to measure them.
But the state of my mind and emotion on these little journeys can add worth to my journey, or take worth away from my journey. Am I affirming myself, or am I putting myself down? Am I telling my family and friends how good they are for me? And am I offering my new day to God? Or do we just run from one place to the other because we are always in a hurry. These little journeys affect all the other journeys and everything we do.
As I look at it, in all of these trips, the worth is not in the length of time or distance. The worth is in the quality of life the trips enabled us to nurture each other.
However, as we make the journey, we go over mountains and through valleys, cross over interchanges and crossroads, and sometimes there are potholes. Other times we see a detour sign. Sometimes we encounter reckless drivers. So the journey might be smooth sometimes. But other times it can be full of danger.
When we travel, Fe my wife always reminds me to go slow in the mountains and particularly around those tight curves. But we do not have to be on a long trip to find danger. It can just be around the corner. In fact, according to insurance statistics, many accidents happen just a few kilometers from our house.
Thus, in any journey that we take, we need to have that “Bread of Life” to strengthen and to sustain us. When we take that bread, the hunger is gone, the human heart finds what it is searching for and life becomes a thing at once of thrill and of peace.
One of the memorable experiences in my ministry was with a lady and her family. When I first arrived at that church, she was one of those who called me at the phone. She could not come personally to welcome us for she was in a wheel chair and she had this disease that she was in pain all the time. Throughout my stay in that church, she was in the hospital almost every other month. I would go and visit her with the thought of ministering to her. However, when I leave their house or the hospital, I often felt that she ministered more to me than I ministered to her. I never knew how much pain she had for whenever I come to visit, she was smiling. She would ask me about the church and the other members of the church. I was always amazed at how she lived with the word “terminal.” She still wore a genuine smile and expressed a positive attitude. She came to Church almost every Sunday when she is not in the hospital. In fact, she was advised by the doctor not to go out of her house except when they go to the hospital. But she told me that life for her won’t be complete if she cannot come to church. Jean (that was her name) had a firm faith in Jesus Christ, the One who sustains her day after day. And her family and others supported this positive faith. Every time I visited with her she had a single message on her lips and heart. It was: “Length of life is not the important thing. Quality is. When she died, the church was full of people whom she had touched, even those doctors and nurses in the hospital. She was a bulwark of strength to all who knew her, including her family.
If we have the “Bread of Life,” we will get through the danger points and we will discover that the worth of the journey is not measured by its length but by the quality in it, even in the midst of pain.
A young man in a marathon race who kept falling farther and farther behind the other runners was noticed talking to himself and his legs began to move with a steady stroke. He began to pick up speed. By the time he reached the finish line, he had passed all the other runners and had won the race. Afterwards, when someone asked him why he was talking to himself, he replied, “Oh, I wasn’t talking to myself. I was talking to God. I was saying, ‘Lord, you pick ‘em up, and I’ll put them down.’”
Bread for the journey. Faith always moves forward.
Life is a continuous series of journeys. Through all of these journeys, ultimately, our aim is to nurture faith in ourselves, faith in each other, and faith in God.
I do not know where you are in your journey right now. Some of you are maybe walking in the deep shadows because you are grieving for the death of a loved one, take the bread with you, the bread that assures you that the great Shepherd is your companion and friend; some might not know which way to take because the problem seems too much, take the bread that nourishes your mind; some may be going through pain because of illness, take the bread that heals; some are probably walking with heavy burden, take the bread who assures you that his yoke is easy and his burden is light; some who are in the midst of celebration for some accomplishments or celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, share that bread with each other, the bread that assures the joy that comes from within; some are just walking not knowing which way to go, take that bread that guides for he is the way. For students anxious about your studies, your love life or your relationship with your family, take that bread that gives life.
For all of us, he assures us, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger.” Receive this bread for the journey! It is ours for the taking.
