The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

The lessons for today, as well as the Gospel, remind us that God provides for our needs. When Elijah despaired for his very life, an angel of the Lord provided him with the sustenance he needed to keep on going (1 Kings 19:4-8). The psalmist must have had a very similar experience because he challenges us to “Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him!” (Psalm 34:8). And the passage in Ephesians (4:25-5:2) urges us to imitate God in this respect – As God has loved us and has provided for us, so should we do for one another.

Our Gospel lesson for today promises even more. When we partake of the literal food and drink that God supplies (praise be to God), we will hunger and thirst again. And we will eventually die. But Jesus promises to provide us also with spiritual food and drink that will completely satisfy and will lead to eternal life. When his audience first heard these words, they were consumed with complaints and murmuring. But Jesus repeated for them and for us this gracious and abundant promise: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (v. 51).

- Jim Beck