For on him the Father, God, has set his seal

15 APRIL (Jn 6,22-29)

The dialogue of Jesus with the Jews in the synagogue of Capernaum is a mine of wisdom, intelligence and knowledge in the Holy Spirit. With divine skill he wants to bring them to the faith in his global mystery, which is infinitely more than all the prophecies of the Old Testament had spoken on his person and his mission.
In no page of the prophecies concerning him it is said that the Messiah of God would have fed his sheep by giving them to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It is written that the Servant of the Lord would have given his life for our redemption; would have been wounded for our iniquities; would have led the flock of the Lord with great kindness and truth. However, never had they foretold such a great truth.

The crowd that had eaten the bread multiplied by Jesus and that was well satisfied, goes in search of him. It heads for Capernaum. Found him, they say to him: “Rabbi, when did you come here.” It is a question of convenience and opportunity that is needed to start the conversation. Jesus does not let himself be misled by empty words and immediately reveals to them the reason for the search: “Verily, verily, I say to you, you seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because you ate that bread and you were satiated.” You do not look for me in truth. You look for me in utility. Between looking for Jesus for utility and looking for him for truth there is an abyss. The distance is infinite. Searching Jesus for a miracle and seeking him so that he makes us be reborn to a new life in soul and spirit is not the same thing.

Here is the truth why you have to look for Jesus: “Do not work for food that perishes but for what remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” The Jews are encouraged to go beyond the material bread. There is a spiritual bread they have to feed on and only the Son of Man might give them this bread. Why might he alone give it? “For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” Today Jesus is the true seal of God. He is his truth, his word, his omnipotence, his grace, his prophecy, his eternal life, his love, his mercy, his piety, his justice and his holiness. Everything is Jesus to the Jews. On no other, either of the past or of the future, has God ever placed and ever will place his seal. Only on Jesus he has placed it. This is his truth. Since the Father has constituted him his grace and truth, it is from Jesus that now one must depart, from him he must start. Every other of the past is his witness. Now that Jesus has come, his mission ends, his ministry ends and his word dies.
The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with his disciples in the boat, but only his disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found him across the sea they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent.”

The Jews seem well-intentioned, “What must we do to accomplish the works of God?”. If you, Jesus, are the seal of the Father, what does the Father tell us through You? The answer is immediate: “This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.” You, Jews, want to do the works of God. Well, there is only one work to be done: believing in the one God the Father has sent. If you believe in me, accomplish the works of God, if you refuse to believe in me, you are out of the works of God, even if you accomplish the works of this or that other prophet. These are witnesses that speak of me and proclaim me. They are finished. Their mission has ended with my coming. You must make a leap from them to me. Leave them and believe in me.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints teach us this true faith.