That you believe in the one he sent

At 6,8-15; Ps 118; Jn 6,22-29
6 MAY

A first truth that we find in the dialogues of Jesus in the Gospel according to John is Christ the Lord going beyond every superfluous and insignificant word. The other person approaches him to talk. Jesus hears only the first words. Then he immediately announces the mystery that must be announced. So with Nicodemus, the Jews and the Samaritan woman.

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (Jn 3,1-3).

So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water” (Jn 4,5-10).

Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to his Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him (Jn 5,16-23).

Even after the multiplication of the loaves, the Jews seek Jesus. He does not get lost in vain words. He invites them to stop looking for the bread that perishes. They must seek the bread that lasts for eternal life. Only the Son of man can give them this bread. He might donate it because the Father has placed his seal on him. The Father declared, constituted and established that He alone is the giver of this bread. No one else might donate it. Everyone can give the bread that perishes. No one will be able to offer the bread that lasts for eternal life. Clear, direct and immediate words. One welcomes or refuses them. One believes or does not believe in them. This is the style of the dialogues of Jesus: a direct and immediate word, which cannot be discussed. One can respond with faith or non faith, acceptance or rejection. However, Jesus always helps the process of faith. But faith is a joint act of rationality and will. The will eventually must want to believe. Jesus often says so. You do not want to believe. You can, but you do not want to.

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.”

Jesus asks the Jews from the beginning what their faith must be: believing in the one he has sent. Jesus is from the Father. This is the work they will have to accomplish.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints make us disciples with the perfect proclamation of the truth of Jesus.