Sharing the good news is difficult to do. Many believers are not aware of their duty to share it with everyone. Whatever it means, we need to share the good news without condition or reservation. In today’s gospel, Jesus tells the crowd that the ideal way to become a good servant of God is to share the good news. And who has the good news? Let us discuss it point-by-point in our text today.
First, the crowd asked for an alternative way to be able to go to heaven. Jesus answered them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” This means that everything we have today and, in the future, will perish. So, everything is temporal. Temporal means there is nothing permanent in this world. Everything must change, and there is a possibility of instability in every phase of life. When we experience the phase of birth, then we will experience the passing of death. Therefore, we need everlasting and timeless moments to have assurance of salvation. That’s why God designed our moments to have to work, have time to rest, have time with families and friends, have time to share our excess resources, have time to serve the needy, and have time with God through worship. These are the eternal lives based on the perspective of Jesus. Also, this is spirituality.
In practice, many of us are tirelessly working for material things. There is nothing wrong with looking like this. However, we need to share whatever we have excessively. On the other hand, some believers are looking more at eternal life. They are solely looking for the banalization of their soul to be able to reach heavenly living. God never questioned such practices, but God reminds us: don’t abandon those people who suffered due to hunger, misery, and tragedy. Prophet Isaiah reminds us that we need to learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow. Once we do this, the Spirit of the Lord is always upon us.
The second thing that we need to do is strengthen our faith in God as well as in Jesus as the one who was sent by God. This is not a requirement; rather, this is armor against evil forces. All we need to do is become prayerful (Philippians 4:6-7), trust in God’s promises to us (Romans 8:28), worship God in order to have fellowship with believers (Psalm 55:14), have knowledge and wisdom from the Scripture to determine our purpose (2 Timothy 1:9), help the poor and needy (Deuteronomy 15:11), forgive those who have sinned against us (Matthew 6:14–16), and change our lifestyle as simple believers (Ephesians 4:20–24). Once we do this, we are never thirsty for looking for eternal life. Even if we succumb to death, we will never fail because God is with us, and we can expect an everlasting life.
Lastly, everybody has a purpose in life (Isaiah 43:10). Whether you are looking for material or earthly things, the purpose of life is to survive economically. According to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy theory of needs, our purpose is not to survive economically but rather to achieve the apex of self-esteem. What is this self-esteem all about? Self-esteem means to become worthy or valuable. Lately, I watched the live interview of Cathy Binag, a live-in partner of the former congressman in Davao del Norte. According to her, because of her faith in God, she exposed herself to an interview by Maharlika. She confessed in her interview that her former live-in partner, together with the leader of the country, had a snorting session with the white substance. She also reiterated that, because of her faith, she doesn’t want this government to last because it is surrounded by evil forces.
Let’s go back to our topic of having a purpose in life and becoming worthy or valuable. A worthy and valuable person knows how to act righteously to expose evil doing. This may guarantee eternal memories for those who may recognize him or her. And God is commended for such an act. As Proverbs says, to do righteousness and justice is desired by the Lord more than sacrifice.21:3).
In summing up, give us the bread of this world, which is against the concept of Jesus; I am the bread of life. The first concept is the pure material things or physiological needs of humans, while the other is our eternal life as humans. We need to balance our lives with the resources of the world and the eternal purpose of God. In order to become righteous, we need to offer the sacrifice of righteousness and trust in the Lord (Psalm 4:5). Exposing the wrongdoing of evil is our duty in order for God’s reign to prevail. This is our ultimate duty. Those who have faith in God will expose the evil in this world (Ephesians 5:11). Be vigilant and righteous at all times to be able to have an everlasting life, as Jesus said to us.
Prayer
Creator God, you call us to love and serve you with body, mind, and spirit through loving your creation and our sisters and brothers. Open our hearts in compassion and receive these petitions on behalf of the needs of the church and the world (The Revise Common Lectionary Library). Amen.
References:
- com (2024). Johannine Theology, https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Johannine-Theology
- Vanderbilt Library (2024) The Revise Common Lectionary, https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/prayer/
