THE SIGN OF BREAD

A large crowd follows Jesus because they have seen the signs (semeia) performed by him on the sick. The episode of today’s Gospel, not surprisingly, ends with this note: “Then the people saw the sign” (Jn 6:14). The term sign therefore constitutes a sort of inclusion in our passage. We must know that semeion (which occurs 17 times in the Fourth Gospel) reveals the identity of Jesus, the power with which he works, and the will of the Father acting in the Son. John will speak of seven signs: that of Cana (Jn 2.1-12), of the healing of the son of the royal official (Jn 4.46-54), of the sick man at the pool (Jn 5.1-18), of the multiplication of the loaves (Jn 6.1-15), the crossing of the sea (Jn 6.16-21), the healing of the man born blind (Jn 9.1-41) and, finally, the resuscitation of Lazarus (Jn 11 ,1-44). These signs, a true initiatory journey to Christ, must be welcomed in faith, they aim to reawaken faith and—last but not least—they aim pedagogically to lead to it. However, the crowd does not understand the sign of the bread. Why? Simple: because after having had enough food they search for him to make him king. But Jesus does not recognize himself in the messianic conception of the crowd (a messianism in the sign of power) but according to the will of God (messianism in the sign of the cross). John uses an almost violent term – harpazein – to indicate the crowd’s decision to forcibly impose their vision and will on the Master. We can say that the crowd is certainly ready to listen to Jesus as long as the salvation he proposes coincides with their expectations; it is man’s perennial temptation to bend God to his own expectations and plans. But Jesus makes a prophetic and courageous gesture: he withdraws to the side.
This standing aside is extraordinarily expressive and eloquent in a painting by Ivan Kramskoj (1837-1887), Christ in the Desert. Jesus is alone. However, his loneliness is not just a physical but an internal one. Obedience to the Father, to the logic of the Kingdom, fatally separates him. But he doesn’t give up, for him at the heart of true love for humanity lies adherence to his father’s will, at any price, even that of being misunderstood, marginalized and alone.

Commentary by b. Sandro Carotta, osb
Abbazia di Praglia (Italy)

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves,
Prinknash Abbey