A Reflection for Monday of the Third Week of Easter
Find today’s readings here.
Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. (Jn 6:27)
Today’s Gospel reading is a quick demonstration on the dangers of cherrypicking Gospel verses. (It’s a lot more than that, but let’s start there.)
Jesus, fresh off the multiplication of the loaves and the fishes and other various supernatural corporal works of mercy, is looking for a little break. But it doesn’t last long, because people get into boats and find him.
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.”
Imagine if people went around quoting those lines on Reddit all the time: Jesus himself said “Do not work for food that perishes!” Imagine if politicians, and people in charge of shaping public policy, and influencers who helped Americans form their ideas about their poor, kept on insisting that Jesus himself said “Do not work for food.”
Jesus does not start by withholding. He does not start with the hard part. Yes, he requires much. But he never starts there. And he doesn’t cherrypick!
It would be silly. It would be so clearly out of context. And yet people do this all the time, with other out-of-context verses that suit their purposes. 2 Thessalonians is very popular: “If anyone is unwilling to work, he shall not eat... We command and urge such people by our Lord Jesus Christ to begin working quietly and eat their own food.” I had this line quoted at me more than once when I needed WIC to help me feed my family. (Even though I was working, and very hard. I just also needed help, because life is like that sometimes.)
Here is what I always try to remember. Yes, Jesus told the people not to work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life. But he told them this after he fed them. This is the context. First he takes care of them, and then he tells them that there is even more they can and should hope for. And then he gives them the fuller context.
First he feeds them, because that is how people know they are beloved, and that is how people become able to hear more difficult things. Jesus does not start by withholding. He does not start with the hard part. Yes, he requires much. But he never starts there. And he doesn’t cherrypick!
If we have a difficult message we think we need to deliver to someone, this is our model. First you show love, real love, in the form of things that people actually want and need. Only then, when their bellies are full, should you dare to say: “But there is more.”
