Bread from Heaven. John 6, 24-35

They said to Jesus: “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat. ’” 32 Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
The crowd was satisfied with the bread and demanded to continue being fed by Jesus. But Jesus called them to look for other bread, the bread that endures for eternal life. Jesus is this bread, and everybody needs to eat this bread. In the gospel of John what we call miracles are called “signs”, because they pointed toward a spiritual truth. In this case to move the people from the concerns for the material food to the reality that we need more than bread to live. We need the bread of heaven; we need to be spiritually nurtured by God through Jesus.
The people needs to move from the limited understanding of the acts of God to a new dimension of understanding of God´s presence in the world.
God is not any more a memory from the past. The promises of the past to Israel are fulfilled now in the ministry of Jesus. They need to be curious they need to explore beyond the limits of their reason and tradition and see that the real exodus is now taking place. It is the exodus from the slavery of sin into the new promise land of freedom called the Kingdom of God.
The people needed to discover that the real Promised Land still waits to receive the people of God in exodus from the slavery of sin. But during this exodus they need to be fed, and now the new manna is the presence of Christ in their lives: “For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
When the crowd listened to that statement they asked Jesus: “Sir, give us this bread always.”
I think that this demand needs to be central in our life. We need to be hungry for the bread from heaven. We need to ask Jesus daily the same that the crowd asked that day: “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Because we are people in a pilgrimage, we are experiencing the exodus again, and this exodus is not easy. Like the character of the Maze Runner movie, we need to remember that to be imprisoned inside the maze is not our real home; our home is outside the walls. We need to remember that this world and all what we have here is not all, that we have more, that there is more in our life than what we see around us. We need to remember that the mystery of God is here and in us, living in the presence of the Holy Spirit and making us remember what we need to ask day after day: “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Yes, always. Because without this bread we cannot live an authentic life! Because without this bread we cannot have the strength to resist the temptations, because without this bread we cannot find the power of the Son of God acting and leading us in our exodus.
I invite you to pray these words every day, to ask for the living presence of God transforming you daily with the energy and strength of the bread of heaven. You can pray at home, or when driving or in a break during the day these simple and powerful words: “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Because the answer will always be the same, Jesus said to the people that asked for the heavenly bread: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
What a wonderful and powerful answer!
What a great way to go through our daily journey of faith! Our hunger and thirst can be satisfied in Christ. We have a place with Christ, we don’t need to be lost, or imprisoned in a labyrinth of doubts and fears. We have in Christ the answer to our last concerns and ultimate questions of life and existence.
Now we can walk with him, now we can see that it does not matter how long the journey is, because we will be sustained and protected during the whole journey and this exodus is a way to freedom.
We can give thanks to God in Christ, for this reason, every day and rejoice in God´s mercy. 
The same way that Jesus invited the people to penetrate beyond the superficial material food, we are invited to see beyond our limits and frustrations, dreams and nightmares, and just trust that the grace of God acting in Christ is healing us and empowering us to continue the journey day after day.