Wisdom 3: 1-9 + Psalm23 + Romans 5 5-11 + John 6: 37-40
November 2, 2025 at Saint Peter the Apostle and Saint William Churches in Naples, FL
Something in us often longs for the past whenever times get tough. You know how that goes, you have said it and you have heard it: “Back in the day….” Or, we hear people say, “In the good old days…” as though these are not good days. We often fool ourselves into thinking that back in the day things were more stable and secure. We were often entertained by “Father Knows Best,” “Leave it Beaver,” and “Ozzie and Harriet.” But my family was nothing like that, leaving me wonder what was wrong with us. My Dad never wore a tie to the table, and my mother only wore pearls about four times a year. Those were the days when appliances lasted a life-time. Right?
With that in mind, it’s no big surprise that the crowds come to Jesus thinking that the past was really good talking about their ancestors and how good they had it in that desert with that manna. They didn’t even have to work for it. Those people coming to Jesus remind him of that past believing that if it was so then it ought to be the same now. Give us, they demand.
In understanding this conversation, it might help to know that just a few verses earlier, Jesus has fed a large crowd on two fish and some bread. They want more, and they want it always. They have begun to confuse Jesus with Moses, and that will not work as Jesus points out. It was not Moses but God who was the source of that manna. By pointing that out, Jesus suggest that the comparison should not be between Moses and Jesus, but between Jesus and manna. Now, he is the one provided by God.
There is an interesting detail in these verses that unlocks a very important and comforting message as a people remembering our loved ones who have gone before us. The detail is the verb tenses. The statements of the people are all essentially in the past tense. For the entire second half of this passage, Jesus speaks about the future. “Whoever comes will… Whoever believes will… Then, in the present tense Jesus says the crowd, “It was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, but is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
We are sometimes a lot like these people. We always want more, and too often we want signs when the truth is, we already have the best and final sign, Jesus Christ risen from the dead. That resurrection happened because he did the Father’s will. It is a sign to us that we who do the Will of God shall be raised up as well, and that is our hope today.
Too often this day has taken on the trappings of gloom and grief, and too often we live in the past as though there is no future. Jesus draws and leads us into the future. Those we remember today are still full of life – the fulness of life, where no harm can touch them. This day is a day of hope, anticipation, and joy. Sadness on this day ought to come from the fact that we are not yet there rather than the fact that we are not still together on this earth with those who have gone before us. Some years ago, the Church threw off those dreary, morose black vestments that once marked this as a day of mourning and sadness as though we had no hope and all was lost. Now, we put on the white of Easter to proclaim our hope that rests on the Resurrection of one who fulfilled the Will of God.
We rejoice today with grateful hearts that we have received the promise of life as we feast on the Body and Blood of the one who has come to give us life that lasts forever. For we believe that one day whatever death has broken will be restored, as those with whom we have shared this life wait for us in glory.