In today’s Lesson, which comes to us through the Gospel of John, Jesus makes some remarkable claims — about Himself. “I am the Bread of Life,” He says. “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” He says. “No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day” He says. And the people who think they know everything, the people whose minds and hearts are closed, even to any new word from God Himself, begin “complaining to each other” about Jesus. “Surely this is Jesus Son of Joseph,” they say. “We know His father and mother. How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus says in reply, “Stop complaining to each other…It is written in the prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God'” (Jn. 6:41,43-44-45,48).

Jesus tells them to stop their murmuring and pay attention. He wants to correct their state of mind. He wants to change their way of thinking. Their attitude is such that they are not capable of perceiving anything about God, and about God’s Plan for their fulfillment which goes beyond what they already know. Their know-it-all attitude closes them off from the possibility of any new word from God. Until they open themselves up to this possibility, they are not qualified to comprehend what Jesus is saying to them.