The readings for Sunday, August 23:
This week’s Gospel lesson is the culmination of Jesus’s teaching on the bread of life. After his difficult words, he asks his disciples if they wish to leave; Peter answers, “Lord, to whom can we go?”. The reflection on this text comes from Melissa Bane Sevier:
For further contemplation, here is a visual art piece relating to the reading from John 6 regarding the bread that does not give life and that which does. It is an image by 20th century artist Pablo Picasso called “The Blind Man’s Meal”.
Picasso painted this in 1903 in the middle of his famous “Blue Period”. His art from this period was notable for its blue tone and themes of melancholy, human suffering, and depression. For more on this art work, see http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/50.188.