“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger…” John 6:35
Confession…I have had a life-long love affair with bread. Breads of all types: white, wheat, rye, pumpernickel, sour dough, dinner rolls, sesame, French, Italian, Challah, store-bought, homemade, thin slice, thick slice, tear-it-off the loaf, hot out of the oven and cold from the fridge. I have my preferences, but the truth is…I am an indiscriminate bread lover!
As a little girl one of my favorite snacks was bread balls. That’s right – bread balls! In case you’re interested, here’s how to make bread balls:
Step one, sneak two to three slices of bread out of the fridge.
Step two, tear away the crust and eat as quickly as possible. (Uneaten crusts leave evidence that could lead to Mom-questions for which there are no good answers.)
Step three, mash the crustless slices of bread together, then start rolling and squeezing as tightly as you can between your hands until you form a ball – the bigger the ball, the better!
Voila! Bread Ball! Delicious. (Note: Not Mom-approved.)
A second fond childhood bread memory is tied to outings to Big Town Mall. Big Town was the first enclosed and air-conditioned shopping mall built in the Southwest.
Not long after it opened, my Mom, my sister, Shellye, and I made the trek from Pleasant Grove to Mesquite (TX) to see what the Big Town fuss what was all about. It was amazing, like nothing we had seen before – shop after shop all under one roof in a climate-controlled environment, which in the state of Texas, in the middle of summer is a really big deal. But the shop that caught our attention and brought us back time and time again was a bakery that made fresh bread. We bought a large loaf right out of the oven and hurried to the car excited to take our warm prize home to share with Daddy.
Daddy never tasted the amazing bread. The warm, fragrant aroma filled the car as we left the mall; we had gone no more than a mile when Mom said, ‘break me off a little piece.” That was the beginning of the end for that fresh baked bread as the three of us devoured the loaf long before we arrived at home. Once home, we threw away the empty baker’s bag and aired out the car. Daddy was never the wiser.
My last and most significant childhood bread event eclipsed every bread memory before or after. It was EPIC. In the second grade, my class had a field trip to Mrs. Baird’s Bakery – the largest baking facility in the state of Texas.
Properly dressed in paper “jackets” and tall paper hats bearing the Mrs. Baird’s logo, we began our guided tour of the enormous bakery. It was beyond impressive. We watched as gigantic bins of flour were poured into massive mixing bowls from which doughy lumps emerged, the loaf-of-bread-wannabes were then carried by conveyor belt through the shaping and rising processes. Finally, shaped and risen the dough traveled on to the massive ovens.
At this point, our second-grade class was led out of the baking facility into a large, fragrant room. On the wall dividing the bakery from the room in which we stood was small, square window through which a lone conveyor belt entered and exited the room. The smell of fresh baked bread was almost overwhelming!
We watched as the empty belt moved along its track, suddenly a loaf of hot baked bread appeared at the window, followed by many other loaves of hot bread. Plastic capped and gloved workers in white coats who had been milling around a table at the end of the conveyor belt sprang into action. The first worker snatched each hot loaf as it arrived, passing it to the next worker who efficiently sliced the loaf in half from one end to the other. The spliced hot halves were quickly slathered in butter by a third worker, who placed one steaming half in a paper tray and handed it to the nearest child.
We quickly crowded the table to accept our fragrant, tasty reward. Never before and never since have I smelled or tasted any bread so delicious. Olfactory memories flood my head every time I recall that delightful day.
So yes, I am a bread lover.
Maybe that is why I love the many stories and references to bread that are found in the Bible.
Bread is first mentioned in Genesis 3. Part of Adam’s punishment for his deliberate disobedience was that hard labor would be required to provide his family with bread. (Genesis 3:19)
In the Old Testament, bread was a symbol of hospitality, sustenance, and God’s generous and unfailing provision. At other times, the lack of bread was a sign of God’s displeasure with the rebellious, unfaithful Children of Israel (Deuteronomy 8:3).
- Hospitality – Genesis 14:18, Genesis 18:5, Genesis 19:3
- Sustenance – Genesis 21:14, 41:54; Exodus 16:4; 1 Kings 17:6, 11; 1 Kings 18:4, 13
- God’s Provision Remembered and Celebrated – Exodus 12:17, Leviticus 7:13
Many of the mentions of “bread” in the Old Testament (over 200 OT verses include the word “bread” in my ESV Bible) are a foreshadowing of the Bread of Life revealed in the New Testament.
In the New Testament, bread takes on a new significance.
- The feeding of the 5,000 – Jesus showed great hospitality and compassion for the crowds that gathered to hear Him teach. Late in the day and in a desolate place, Jesus knew the people were tired and hungry, so He instructed His disciples to give the people something to eat. Jesus knew what He was going to do, but He wanted to see how the disciples would respond. The disciples were clueless, but they were able to find five loaves of bread and two fish, which they took to Jesus.
Wouldn’t you just love to read that the disciples turned to Jesus and said, “Lord, we saw You turn six stone jugs (20-30 gallons each) filled with water into fragrant, delicious wine at the wedding in Cana (John 2:1-11), so we know that you can turn these five loaves and two fishes into plenty of food for the whole crowd?! But that’s not what the disciples said. Instead, they said, “this isn’t nearly enough!”
So, Jesus did what Jesus does. He takes our meager offerings, our tiny talents, our small acts of service and turns them into something extraordinary for His Kingdom. Not only were the crowds fed, there were leftovers! (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44, Luke 9:10-17, John 6:1-14)
- The feeding of the 4,000 – Similar to the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus’ compassion and concern for the people was on full display. After three days together, He was unwilling to turn the people away lest some faint from hunger on the way. Again, the disciples overlooked the glaringly obvious source of provision and sustenance. Instead, the disciples handed Jesus a basket filled with seven loaves of bread and a few fish – “Lord, this is it – that’s all we’ve got!”
Jesus blessed and gave thanks for the food, and the basket containing seven loaves of bread and a few fish was passed around. After all had eaten and were fully satisfied, seven baskets of leftovers were gathered. (Matthew 15:32-39, Mark 8:1-10)
- Forgotten Bread – This story falls under the category of “you have got to be kidding me!” Keep in mind, this incident occurs after the water to wine episode in Cana, multiple healings, a little girl raised from the dead, the feeding of five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand.
After an encounter with a group of Pharisees and Sadducees who were looking for a sign, Jesus and His disciples crossed over the Sea of Galilee, where the disciples realized they had forgotten to bring the bread (perhaps the seven baskets of leftovers?).
Jesus started to warn the disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees, but stopped when He realized they were not listening, instead they are fussing over the missing bread. To paraphrase, Jesus said, “What is the matter with you? Don’t you get it? I can provide the bread!” (Matthew 16:5-12, Mark 8:14-17)
Sound familiar? Time after time, God proves to us that He is in control, He is working in our lives, He is providing for our needs, and then something happens – maybe big, maybe small, and we totally freak out. We think we have to solve the problem – we have to fix the situation. Our faith falters and our trust weakens. We forget Who it is that we serve.
- The Bread of Life – After the feeding of the 5,000, the people were eager to follow Jesus in hopes of being fed again. Jesus warned the people not to chase after food that perishes, but rather after food that lasts forever which only the Son of Man can give.
Then Jesus said, “‘For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to Him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’” (John 6:33-35)
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life.” (John 6:47)
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.”
John 6:51
Did you get that? It’s not the physical bread that we need – it’s not all of the things of life that we think will sustain and satisfy us.
It’s the PERSON – it’s Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the source of our Salvation,
and He is our Sustainer.
“Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved.” Psalm 55:22
“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increased the harvest of your righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 9:10
“…as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who will sustain you to the end.”
1 Corinthians 1:8