Bread for the World Larry W. Peebles April 3, 2020 20.11
There is nothing like the smell of fresh-baked bread. My wife has become quite the baker, and I love to be around the kitchen for the process. Starting with allowing the dough to slowly rise on very low heat, the whole house is filled with the savory aroma of hand-made bread. Of course the baking of the risen dough produces even more aroma, pleasant and stimulating to the taste buds. When the bread is cooled and ready to slice, the first bite is better than the high expectation set by the sense of smell. When I spread some warm butter on the fresh bread, and apply jelly or honey, the result is simply amazing.
Depending on the grains used in the making of the flour, and considering no preservatives are added, one has to ask how something that tastes this good can also be good for their body? I cannot imagine how anyone could resist fresh bread from the oven. There are cultures around the world where hearty and healthy bread is not only a treat, it is essential for life. The grain may be ground by hand using simple tools such as stones, and the oven may be a fire contained in stacked stones or clay, but the result is still fresh baked bread.
Jesus said in John 6:48-51- “I AM the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I AM the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
Jesus related Himself to the traditions passed from the prior generations. The people of Israel took unleavened bread with them when they departed from bondage in Egypt and journeyed to freedom in the Promised Land. For forty years, from the start of that journey until they stepped across the Jordan River into the land God had given them, they ate manna (bread) from heaven daily to sustain their lives. A sample of that manna was kept in the Ark of the Covenant as a reminder of God’s provision and protection.
Jesus then made it clear in this passage that He not only provided the manna their ancestors ate in the wilderness—He was the manna they ate. “I AM the living bread which came down from heaven”, He said. His statement pertained to the past tense (i.e. the manna), and the present tense. He was, is, and will always be the living bread from heaven.
The people who ate the manna received life for a while, but eventually died. They did, however, come to understand the concept of life-giving bread. Having made that point, Jesus went on with two more incredibly powerful statements. First, “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” The final and perfect living bread from heaven would nourish unto eternal life. Second, “The bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” We know that Jesus then sacrificed His flesh on the cross so that mankind could be forgiven and reconciled back to God. Confession of the truth of that statement is the only way to find eternal life.
All of this was packaged as yet another of His “I AM” statements (found in the Book of Exodus, and throughout John and Revelation), which further revealed His divine nature, and related to their traditions. The story of Moses at the burning bush, where Moses asked God His name, revealed the name of the One True God as I AM. We know this to be the person of Jesus speaking to Moses through the burning bush. Jesus was saying “That was Me—I Am the I AM.”
Jesus strengthened His revelation regarding bread. After Jesus sent out the twelve disciples for the first time to “heal the sick, cleanse the leper, raise the dead, and cast out demons” (Matthew 10:8), they came back to report on what had happened. Jesus suggested they retreat to as deserted place to rest. The crowds saw them and followed. Mark 6 says Jesus had compassion on the crowds and began to teach. As the day drew to a close, the crowd had not eaten and they were in a deserted place. Starting with five loaves of bread and two fish given by a small boy, Jesus fed the crowd of five thousand men (10-15 thousand including women and children), and had twelve baskets of food left over.
On a different occasion (Mark 8), there was another miracle involving bread. Jesus fed four thousand men plus the women and children with seven loaves of bread and a few fish. There were seven large baskets of leftover fragments. Now the pattern was clear. Jesus was the bread that carried the people of Israel from bondage to freedom. He was the bread that fed millions of them daily on the journey to the Promised Land. He had no problem supplying (and being) the bread that fed thousands of them who gathered to hear Him teach and see Him heal the sick. As the bread of life, He was more than sufficient to feed the entire world, both as it existed in His day, and those who were still to come. Today, He is our bread of life.
Finally, He re-defined the Jewish Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread. God had commanded this feast to commemorate the final plague that He brought against Egypt. The death angel killed every first-born in Egypt, but spared those homes where the blood of the lamb was over the door post. Israel was saved and quickly left Egypt. When Jesus celebrated His final Passover meal on this earth with His disciples, he told them the bread they broke and ate was His body, and the cup they drank was His blood. For followers of Jesus, the new tradition would be called the Lord’s Supper. Partaking of that bread and wine was still the key to eternal life. It represented His crucifixion and resurrection, the ultimate defeat of death itself.
The love of Jesus, His compassion for the people, and His victory over the devil and death are a sweet aroma to the believer. “Taste and see that the Lord is good”, says Psalm 34:8. His faithfulness, peace, joy and open arms add to the flavor of the Bread of Life. He will not leave us in bondage, or fail to heal, deliver, provide and protect. All of this is baked into His Bread, which because of His resurrection is a living and eternal Bread. Romans 6:4- “Just as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
My prayer is that we will avail ourselves of the Bread of Life as we celebrate the coming Passover/Easter season. His bread is more than enough to satisfy our deep hunger, and sustain our lives forever.