If you are wandering down the street early in the morning anywhere near a bakery you will catch the waft coming from the oven and it seems to draw you in.
I’m not sure about you, but it immediately causes me to crave some of the results of that bakery oven. I can almost visualise that soft, steamy bread with melted butter and jam. It’s making me hungry now!
My wife, Rhonda, usually makes sour dough bread on a Sunday morning and it is hard to resist the tempting smell until we get back from church at lunchtime.
Bread has been a staple part of diets for thousands of years. Some cultures still call bread the primary source of their diets.
We catch a glimpse of the role of bread in ancient times from what the Bible says. God said to Adam after sin entered mankind, “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread.” God provided for the Israelites by sending bread from heaven.
Bread was an essential item, something that sustains, it was food so that life could continue and to the hungry it is what keeps them alive.
It is interesting when Jesus had thousands of people following him desperate to hear more, the Bible says they were hungry, and Jesus fed them all with only five small barley loaves and two fish. Aside from the miracle, Jesus chose bread to sustain them.
Jesus was preparing the people to understand something deeper about bread.
He went on to say, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”
Interesting. Could Jesus mean that we should not put our hope in earthly things, rather things that the Son of Man can give us?
Jesus explained it further when he said, “For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” What is this bread he is talking about? Can you now smell the scent?
Wanting to be very clear, He followed this up with, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Now I can smell this bread, can you?
Just like bread is a staple to sustain us physically, Jesus is a staple to sustain us spiritually. When we eat a slice or two, we will get hungry again and need more slices. But when we eat the bread that comes down from heaven, we will never go hungry again!
Now, is that tempting for you? Give it a try, it tastes so good.
Pastor David Lloyd
Community Church Kyabram
18°C