GodReflection: Power Words

Talk about comfort food. Who doesn’t appreciate the aroma of baked bread seeping from the oven or the sight of solid butter turning liquid and penetrating into the hot concoction of calories? Oh, the mouth-watering taste of hot bread and butter.

For forty-five years, South America played an important role in my life. That time—includes eight years as a resident—and countless trips to the majority of its nations. Hot bread from wood burning ovens—wow, what memories I have. Trips to the breadbasket are also without number.

I love the fact that Jesus defined himself as bread. He raises the love of bread and its sustaining power to the ultimate level.

Jesus is the bread of life.

I suspect that most every home was a bakery during first century Palestine.

I can envision it now.  The sweat must have poured from Joseph as he mixed the mud for earthen bricks. Each brick needed proper consistency and strength. The rectangular chunks of mud roasted beneath the sun as the heat cured each brick for its final purpose.

Perhaps Joseph applied his carpentry skills to the task of oven construction from his homemade bricks. Maybe he bartered his skills as a carpenter to obtain the service of an oven mason. At last, Joseph and Mary owed a brick oven to bake life-sustaining bread.

Surely, as Jesus grew, he and his siblings searched the countryside for wood to fuel the oven as it baked the family bread.

Jesus affirmed himself to be bread from heaven that gives life to the world, and declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The people took notice.

Bread was more than aroma. Bread was more than a savory treat. Bread was more than warmth to the taste buds.

It was life-giving sustenance.

The brick making, stick gathering, bread-making people responded as I would have, “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

Here is what I think.

Bread makes a wonderful metaphor for Jesus who alone sustains.

Let me envision Jesus’ intent for the bread imagery at the Last Supper:

He picks up the loaf, breaks off a generous portion, and says to his disciples, there is symbolism in bread. Anytime you eat bread think about my body crucified for you with all of its implications of God’s forgiveness extended to you.

Surely, Christians of the early church would stand perplexed at today’s reduction of the bread-body symbol to half a “pinkie” size wafer during a five-minute remembrance in our assemblies.

I am not critical of the communion celebration in Christian worship. Although, I do believe we should strive to elevate its significance and its symbols in our assemblies.

However, I do think I would come closer to Jesus’ intent if every time I eat bread the remembrance of what Jesus did for me would be the first thing that flashes through my mind. He gave the symbol during a meal.

Indeed, Jesus gave me bread that gives life.

Each time I encounter bread it can become a power word symbol of Jesus’ sacrifice and forgiveness that makes it possible for me to enjoy eternal life.

When I have toast, there is bread. When I raise that big juicy hamburger to my mouth, there is bread. When I sit down in a fine restaurant, there is bread. When I have a morning cup of coffee at Panera Bread, the symbol surrounds me. On holiday tables, there is bread. In the grocery store, bread calls out.

If I would only open my eyes and connect the every present symbol of bread to the sacrificial gift of Jesus, I would encounter a word of power to sustain my walk.

Stay tuned.

Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on Bread as a Power Word.

Gary@Godreflection.org