I love to bake. It is a labor of love for me as well as a joyful and relaxing use of my time. When I was a young wife, I wanted to learn how to bake bread like my Mom did every week of her life. Every Saturday she baked bread and rolls, cinnamon rolls, pies, cakes, cookies, bars...you name it! But the first loaves I made were inedible, dense and flavorless. I called Mom and asked for help and pointers, I read cookbooks and I kept trying. And finally, I was able to produce a lovely completely delicious loaf of homemade bread!
I don’t know why I was so determined to bake bread. It’s certainly easier to buy a loaf at the store. But now, after so many years of baking for my loved ones, I think I know. Bread is a universal symbol of caring and home at every level; warmth, love and peace are in every slice.
That is the picture that Jesus was trying to give his followers when he told them he is “The Bread of Life.” This would have been a powerful message to those who were there to hear it. They would have known that God gave their ancestors manna in the desert after they left Egypt. That bread had to be made again every day, as does any perishable food. Jesus alone is the living bread. He alone fills us so that we need never hunger again. Jesus is our imperishable, always faithful and always available Bread of Life.
“The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” -John 6:33
As we prepare again for that birth, let us take time to taste that bread, to eat of the unending life that we are offered in the person of a baby boy born to feed the world.
Julie Ludington
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