Bread of Life - I Am Series - Week 1

“Whatever you may be hungry for — it all begins and ends with Jesus, our bread of life.”
— Pastor Kyle

I don’t eat bread. Well, I don’t eat bread often. A few years ago I learned that I have a slight allergy to gluten, which means I’ve cut regular bread out of my diet completely. I miss bread, a lot! I know, you’re probably thinking, “Kyle, there are gluten-free bread options.” Thanks for mentioning that, I’ve actually tried several types of gluten-free bread, and the truth is they simply don’t taste the same.

Bread is a wonderful thing. Interestingly, scripture uses bread as a metaphor to talk about aspects of the spiritual life. Did you know that bread is mentioned a few hundred times in scripture? It certainly mentions the physical bread that one could eat, but the bible also uses bread as a metaphor to help us better understand both the spiritual life and God himself.

In the story of scripture bread is used to help us understand a significant aspect of the character of God — that he is our provider. One of the most famous stories of God as a provider, of actual physical could be eaten bread, is found in Exodus 16:2-4: “In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day.”

Another famous example is when Jesus feed the five thousand in Matthew 14:15-20, “As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.” Incredible!

While God providing actual bread for people to eat is an incredible miracle and shows the character of a God who cares deeply about daily life, Jesus takes the metaphor even further when he says in John 6:32-35, “Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

In this case, bread helps us understand the concept of “spiritual hunger,” and how Jesus is the only one who can truly satisfy that type of hunger. The thing about Spiritual hunger is that it is a lot harder to put our finger on. We don’t necessarily feel a hunger pang for connection with God like we do in our stomachs when they are empty. So often, it’s only after someone else points out our need for God, that we realize our soul is longing for some type of fulfillment. I’m writing to remind us all of our need for God. The truth about this longing is that we can, at times, interpret that desire as a need for something other than God. We might try to satisfy that desire in several ways, but our need is for God and God alone.

Jesus, the bread of life, can satisfy our spiritual needs better than anything else we try to fill our lives with. But even more than that, Jesus connects us to God by satisfying our spiritual hunger when we can’t even put our finger on what exactly is wrong. The reality is Jesus knows what we need even better than we know ourselves. One commentator I read this week wrote, “Certainly God can meet our need for spiritual nourishment in more mundane ways — a quiet morning walk at sunrise, a run-in with an old friend at the grocery store, a scripture verse or hymn that seemingly just pops in your head. The thing is, unlike regular food, Jesus is always available to us and always present for us. Jesus, unlike bread, doesn’t get moldy, stale, or run out. Jesus’ love for us is free — no need to put “pick up some more Jesus” on our grocery shopping list or wonder whether we’ll need to work a few extra hours to make sure we have enough Jesus on the table! Jesus is present to satisfy our spiritual longings at all times.”

Whatever you may be hungry for — it all begins and ends with Jesus, our bread of life.