Every culture has bread: whole wheat, gluten free, crackers, flatbread, sourdough, tortillas, rye,

hardtack, cornbread or biscuits, you name it, bread is a staple of life nearly everywhere. Very early in the

Hebrew scriptures we find unleavened flatbread, the kind that bakes quickly in an outdoor stone or brick

oven. It was the kind of bread which Moses took on the travels out of Egypt (later celebrated in

Passover).

In the third book of the Bible there is a recipe for flatbread. Leviticus 2:4 says: use flour and oil

to make a dough, and later, delicious and rare salt should be added. Yummy for the family, but also this

was the recipe for grain offerings to God. Nobody then had money as we know it, so bread was one of

the things people gifted to God and for the sustenance of the temple workers. Bread was important

back then also for hospitality. Guests would be served bread first, even if the family had to go short.

During the three years of Jesus’ special work, he often referred to himself as the Bread of Life,

the kind of spiritual food that fills a person up so full they’ll never be hungry again. Of course nobody

had ever heard of such a thing, so several times Jesus did provide lots of bread when the crowds who

followed him were hungry. It was an object lesson, but sadly some people just came for the food.

At the last meal Jesus and the disciples shared, Jesus called the bread his body, “which is given

for you. Every time you eat this,” he said, “remember me!” This is why Christians celebrate communion

/ holy eucharist / the Lord’s Supper, sharing small bits of bread and wine in remembrance of the great

loving sacrifice Jesus made for us all. As the old Welsh hymn goes: Bread of heaven, feed me till I want

no more! May we be filled to overflowing with the bread of God’s grace.