The Whole Loaf

I have been concerned for a while about the bread in my house. We buy a loaf of sandwich bread and it may take a week to eat it; it may take two. But some days I don’t get around to toast and sandwiches and I come back in a month or more and wonder, do we have any bread? It’s been a few weeks since I’ve eaten any, so I have lost track. To my astonishment, the same loaf of bread is sitting in the bread box and it’s still as fresh tasting as it was the day I purchased it.

That loaf is still soft and there is no mold on it. At all. No mold. And that is the concerning thing to me. So, I started looking into this phenomenon. And you probably know the answer already. Preservatives. You don’t have to refrigerate it and it stays fresh. Like. Like fresh. It’s soft and it tastes good but here’s the thing. It’s not good for you.

In fact, that bread that seems to last forever might finish you off sooner than should be. It causes a range of digestive issues, as well as skin conditions and respiratory problems. It contributes to behavior changes in children. And there are serious concerns about these breads being linked to metabolic issues and even cancer.

Concerned enough about our bread, Susan has taken matters into her own hands. Literally. She now bakes our bread. She even mills her own flour. Because the flour you buy at the grocery isn’t the best for you either. That flour does not contain the whole wheat. In fact just one part of the wheat is in that store bought flour. Again, the issue is shelf life. The grocer’s bag of flour has a longer shelf life if it is not the whole wheat that is milled. Since it doesn’t have preservatives in it, so you need to refrigerate it to help it last.

Susan’s bread has the whole wheat kernel in it: the bran, the endosperm, and the germ. The grocer typically sells you flour milled from the endosperm, the starchy inner part of the kernel.

When God made manna, I bet it wasn’t made from starchy grocer’s flour. I bet it was the whole grain. It only lasted a day. One day. If anybody knew about asking for “our daily bread,” it was those wilderness wandering Hebrews.

But we are the ones who pray the fourth petition. We are well-practiced in asking for our daily bread. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

What does this mean? Luther answers: God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all wicked people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

But what is meant by daily bread? After all, I want some meat too. And veggies are supposed to be good for you. How about some vegetables too. Luther’s answer covers that and more: Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

That sounds like bread made from the entire kernel. But there’s more to the fourth petition to my mind than just physical needs being met.

Since we know about the manna in the wilderness and that Jesus is the bread come down from heaven, I have to think there is a spiritual side to the fourth commandment. When we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” aren’t we also asking for Jesus in our lives each day? I sure hope so.

But how much Jesus? I mean, we don’t want to get carried away. Maybe just the grocery store variety Jesus: a little endosperm manna will be good enough.

I don’t think so. I want the Whole Loaf. I want all of Jesus. Don’t you? Jesus says to you this Thanksgiving, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Who wouldn’t want all of that? I know I do.