Our Daily Bread

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer."

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"Our Daily Bread"

(Hebrews 1:1-14; 2:9-11)

INTRODUCTION:

            After hearing about Jesus feeding the 5,000 from five loaves and 2 fish at Sunday School, a little boy was watching his mother make sandwiches and said, "Boy, Jesus sure must have sliced that bread awfully thin!"

            Throughout time, grain and bread have been powerful symbols of life; vitality; sharing; nurture; the family; and even wealth.  To produce or gather grain was the first requirement of life.  To hoard it was the first sign of wealth.  To share it was the first sign of  hospitality.  We call it breaking bread together, even today.

I.          BREAD AND LIFE:

            Bread embodies the very substance of life.  We see it, touch it, smell it, taste it  everyday.  We take it for granted because we have it.  We forget how important it is to our daily life until we dont' have enough.  And yet every time we  pray the Lord's Prayer we pray for our daily bread.  In our abundance we have it in many varieties.  It comes in many shapes, colors, sizes and flavors.  There are certain things that wouldn't be right without some kind or a particular kind of bread.

            Sausage gravy wouldn't be any good without biscuits to pour it over.

            Chipped beef wouldn't be right without toast. 

            Neither would a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

            Bread is an important element of daily life. What's Italian food without a thick slab of garlic bread, bread so heavy in butter and garlic that you make sure your spouse has a piece, too.  Otherwise you won't be able to kiss for a week.

            And what's a big pot of beans without a hunk of hot cornbread.

            What's a gyro without pita bread.

            Or imagine a Big Mac without the sesame seed bun. 

            We eat all kinds of bread on a daily basis.  We eat tortillas with Mexican food, crackers with chili, Texas toast with chicken fried steak, hot pastrami on rye, bagels with cream cheese or lox, toasted English Muffins with jelly.  Who could have a big family dinner without a basket of hot dinner rolls.

            Bread is important.  There's nothing in the world that excites the senses and brings back more memories than the smell of bread baking.  It permeates every corner of the house.  It lingers invitingly, tempting the taste buds.  The anticipation tastes almost as good as that first thick slab, still steaming and hot from the oven, slathered with butter or honey and melting in your mouth.

            B.        Bread is a powerful symbol in the Bible.  With all this talk about bread, I hope I haven't driven you crazy or made you so hungry you can't listen.  That hunger you're feeling can't begin to compare to the hunger the Israelites felt as they wandered in the wilderness after leaving Egypt.  They hungered and prayed for bread to fill their aching empty stomachs. And then there is Jesus' hunger after spending forty days fasting in the wilderness and being tempted to turn stones to bread. 

            There are other Biblical symbols of bread, as well.   The unleavened bread, prepared and eaten hurriedly on the night of the Passover, a night that families still celebrate today.  There's the loaves and fishes that fed both 5,000 and 4,000.  There's the bread of the last breakfast, the meal of bread and grilled fish Jesus served the disciples on the beach just before his Ascension.  And there is the loaf of revelation at Emmaus, where Jesus revealed his risen self through the breaking of bread with two of the disciples who had given up hope.

II. THE LAST SUPPER:

            A.        And who could forget the bread of the Last Supper where bread and wine are transformed in significance, and Jesus becomes the loaf.  Throughout his ministry Jesus said things like: "I am the bread of life . . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven . . . whoever feeds on this bread will never hunger and will live forever . . . this bread I give for the life of the world."

            At the Last Supper Jesus broke bread with the disciples and prepared himself to be broken for our sakes.  As we look at the elements - the common everyday  types of bread, we are reminded of Christ's sacrifice for our lives and it breaks our hearts, to think that God's loves us this much.  We come broken by sin, broken by others.  In that brokenness we come to the brokenness of Christ and we find wholeness.

            In our hungering and thirsting we come to Christ who is hungering and thirsting for our salvation: we find satisfaction and fullness.  In our brokenness, our hearts and spirits are healed and raised to new life in Christ.  As we eat the bread of the Lord's Supper it ceases to be bread and becomes part of us.  In the receiving  we are consumed in the giving of ourselves to Christ and we rise in newness of life through Him and in Him.  We look the same but somehow we are different.  We are new from the inside out.  Fed and Satisfied.  Clean and shiny.  We glow from the grace of the one who invites us to this special table, our Lord and Savior. 

            And as we look out at those around us, we are reminded of the multiplicity of our responses and experiences.  On this World Communion Sunday, we realize that we really are ONE Body, ONE Loaf in Christ, made of many grains.  We are multi-national, multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-generational.  But we are made one in the Body of Christ.  Out of our diversity comes unity through Christ.  Today we affirm one Lord, one Savior, one Spirit, one Baptism, one God and creator of us all.  Today we affirm one loaf, the body of Christ.

            Today we kneel before the Lord's table with men, women and children around the world of every station and occupation.  Today saints and sinners, royalty and commoner,  priests and laity, righteous and unrighteous all kneel before Christ.  And what binds us together is that we all hunger and thirst and there is only one person who can satisfy that aching hunger and that is Christ Jesus who gave his life for us.

CONCLUSION:

            In the bread and wine on the altar, as Hebrews says, "We see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone."       

            We marvel that the love of God could encompass and forgive the sins of the whole world.  We marvel that the little morsel of everyday bread which we receive can satisfy a hunger such as ours.  And yet it does.  Because it is a gift from God.  It's just bread but it's so much more.  And it means so much more.  It is the bread of life.

            Come and join all Christians around the world today.  Celebrate this simple yet elegant meal prepared just for you.  Come and be fed by the hand of the Savior, the Bread from Heaven. Don't go away hungry.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.