Bread contains the energies of the sun and the rain, the vitalities of the soil and the seed. In bread there is the plow of the farmer who sows seed and harvests grain, the stone of the miller who grinds grain into flour, the hand of the baker who kneeds flour into dough and shapes dough into loaves, the heat of the oven that bakes loaves into bread. Bread sustains and supports life. Bread is common, ordinary, daily food. Without daily bread we starve.
Bread means life and livdlihood, and there can be no life without bread.
Last week we heard about a bread miracle. With a little boy's five loaves of barley bread, Jesus fed five thousand. They ate their fill of miracle bread, but did not perceive the sign or believe in the One who fed them. They enjoyed the benefits of the miracle but missed the deeper meaning beyond the bread. How different the bread from Jesus was, eaten while reclining in the soft comfort on a hillside of green grass.