Bread of Life – Br. Luke Ditewig
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John 6:35
People often remark on the homemade bread we serve at both altar and supper table. One guest told me: “Your bread is substantial and satisfying. Through this retreat I’ve experienced Jesus as substantial and satisfying.”
Bread is ordinary, daily, necessary nourishment, and a key symbol in our salvation story. God provided ancient Israel with bread from heaven in the wilderness for forty years. Wandering in the desert, our parents asked: “What is it?” God said take a measure of this bread from heaven every morning. More will come tomorrow. Don’t hoard it. I will give you enough.[i]
A bit earlier in John, Jesus turned a few loaves and fish into a meal for thousands. Followed by a crowd, Jesus raised the question of how to feed them. The disciples said: “Six months wages would not buy enough bread.” Jesus said: “Make the people sit down. … Jesus gave thanks and distributed the food, … as much as they wanted.”[ii]
As in both these stories, we question how we will live and focus on seeming scarcity. God invites us to trust provision beyond what we imagine.
Teaching the crowd, Jesus said: “It was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.”
“Give us this bread always.”[iii]
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life.’”
Jesus is more than manna in the wilderness, and more than a meal for 5,000 from a few loaves and fish. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” Jesus offers himself as sustaining nourishment to be received and savored daily. Come to me.
What questions concern your heart? What weight or burden do you bear? What is your need?
Come to me, Jesus says. I am your provision. I am your answer. Trust me.
Eat this bread, substantial and satisfying, enough for today, and promised for tomorrow: Jesus, the bread of life.
[i]Exodus 16
[ii]John 6:1-14
[iii]John 6:32-34
“A table spread in the wilderness”.. Some years ago ( 2015?)from a SSJE Lenten message these words became my desire on a trip to the Holy Land. Today’s words echo its imagery.
And I have never forgotten my stay at the guesthouse. “ Love Be me Welcome” sums it up, the meals you served linger.
Thank you Brother Luke!
It is reassuring to hear these words!
Oh the altar bread! We miss it and you!
Once you posted the recipe in your bulletin-
Might you be willing to share?
I’d love to try making it for St. John’s Beverly Farms!
The SSJE altar bread recipe can be found on this page of SSJE’s website: https://www.ssje.org/2017/07/31/altar-bread/
Enough for today. Fresh every morning in our daily devotions. Be whom God means us to be, just for today, and He will provide. Such simple wisdom, yet we mire it down with the confusions, chances and changes of this amazing life we have been given. Why, oh why, dear God can we not just be gracious recipients of all you have given us?
Kitty W.
Thank you Br. Luke for this very simple but so important reminder of how to run our life every day.
Margaret.
Excerpted this to.send out.
Jesus is more than manna in the wilderness, and more than a meal for 5,000 from a few loaves and fish. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” Jesus offers himself as sustaining nourishment to be received and savored daily. Come to me.
What questions concern your heart? What weight or burden do you bear? What is your need?
Come to me, Jesus says. I am your provision. I am your answer. Trust me.
Many thanks
Many thanks for your direct and touching words, Br. Luke and for your affirmation/amplification Jeanne! It is what I needed to begin this day! Already, Jesus provides!
Blessings, siblings in Christ Jesus!