It is a rather simple phrase: Have you eaten yet? But what is fascinating is that there are cultures that include the main staple in the question. In the US, that might mean the question is ‘have you eaten bread today? After all, it would not be unusual to have toast for breakfast or a muffin, a sandwich for lunch and a roll for dinner. Or (stereotypically) in Italy, we might anticipate the question to be ‘Have you had pasta yet? Though Italians do not generally have pasta for breakfast! The question is also one that, in Laos, doesn’t always mean anything about food. It is rather the question ‘how are you?’ It seems there are many Southeast Asian countries that have this type of greeting especially among friends, for example in Thailand and China. ‘How are you?’ becomes ‘have you eaten (rice)?’

Isn’t it interesting that a friend’s welfare is tied to what they are eating or have eaten? How true that is! And honestly, isn’t it all the more true when we consider that Jesus is the Bread of Life?

New Testament Bread

Jesus didn’t choose bread randomly. He chose something that we can identify with as a foundation of our physical health and tied it to our spiritual health. He made the statement as a clear indication of importance. Bread is daily, I am daily. ‘Feed on me’, he says. Do we choose to sit down and have a feast on Jesus? Do we dig in to who he is and what he said as frequently as we eat? That question makes me think I should post a few verses on the refrigerator! I don’t mean to belittle the thought of digging in three times a day, I mean to remind myself to focus on Jesus in every moment, to thank him for my food, to praise him for the sun and the rain both.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Taste. Experience. The experience of walking with Christ is what brings us to the foundational understanding of his goodness. The sun and the rain are both good and bad, but in him we experience its goodness, because he works for our good (Romans 8:28).

Old Testament Bread

Then we contrast that to the most significant bread of the Old Testament. The Israelites sought bread from Moses and received it. Can you imagine waking every morning and finding your meals for the day already prepared on the table? The meals are perfectly balanced, with every macro- and micro-nutrient your body needs. There isn’t too much fat or sugar. It isn’t tasteless, but rather reminds you of honey. God has sent down the best possible nourishment for you. Everyday.

God gives bread, but really it is so much more. He gives because we ask. He gives because he wants us to be well. He gives because in love, he wants to spend time with us. He gives because, as God he wants to provide and for us to depend upon him. Everyday.

Jesus, everyday, all day

The symbol is a staple that we eat (or choose not to) daily and even multiple times per day. Doesn’t this food-human relationship symbolize then the God provider-human dependent relationship well? And even if you don’t eat bread everyday (I admit I don’t either), we do eat every day. Isn’t that the point? The daily, multiple times per day, all through our day, in the small in the big, we seek him? We seek him in the dish washing, the floor scrubbing, the account balancing, the sandwich making, the crawling into bed at night. From morning to night, we need to eat, from morning to night, we need God. Let him be the Bread of your Life.

It is easy to see how eating (rice) is tied to our well-being. I admit that my well-being is tied to my having eaten the Bread of Life daily.