Bread of life

Matthew 15:29-39

          My husband and I recently decided to start making bread at home. We aren't that good yet but we need to curb our purchases of bread as we may be solely responsible for the rise in Panera stock prices. Really, is there anything better that some fresh crusty bread, nice and warm slathered in butter? Bread is the stuff of good eating. We often refer to our common social  gatherings as breaking bread together. Our Eucharistic feast is the bread of life. 

          Bread is a central part of all our lives. When any item is scarce though, we tend to maintain it for ourselves and for our family. So what is the situation with this great crowd of strangers, yearning for spiritual food and now physically hungry as well. The disciples have only seven loaves, hardly enough to feed such a crowd. Perhaps there really was a real multiplication of the loaves but it is equally plausible n my mind that such a staple, broken and shared becomes enough. With shared effort, goals and commitments every small amount contributes to the success of the whole. Sounds almost Borg-like but it is true. 

          I suggest the following which might be good for a meditation. Bread requires yeast, a catalyst and time to grow. Bread requires kneading and a punching down may be required. Bread requires that the wheat be refined and processed. How are these facts similar to our own lives?

After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, ‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.’ The disciples said to him, ‘Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?’ Jesus asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ They said, ‘Seven, and a few small fish.’ Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.