Familiar Food

If you’ve ever been far from home, you’ll likely know how wonderful it is to taste familiar food. Though some of us, like me, love exotic food from all over the world, there is something transcendent about your favorite home-town pizza or your mom’s lasagna.

When I was a child, my Swedish grandmother made wonderful bread rolls that, when buttered and accompanied with cheese and coffee, seemed to make time stop. The most exciting day of my year would be the day my family set out on the annual road trip, early in the morning before sunrise. My grandmother would bless us with rolls for the journey. Sitting in the front seat with my dad, discreetly leaving the sleeping neighborhood and heading out onto the open road with a cup of coffee and a roll from grandma was exhilarating and brought the experience to its fullness. It’s what the Elves’ lembas must have evoked in the hearts of the hobbits. For years afterwards, just smelling grandma’s rolls baking could transport me back to those memories.

Jesus proclaims to the Jewish people that he is the bread of life. Why the metaphor, Jesus? Why the symbolism? When Jesus invites us to put our faith in him, he does not intend a dull transaction of mere intellectual assent. He invites us to experience the fullness of a relationship that nourishes, satisfies, and exhilarates us. Bread is fundamental to life. Not just existing, but living.  

I’ve been asking myself, how do we eat this bread? How do we experience its fullness?

I look forward to engaging more fully with Jesus’ words from John 6 with you this Sunday.  

In Messiah,

Steve Engstrom+