Bread Is Not Money

" Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee. A large crowd followed Him. The Jewish feast of Passover was near. When Jesus raised His eyes and saw that a large crowd was coming to Him, He said to Philip. 'Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?' He said this to test Him, because He Himself knew what He was going to do. Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred days' wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.'  One of His disciples, Andrew, said to Him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?' Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were reclining, and also as much fish as they wanted. When they had had their fill, He said to His disciples. 'Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted'. So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, that had been more than they could eat." - [John 6: 1-15].

Many a true-believing Christian thinks that this whole story of loaves and fishes is nothing more than a New Testament "pot luck dinner". That is, some modern interpretations refuse to give credence to the miracle. We simply explain that many in the crowd contributed much for a communal meal.

 But, the real essence of the story is that it prefigures the Eucharist. It is not accidental that this event occurs when "the Jewish feast of Passover was near." Nor is it coincidence that Jesus takes five humble loaves of barley bread and feeds thousands, with bread left over. Jesus' bread is more than sufficient.

At Passover, the Israelites were instructed to kill and roast a sacrificial lamb. The blood from the lamb was splashed over the lintels of the Israelites' homes, to ward off the Angel of Death.

Who remembers, today, that the blood of the sacrificial lamb on their doorframes, for the Israelites, was a principal protection against the specter of Death and Sin in their community?

We see this battle against the Dark Side, again, when Jesus enters the desert for forty days,
 to encounter Satan. [Matthew 4: 1-11]. We see that Jesus is tempted by the devil, when the devil says, "If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."  But Jesus says, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " -[Matthew 4: 4].

Every year, the Israelites had to sacrifice the lamb and splash the blood on their lintels, to keep away the Death that comes from Sin. But when Jesus came, His sacrifice was once, and for ALL.

This makes me wonder a couple of things:

Why is it that we modern Christians do not see Jesus' sacrifice, and our sharing of it in the Eucharist, as the protective armor that it is against Sin? In the Eucharist, we take and eat of the sacred strength of Jesus.

And why do we believe that learning about what the Bible says is a "waste of time" -- when Jesus says that "man shall live on every word that comes from the mouth of God?"

Do we understand what these things even mean today?

Put it this way-- I have been poor in the midst of plenty. I had parents who fed me four-day old left-overs, and who refused to give me any other morsel to eat from their full pantry. I had to find food elsewhere at age five. I learned that "plenty" was not to be trusted, because it could be cruelly out of reach.

I have been poor outright, eating rice and beans when  I was first married, and trying to convince myself and my husband that it was delicious -- It was sustenance, but not for long. All too quickly, we were hungry again.

I learned at a young age that material plenty could be made available to me at one moment, but become illusory or non-existent the next.  I could not "Worship the Almighty Dollar", the way my parents did, because often, their money was freely given one moment, cruelly taken away the next.

Everyone in the family had a way to keep cool on a warm night. I was told  "It is not hot".  If I complied with the family's wishes, things were magically paid for. If I did not comply, there would be nothing for me.

I began to view money as undependable, a temporary illusion. I could not put my stake on money. It could not make me feel confident, secure, more loved. Actually, money had an opposite effect on me. I felt anxious, fearful, controlled by others.

Eventually, I came to realize that I needed something to "feed me" that was more lasting, even eternal. The only Presence in the world, and in Heaven, that is constant, and is always more than sufficient, is God's Grace. And we come to know God's Grace, through His only Son.

Finally, the parable of the loaves and fishes becomes clear. Jesus can ALWAYS give us plenty, in times of uncertainty, in times of deprivation, in times of hunger.

His Bread feeds us, no matter what our circumstance, with bread left over.

No, bread is NOT money. Bread is the Bread of Life, that can come only from the eternal, infinite Being of Jesus, as God.

[Related Postings: "Loaves and Fishes", July 27, 2011; "Five Loaves and Two Fish", July 29, 2012; "Loaves For Many", July 27, 2011.]

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