Not by Bread Alone

 

As Easter approaches, I remember all the more how Jesus

compares His body, or His words, to unleaven slabs of bread,

the kind of bread we don't see anymore, really anywhere.

Modern flatbreads are made with bleached flour, instead of

with whole wheat or other brown-colored edible grass seeds.

Modern flatbreads also are made a lot smaller than in the

ancient Middle East. Modern flatbreads don't really remind

us of how Isarael's painful history, and of how God's own

words (different from Solomon's words as part of Israel's

teaching itself and learning lessons the hard way), began to

be written: on leather, on skins of cattle that had been killed.

Remembering and still suffering the near constant turmoil of all of the Christmas season, makes it difficult to cherish and look forward to the lament and great joy of Easter this year. For me, it's hard to believe the Lenten passage to Easter is beginning.

Monday, I ate the last of chicken I had in store, keeping in mind that I've been sick and that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, the first of 40 sacred days leading to Easter. But still, I'm not looking forward with the same hope as in years past.

I'm weary from a lot, including misuse of the body of Christ, and also including feeling like no one hears a word of the ministry God laid on my heart to communicate with others.

For example, I tell others, giving reason for the faith I have, that I'm thankful for chicken, because I know it helps strengthen me and is part of the sustenance God meant for those who would understand. We don't live fully by physical bread alone, but by everything God has done for us, including His helping us know, from the time of Cain and Able, that He cherishes the human soul so much moreso, that He gave us not only the cattle (including sheep) on thousands of hillsides, but that He gave us His own flesh and blood to, for one thing, pay for the food He willed us to have.

Hoping to look forward again, to Easter ...