How Essential is Our Daily Bread?
In the gospel of Mark, as Jesus journeyed along with his disciples, they had an ongoing problem with bread. In Mark 6:35-44, they had a predicament. It was getting “quite late” (v35), and the disciples were worried that if the people following Jesus didn’t leave soon to go out to the villages and buy something to eat, they wouldn’t get anything at all. In those days, they did not have any 24/7 stores, no Walmart around the corner or restaurants open late. They brought the problem to Jesus, and Jesus sent the problem right back to them, saying, “You give them something to eat.” The disciples weren’t sure Jesus understood, and so they asked Him again, did He mean for them to go and spend 200 denarii on enough bread for all the people? 200 denarii was 200 days of pay! It was a lot of money! In response, Jesus asked how much food they had, and they answered five loaves and two fish. Jesus blessed it and fed five thousand, with twelve basketfuls leftover, one basket for each disciple. Bread problem solved.
In Mark 8:1-9, here they were a second time, in another predicament, having another bread problem. The “great multitude” were there again with nothing to eat. This time Jesus brought the problem to the disciples. It was almost the exact samed situation. Jesus said the folks had nothing to eat, and He didn’t want to send them away, because they might even faint on the way home. To this, the disciples responded rhetorically, where would they find enought food for all this people in this “desolaten place”? And Jesus was at it again, asking how many loaves there were. The answer: seven loaves and a few small fish. Was it enough? Yes, we all know that it was, and there were even seven basketfuls leftover. Jesus had fed 4,000 people. Bread problem solved again!
I wonder if the disciples were catching on. Journeying on in Mark 8:10-20, Jesus gets into a boat with His disciples on the way to Dalmunutha. After a brief discussion with some Pharisees, which made Jesus sigh in His spirit, they embarked to the other side. On the way the disciples realized that they had forgotten to bring enough bread. Another bread problem?? Yup! In verse 15, Jesus told the disciples to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod, and Mark 8:16-20 New American Standard says that:
And they had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, “Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember, when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?”They said to Him, “Twelve.” “When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?”And they said to Him, “Seven.” And He was saying to them, “Do you not yet understand?”
This was the THIRD time the disciples had had a bread problem. Jesus started talking to them about leaven, and they thought He was upset at them for not having enough bread, and so they started discussing it with each other, probably saying something like, “I can’t believe we forgot to bring enough bread again!”. They were totally missing the point. Was it really a problem with the bread, or was Jesus trying to soften their hearts and open their eyes to see something? Let’s look at John 6:51 NASB, where Jesus says:
I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh
Sometimes the answer is so close in front of our eyes, that we don’t even see it. Here the disciples had three different incidents where they did not have bread, but the LIVING BREAD was standing right there in front of them every time! When Jesus was teaching the disciples to pray with the Lord’s Prayer, He prayed “Give us our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), because we need HIS PRESENCE, THE LIVING BREAD DAILY.
I’ve always wondered why God the Father was so angry with the Isrealites when they asked for Quail intead of Manna. God had been giving them Manna every day, and it had been enough for them. When they asked Him for Quail, He did give it to them, but in Numbers 11:20, He said they would eat it for a whole month “until it comes out your nostrils and becomes loathesome to you.” Ewe! While they were about to start chewing the Quail, God then struck them with a plague (Numbers 11:33). Why do you think He was so angry with them? It was because the Manna represented THE BREAD OF LIFE-JESUS. We read in John 6:31-35 NASB:
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
Yes, we need Jesus every day, every hour, every minute, every second! He is our sustenance. He is essential for us to have life and live it abundantly.
So moms, let’s realize that
WE NEED HIS PRESENCE AS OUR DAILY BREAD.
In His Love,
Suzanne
Mom Morsels 