March 18: “I Am the Bread of Life”
♫ Music:
Day 30 - Thursday, March 18
Title: “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE”
Scripture: Mark 6:34-44; John 6:32-35
When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and it is already quite late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” But He answered them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said to Him, “Shall we go and spend two hundred denarii on bread and give them something to eat?” And He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. They all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. There were five thousand men who ate the loaves. 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.”
Poetry:
Post-Miracle
by Ashley Wong
For they considered not the miracle of the loaves:
for their heart was hardened. Mark 6:52
I understand now how the disciples could touch
thousands
of pieces of bread with their hands and still not get it,
how so many salt fish could shimmer only in the
periphery
of their consciousness. Life schleps on. Katie had
surgery
last Wednesday. They harvested the sick lung
from her body and left a ditch next to her heart.
The world inside flickered into night. She lost oxygen
for twenty-four minutes. We thought she had died
when she opened her eyes and began to nod. I know
what it’s like to be hardened in the face of a miracle,
for some
insane part of me to care only about checkboxes
on a list,
dust forming clouds underneath the couch, my sleep,
my needs, when someone is rocking the line between
life|
and death, pressing to see one square of light
each morning. Is this what it means to be human?
The light rinsing me when I step outside and say,
I don’t care. Whose night is it anyway? The disciples
gathered the leftover pieces of bread and fish
and stumbled away from that hillside astoundingly
the same as when they had arrived.
AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
The miraculous multiplication of food in the hands of Jesus reminds us where food comes from. The incredulous question of the disciples, “Shall we go spend two hundred denarii on bread?” shows where they think food comes from: their wages and their work (two hundred denarii is more than the wages for half a year’s work). Their limited, faithless, perspective—and ours—finds expression in Bart Simpson’s shockingly honest prayer before dinner: “Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing.” Jesus seeks to show his disciples that food doesn’t come from the work of their hands, but from the hand of God. As the psalmist says to God, all creatures “look to you to give them food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things” (104:27-28). God gives, we merely gather. And yet, sometimes, like the disciples we don’t “get it” and we’re “hardened in the face of a miracle.”
The miracle of Jesus should open our eyes to the true source of our daily bread. George MacDonald expresses this well:
[The Son’s] miracles in bread and in wine were far less grand and less beautiful than the works of the Father they represented, in making the [wheat] to grow in the valleys, and the grapes to drink the sunlight on the hill-sides of the world, with all their infinitudes of tender gradation and delicate mystery of birth. But the Son … condensed these mysteries before us and let us see the precious gifts coming at once from gracious hands—hands that love could kiss and nails could wound.
[The Miracles of Our Lord, 1870]
The painting of the bread in the hands can remind us to receive our food from God’s hands. This allows us to receive his abundant provision with grace: both gratitude and the generosity (portrayed in the song) that comes from the confidence that “there is more than enough.”
The comments of Jesus following the miracle reveal a deeper truth. His miraculous provision of food invited comparison with the provision of manna: Was Jesus a new Moses? Jesus points out that it was not Moses who provided the manna, but God. Furthermore, what God gives is not merely bread, but life. Jesus, like Moses, knew that man’s life does not come from bread alone, but from the words of God. What Moses didn’t know is that God would send his Word down out of heaven into the world as a man, and that that Word was God. In him was life, and thus Jesus is the true Bread of Life. In Christ, God gives life by giving himself as true food.
The painting of the deposition of Christ from the cross reminds us of what it cost God to put the Bread of Life into our hands. His body was broken so that he could give himself to us as the Bread of Life.
Prayer of General Thanksgiving
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory throughout all ages.
Amen.
----from the Book of Common Prayer
Joe Henderson
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork #1:
Bread in the Hand
Safet Zec
2016
Tempera, collage on paper on canvas
50 x 70 cm
About the Artwork #2:
Abbraccio (Embrace)
Safet Zec
2013–2014
Tempera and collage on canvas
50 x 70 cm
Many of Bosnian artist Safet Zec’s paintings have a sepia-toned dream-like quality. Much of his work embodies a stark depiction of reality that is filtered through the lens of history and personal trauma. Though his depictions of humanity are arresting and sometimes troubling, the love and care he takes in crafting his work gives his paintings a layer of quiet beauty. Today’s two paintings by Zec serve as reminders of the great sacrifice made by Jesus for us on the cross. In Bread in the Hand, Zec paints an individual breaking bread, referencing the sacramental celebration of the Eucharist in which Jesus “...took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me." The second painting Abbraccio (Embrace) shows the crucified and broken body of Christ being lovingly taken down from the cross. To live physically, we need a staple food like bread, but to live spiritually and eternally, may we embrace Jesus, who is the bread of life, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” John 6:51.
About the Artist
Safet Zec (b. 1943) is a Bosnian artist. Influenced by his own experiences of war in Bosnia and then from his adopted city of Venice, Zec creates haunting and disturbing paintings that reflect those experiences. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade, where he attained both an undergraduate and postgraduate degree in painting. When the Bosnian War broke out in 1992, Zec moved from Sarajevo to Venice, Italy, where he lives and works today. When fleeing Sarajevo, Zec left most of his paintings behind, so, once he was settled in Italy, he began recreating his entire body of work. This experience marked both his life and career, and the theme of conflict became more prevalent in his paintings, as did images of Venice, which became both a shelter and source of artistic inspiration. From the mid-1970s onwards, Zec has exhibited in countless galleries around the world.
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/bosnia-herzegovina/articles/haunted-by-war-the-art-of-safet-zec/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safet_Zec
http://www.safetzec.com/index.php?id=22
About the Music:
“Jesus, Bread of Life” from the album Neighbor Songs
Lyrics:
Jesus, bread of life
Manna from heaven
Broken for the world
Offered up for every man
Feast of angels becomes food for the weary
And hungry hearts are filled
When you open up your hand
When you open up your hand
O, Lord, come fill us with your love
This table laid for us
There is more than enough
Jesus, bread of life
Sister, take what you need
Anything I own
There is no famine here
Jesus’ love will multiply
Brother, what’s mine is yours
You are not alone
There is no shortage here
Jesus’ love satisfies
Jesus’ love satisfies
About the Composers/Lyricists:
Audrey Assad and Fernando Ortega
Audrey Assad (b. 1983) is the daughter of a Syrian refugee, an author, speaker, producer, and critically lauded singer/songwriter and musician. She creates music she calls “soundtracks of prayer” on the label Fortunate Fall Records, which she co-owns with her husband. Assad is also one half of the pop band LEVV, whose debut EP peaked at #17 on the iTunes Alternative chart. In 2014, Assad released an EP, Death, Be Not Proud, which reflected on her recent encounters with loss and suffering—including her husband’s journey through cancer and chemotherapy. In 2018, after several years of personal pain and trials, Assad recorded the album Evergreen, which stemmed from a season of renewed creativity. The album celebrates, with new songs of rebirth and identity, the rebuilding of trust, and discovery of joy and love.
http://www.audreyassad.com/
Fernando Ortega is an evangelical Christian singer/songwriter and worship leader, heavily influenced by traditional hymns as well as his family’s Albuquerque, New Mexico, heritage. Much of his current inspiration comes from the North American Anglican liturgy. From the late 1970s to the mid-1990s, he served in music ministry at a number of churches in New Mexico and Southern California. From 1993 to the present, Ortega has worked as a concert/recording artist, and has released fourteen albums. Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence is from his album Christmas Songs, released in 2008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernando_Ortega
http://www.fernandoortega.com/
About the Performers:
Diana Gameros and The Porter’s Gate
Originally from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Diana Gameros is a singer, guitarist, and composer. Gameros creates authentic, inspiring music that reflects the twenty-first-century experiences of an indie artist at the borderlands between cultures, languages, and genres. Now living in the Bay Area, Gameros has played with many local favorites, including the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Magik*Magik Orchestra, and has opened concerts for Bebel Gilberto, Latin Grammy winners La Santa Cecilia, Latin Grammy nominee Ximena Sariñana, and many others. In 2013, she released her first album, Eterno Retorno, a soulful retrospective of her journey as an immigrant to the United States. In October 2014, she received the Emerging Leader Award from the Chicana/Latina Foundation for her work in music and her support of social justice movements. Gameros’s songs and stories have been featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered, NPR’s Alt. Latino Podcast, Public Radio International’s The World, and PBS NewsHour. She is currently writing music for her second album, which will be co-produced by the Mexican songwriter Natalia Lafourcade.
https://ybca.org/artist/diana-gameros/
https://www.dianagameros.com/bio
The Porter’s Gate was founded to help worship leaders respond theologically to the pressing questions of our times through the writing of new worship songs and the creation of new liturgical resources. “We wanted to release as many songs as we were able to record for use by churches in a time where worship leaders are looking for songs and liturgical resources that give expression to the unusual and troubling circumstances of 2020 that our congregants and neighbors are experiencing,” explains co-founder Megan Wardell. Their latest two albums, Justice Songs and Lament Songs, were released in September of 2020. “We have been writing these songs for almost a year, at first as in-person songwriting retreats, and then remotely through email and Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic,” says co-founder Isaac Wardell, who also produced the albums. “Listeners will notice if you look at the songwriting credits that some of these songs have five or six authors. It was our intention to get a variety of people in the room, people from different backgrounds, at churches that worship very differently, interacting on these themes and scriptures of justice and lament.” This past July, a small group of musicians merged quarantine bubbles on a farm in Central Virginia to record the fruit of those songwriting sessions. Some collaborators are familiar from past projects: Liz Vice, Sandra McCracken, Latifah Alattas, Paul Zach, Jessica Fox, IAMSON, and John Swinton. There are also a few new faces, including Matt Maher, Jon Guerra, Brian Nhira, and Taylor Leonhardt.
https://www.theportersgate.com/
About the Poet:
Ashley Wong is a second-generation Chinese American poet who discovered poetry as a means to explore her cultural identity as an Asian American. She earned a B.A. in English from Georgetown University, where she experienced a spiritual awakening through an on-campus Bible study. As Wong pursued an M.F.A. at Boston University, her poetry was inspired by Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God, with her poems striving to capture snapshots of life, spiritual realizations, moments of elation and moments of devastation, and striving to be a way to connect with God. She is currently an English teacher at the Meadowbrook School in Weston, Massachusetts, where she teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth grade, as well as an instructor at GrubStreet, a creative writing center in Boston. Her pedagogical vision is to train young people to think critically, creatively, and compassionately about themselves and the world around them. Wong’s poems have been published in Prairie Schooner, Image, Crab Orchard Review, Salamander, Poetry International, Fugue, and the 2011 Montreal Global Poetry Anthology.
https://imagejournal.org/artist/ashley-wong/
About the Devotion Author:
Joe Henderson
Associate Professor of the Old Testament
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
Joe Henderson is a scholar of English literature and the Old Testament, uniting his love of reading well with his love of reading the Bible. His doctoral research on the poetry of the book of Jeremiah is the fruit of his interest in both the history of biblical interpretation and of literary criticism. His other interests include Robert Louis Stevenson's novels, Paul's theology, Milton's Prose, Brevard Childs' hermeneutics, Flannery O'Connor's stories, and Charles Wesley's hymns.