Living Bread

[wenglund]

In this and past weeks Come Follow Me lessons, there are multiple references to "bread" in different places and circumstances. I am curious to learn if or what connections you draw between them.

Here is a list:

• Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread. (Mt 4)
• The Lords prayer makes the request: "Give us this day our daily bread..." (Mt 6))
• In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus commands his disciples to seek and knock, for "what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will give him a stone?" (Mt 7)
• Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven unto leaven (Mt.;13:33),
• In a desert place he feed bread (five barley loaves) to the five thousand followers, and he had 12 baskets left over, (Jn 6)
• the scribes and Pharisees criticize the disciples for not washing their hands before eating bread (Mt 15), and Jesus distinguished between that which goes out of the mouth from that which goes in.
• He compared a gentile woman to taking bread from the table of children, and she speaks of eating crumbs that have fallen to the floor. (ibid)
• On the coast of Galilee he feeds seven loaves of bread to four thousand people, (ibid)
• People from Tiberius went looking for Jesus and found him in Capernaum,. Jesus remarked that they sought him not because of the miracles, but because they were feed the loaves and were filled. (Jn 6)
• There, Jesus compares and contrasts the manna from heaven in Moses' day to his salvific mission (he and his gospel are the living bread from heaven), (ibid)
• He also draws an inference to the bread of the sacrament (see Jn 6), to be introduced in the future (Lk 24)
• He warned the disciples against the leavening of the Pharisees, Sadducee,  and Herod (Mt 16 and Ml 8) and they mistakenly assumed he was chiding them for not bringing bread.

What do you think? [Note: biblical scholars have speculated that the feeding of the five thousand were Jews and the four thousand were Gentiles.]

It would also be interesting to later link together the references to water in the Gospels. However, this is enough for now.

Thanks,m -Wade Englund-

Edited March 26, 2019 by wenglund

[mikbone]

Gah.  I'm on a low carb diet.  

[wenglund]

6 hours ago, mikbone said:

Gah.  I'm on a low carb diet.  

Did I forget to mention it is  "gluten free"?

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

[Guest Mores]

7 hours ago, wenglund said:

Did I forget to mention it is  "gluten free"?

Thanks, -Wade Englund-

Ehrrmmm...carbs... gluten free... nevermind.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Mores

[Fether]

14 hours ago, mikbone said:

Gah.  I'm on a low carb diet.  

Ya... stay away from the bread of life. The amount of carbs in that will sustain a man for a life time.

[wenglund]

What do you make of the the leaven metaphor?  Christ warned against the leavening of the Pharisees, but he also likened his disciples to leaven.  So, leavening may not, in itself, be a bad thing, just the type or way in which the leavening occurs. Right?

What then is the leavening of the Disciples as contrasted with the leavening of the Pharisees? What part do each play in relation to the "bread"? Is "leavening" a metaphor for missionary work, or doctrine development, or the 4-fold mission of the Church, etc/?

 Thanks, -Wade Enlgund-

[Guest Mores]

4 minutes ago, wenglund said:

What do you make of the the leaven metaphor?  Christ warned against the leavening of the Pharisees, but he also likened his disciples to leaven.  So, leavening may not, in itself, be a bad thing, just the type or way in which the leavening occurs. Right?

What then is the leavening of the Disciples as contrasted with the leavening of the Pharisees? What part do each play in relation to the "bread"? Is "leavening" a metaphor for missionary work, or doctrine development, or the 4-fold mission of the Church, etc/?

 Thanks, -Wade Enlgund-

He was describing the butterfly effect.  With just a small amount of yeast, a big impact can be made on the bread.  This goes both ways.

The Lord says,"By small and simple things..."

He also says that he cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.  Why?  Because even "a little sin" can corrupt entirely.

[wenglund]

17 minutes ago, Mores said:

He was describing the butterfly effect.  With just a small amount of yeast, a big impact can be made on the bread.  This goes both ways.

The Lord says,"By small and simple things..."

He also says that he cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.  Why?  Because even "a little sin" can corrupt entirely.

Wonderful. I love the complimentary analogy of the butterfly effect.  It provides a helpful image of the divergent impacts of things.

By way of exploring the metaphors even deeper, do you have any thoughts on the causal or catalytic or contributing elements  behind the leavening/butterfly effects, particularly as they relate to differentiating those things associated with the disciples of Christ as contrasted with those things associated with the Pharisees et. al.?

Of related interest is the difference in development and growth since the time  Christ of the Jewish religion as opposed to Christianity, especially the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

Thanks, -Wade Englund