Why Bread? Why Not Bulgogi? Promise Sustains Us
2018년 8월 18일There’s a reason Jesus chose to give us his body as bread. Bread isn’t an appetizer or snack. It’s not an entree. It’s not a side dish. It certainly isn’t dessert. It’s an everyday staple, a food routinely eaten to supply the dominant source of energy. No meal is complete without it. It’s the equivalent of rice in Asia, tortillas in Mexico, or ugali in Africa. Bread is basic. Not what you’d call common, but certainly something eaten daily. You can’t really eat bulgogi or steak or fish three times a day, every day. (Well, most people can’t.)
But beyond the culinary symbolism, bread for Jews also has deep historical and theological roots. Abraham had a good, comfortable, albeit sterile, life in Ur (present day Iraq) when God called him to leave everything behind and go to a new land. He and his wife Sarah obeyed and were blessed with a son, as God promised they would be. Centuries later, God deliver the descendants of Abraham and brought them back to the Promised Land. In memory of this event, every year at Passover the Jews —even to this day— bless and eat bread and wine (among other symbolic foods) as a tangible reminder: God keeps his promise.By definition, nomads have no land and therefore no vineyards to grow grapes and make wine. Similarly without land and moving all the time, nomads were prevented from growing wheat for bread. The fact that they now had such food shows that they indeed have the land promised to Abraham. So both the food and the descendants of Abraham are proof of divine promises fulfilled.This is why Jesus called himself the Bread of Life. His life and teachings should give us strength and energy everyday. And we too, as spiritual descendants of Abraham, are living proof God keeps his promises.