Today’s lectionary reading is the story of Jesus at Emmaus. How do Cleopas and his unnamed friend recognize Jesus? In the breaking of bread. This appearance of the Risen Lord tells us something important: that we recognize the Risen Lord in the faces of those with whom we share bread.
Bread. It is so essential that all cultures have always had a form of bread, whether made with yeast or not. Bread. Often called the staff of life, sharing bread with others is the second most intimate act. It is also a basic symbol of equality in that we recognize others have the same needs as do we.
Bread. Sharing it makes us human. Withholding bread or the economic resources to buy bread demeans us, something we should remember as we hear politicians cry that what we need are more weapons to kill people rather than feeding them. The budget now before Congress asks us whether we will reflect the One we say we follow or those who would withhold bread to satisfy warmongers and corporate greed.
Prayer for the Day
Now the time for planting wheat, rye, and barley,
Some of the essential elements of bread;
Now the time for considering our budget priorities,
Whether they will stand for life or death.
May we recognize you, O Lord, in the faces of the many,
The people who need bread, the bread we can share.
In the name of the One who is seen in the faces of others,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Our fear of others only ends when we bring them in from the terrifying darkness to our fireside and share our bread and companionship with them. Then, and only then, may we find the light together.
Stewart Stafford, Irish American novelist
Give us this day our daily bread
Jesus from the model prayer in Matthew 6:11