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Making Bread

John 6.28-35

I first made bread with my grandmother. It was one of my favourite activities. I was fascinated by the process of making the bread, the texture of the dough, the way it rises. I loved its smell and - of course - I loved the taste. For the first time I found that simple food could be really good to eat, something that wasn’t just a chore. Before, when I ate bread, it was something I was obliged to do. ‘You’ve got to eat two slices of bread and then you can have some cake.’ But my grandmother’s bread was something I actually enjoyed eating for its own sake. ‘Give us this bread,’ said the people to Jesus, And don’t ever stop.’

There’s nothing quite like homemade bread. It has a taste that is incomparable to sliced bread, or even to bread from a baker’s shop.

Bread is something we need to stop us feeling hungry and fill us up. But the best bread can also be deeply satisfying, not just a filler but a pleasure in its own right.It’s a taste of heaven, but even homemade bread isn’t ‘the true bread from heaven, the bread that gives life.’

Just think what it means, then, to have faith that Jesus is the one who came down from heaven to give life to the world. No one who comes to Jesus will ever be hungry again because he’s the real thing, the spiritual equivalent of homemade bread. He offers an experience which is incomparable and deeply satisfying.



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