Bread House

Matthew 4:4

 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Last Sunday, I cooked up some pancakes. I do that fairly often on Sundays. One issue that bothers me though is having an odd number of eggs left in the carton being that I use one egg, one cup of flour, and one cup of water. I know the Japanese like odd numbers. The Trinity of course in "Three Persons." There are seven days in a week. So, I get that odd numbers connote completeness.    

 But, having an odd number of eggs left, being that I eat my eggs generally two at a time each day for breakfast, creates a sense of unevenness. I can be selectively OCD about certain things.

 So I decided to make a batter using two eggs, etc. And then, I would either make more pancakes or something else. I decided to bake some bread. I added some additional flour and a packet of yeast and then let the dough rise in the fridge. I baked it up Monday night, suffusing a lovely aroma through the house. A real simple pleasure. The bread turned out great. Dense as a brick, with a lot of butter. A buttered brick. 

 Bread is about as simple a foodstuff as there is. Flour, yeast, water. I did sprinkle some sesame seeds on top. I have inordinate affection for sesame seeds that is hard to explain. When made with whole wheat, bread is very substantive. Jesus is the Bread of Life, broken for us. He came from Bethlehem, that means "House of Bread." The message of Jesus is simple also. He came to seek and to save the lost. 

 In the Lord's Prayer, we are taught to ask for our daily bread. I think that this is not just physical food but a fresh word from the Lord, for man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. How many have full bellies (as evidenced by the BMI index of the average American) but empty souls? I think it could be accurately suggested that food over-consumption is an attempt to fill the abyss of meaningless that the world proffers absent of God.

 Interesting article about the Japanese love for odd numbers.  
      

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