Last week my language teacher described to me a traditional food that must be made by hand, can only be made in summer, takes several days, and is all in all, a very involved process. Now, this food, made from the starch extracted from roots of wild grasses, is ground by hand into a fine flour-like powder, and then cooked with milk or water until it is thicker than pudding. People go to all this work each year, making kilos of it in order to last the whole year. Why go to all the trouble for what is essentially grass pudding? I was quickly told that it's so valuable because it fills you up so quickly and keeps you full all day.
Now because the next day she taught me how to cook it, and it’s very… natural… flavor was fresh in my mouth and in my mind, I was struck when reading Jesus’ words in John 6 today: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.”
This culture values foods like starch pudding and bread because they make you feel full. And yet Jesus’ words reminded me that even the Israelites, miraculously made full by bread from heaven, died. They experienced God’s direct provision through physical means, but still they wanted to be ‘full’ through other things and it didn’t work. The only thing that can make us feel full and never again feel hungry, is Jesus. The only thing that can fill our hungry heart’s desires, is Jesus.
Living cross culturally is really something. Yes, I occasionally get to eat pudding-esque foods that taste like grass. But more often, I get to see the Word of God in an entirely new way because of a cultural experience I never would have had if not overseas. Grass pudding and Jesus is a comparison I never thought I'd make. But now I get John 6 in a very different way. I pray that your heart and my heart would see Jesus as the bread or starch filled sustenance of our lives. So highly valued because He has filled us and keeps us full.
And if you think of it, pray for me. That I would have opportunity to share this metaphor with people here, asking what in their spiritual lives (that are characterized by performance) makes them ‘full’ and keeps ‘full’. Pray for ears to hear that there is a Bread of Life offered so that we may never be spiritually hungry again.
Blessings,
Evelyn