I’ve always loved eating bread, and I began to bake it in college when a good friend taught me her mom’s special oatmeal bread recipe. Every once in awhile the two of us would spend a half day in the commons room at the end of our dorm hall baking loaves of bread to give away, freeze, and of course to eat right then and there! As I began this year’s journey, I had a vision…of baking break with Jesus.
This is what I wrote as I sat at a table set with grapes, juice, and loaves of bread.
“Friend, who finds joy in the bread. We like to find the freshest ingredients, smiling as our excitement grows for what’s ahead…warm aromas of goodness will soon be tasted. Talking…smiling…Reminiscing. Then we will knead. Dough is fun – sticky! Smooth; now more flour. How do we know when it’s ready to sit out on the counter? We’ll know, you guide. We just lay a towel now over the dough ball, and let the yeast work. We must be patient, for the yeast needs time to work. We share photos. Talk about college, past experiences, relationships. Everything I speak of points to the faithfulness of the Baker! Soon comforting smells trickle through the oven’s door sides…light goes on to tell us how high the loaf has risen. We love this sight – thankful for the gift of Light right in the oven, even in the hottest part!...a few more minutes are needed, for the center of the loaf is not quite “sturdy”. Oh, the anticipation of bringing that loaf from the heat and tasting the succulent results! Then the cooling racks do their part. How fun it is to be with you, Jesus! Why did you come and make this possible? How could you dare to search me out? Why give me your passion for Bread? I want to bake again and again together.
As I sit here with this vision of making bread with you, I realize that You were my dough, pressed down, crushed, bearing the punching of my sin. You withstood extreme temperatures, heart of fire, isolation from the One you are in. Because of me. For me. You Rose, my Bread of Heaven. I am unworthy to have your companionship at this table. Only through your blood can I make bread with you, my Savior. The blood that cleanses my hands for the dough. The blood that invites me to stay in your house, to have access to your oven, to wait with you. The blood that covers me with your banner of Joy. I will be filled with your satisfying presence all the days of my life.”
I had this vision of making bread with Jesus at the January GO Conference in Germany as I was sitting at a table set with grapes, juice, and loaves of bread.
I understood more of its meaning during this past week while I was in Malaysia at OM’s Out of the Comfort Zone conference. I see that it’s not merely a picture of me working in the kitchen with Jesus to make delicious-tasting bread for the two of us to enjoy. It is so much fuller. I enjoy precious moments when I am alone with Jesus, because He has deigned to come near to me, a sinner and call me His beloved. But it doesn’t end there. The Destination Banquet is a FEAST with a HUGE GUESTLIST, a celebration fit for the Son of a King!…This past week at OCZ we looked at Jesus’ journey from Galilee to Jerusalem recorded in Luke’s gospel. He went resolutely, setting his face to go though he would die. He told us to follow, to set our hands to the plow and not look back. To find the people he has already been preparing and spend time with them, sitting in their houses and eating, inviting them to come along to the Great Banquet. To have eyes that see what He sees. When we’re struck by the grace that transforms our lives we can be moved with compassion for those who don’t yet know, who haven’t tasted the goodness of the freshly baked bread. The book of Romans, which talks most about grace, was written to spur the Church in Rome on to missions. As we go to mission, we are compelled by finding what God’s grace really is, His love, who He is. I realized that the vision I had in January of baking bread with Jesus was speaking to the call to missions – the motivation and compulsion to see the yeast of the Kingdom work through the dough of the lands comes from spending time with and truly knowing my Bread, who bore my shame and now feeds me with His daily grace.
Many times this year I have seen that I don’t have the love, the resources, the strength, the knowledge to give generously in mission. Sometimes I don’t even pray for these things because I’m not moved by the payment covering the depth of my sin. Then His love breaks through and I feel the Spirit he gave. I see Him as He is, the Great King, who loves to give, who knows our needs before we ask, who finds it His extreme joy, glory, and pride to answer our prayer for forgiveness and compassion.
And what does Luke 14:15ff mean? There is to be a great wedding banquet and the father is doing the inviting. The invited guests make excuses, so the father creates a new guest list – the poor, the blind, the lame, the crippled and dirty, the vile. He cries, “For the marriage of my son this place must be packed, for we will have the joy and glory of a full house.
As Jesus walked the road to Jerusalem, he was feasting with people – the Pharisees even called him a drunk and a glutton for such practice (Lk. 7:34). He feasted with us though we were dead in our trespasses, and now we should follow our Lord and invite those on our road to the Feast; we are assured there will be no places left empty – every nation, language, tribe will be represented.
Luke 13:20. To what can I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened. Yeast through all the dough – that’s what Jesus is doing today; spreading the Kingdom through all nations, bringing the yeast of the Kingdom into every part of the dough. People of God pray, God takes the dough and kneads, at times seemingly with great force (e.g. 2004 Tsunami). God is making sure that every people hear the invitation – wars, famine, etc. happen so that we can take the invitation.
So we invite, but we also SEARCH. On the road, Jesus was looking for the lost. He welcomed the sinners and ate with them, showing that he totally accepted them as they were. Often we want people to change their behavior before we accept them…we expect them to become like us, clean up their life, etc…Jesus was the other way around – he ate with the people, had relationship. Grace comes first. I can do no other but reflect on my own life and ask, “Who have I visited? Who have I welcomed into my home/life?” I see that more often I invite the lovely, the pleasant, the “safe” into my inner circle. But I want to be like my Redeemer, who welcomed the ones who knew their need and made them his trusted companions. I confess my pride and ask for grace to show true hospitality. Remember the son who left home, and just yearned to eat the pig food at his father’s place…how his dad picked up his robe and humiliated himself and RAN to him when he caught site of him?! Who does our Father bring to the Banquet of His Son? Not the rich or the respected simply for their status, but the homeless, who will find their home with him. The Father had to be disgraced, the Son had to leave His glory, be spat upon, insulted, hung up for people to mock, so that we could have the honor of being invited to the feast. Jesus said that we need to take responsibility, repent, forgive, apologize, make right was we put wrong. Being a people of grace does not mean we deny truth. We are a people of truth and grace because our God is holy and merciful. As Jesus traveled the road to Jerusalem, he invited the guests to know this love, he searched for sinners, he looked for the lost. He calls us to do the same.
