Bread of Life - Fr. Micah - July 30, 2023

In today’s Gospel reading, Matthew 14:14-22, Jesus feeds a crowd of more than 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Father Micah dives into the element of bread in today’s sermon: bread, being food, reminds us of our dependence on God, the Provider and Creator. Just as the Israelites depended on God to feed them in the desert, we too depend on God for sustenance, for life. Father Micah notes that bread is a key to unlocking who we are, who God is, and how we, the creation, relate to our Creator. Eating and drinking was and is central to worshiping the one true God; in ancient times through sacrifice and today through the Holy Eucharist. Christ feeding the five thousand, His act of bringing something out of nothing, signified to the people that He was not merely a miracle worker, but the one true God who fed Israel in the desert. Throughout Christ’s life he also identified himself as truly human through his own hunger, humbling himself to share in the hunger of the least of these throughout all ages. He continually expresses His immeasurable love for mankind by nourishing us with His own body for food and blood for drink. Through eating and drinking, through bread and wine, we share in the love of Christ, the Bread of Life.