But Jesus told him, “No! The scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4
Sometimes there are things that happen in life that are as perplexing as they are surprising. Once such thing happened recently in a doctor’s office parking lot. In the months prior to this occurrence, I had changed primary care doctors and my new doctor decided since I had celebrated a milestone birthday it was time to embark on a new level of health screening exams. While I’ve worked in medicine my entire professional career, I have personally experienced very few medical procedures. The scheduled procedures were not invasive or painful but I was still very anxious. I prayed for God to ease my anxiety and fear. After the procedures, as I was getting back into my car I noticed something strange on the hood of the car. As I peered at it through the windshield, I was wondering aloud how in the world a piece of bread ended up on the hood of my car. When I got out of the car to remove the bread, I took notice of the crowded parking lot. No other cars received a bread delivery, not another soul was around, and I had parked facing a wall so a person could not have walked between cars and left it on the hood. It was one of the oddest things that has ever happened to me. The only conclusion I could come to was that a bird must have dropped it there. But why did it land on my car?
The moment I saw the bread on the hood I was instantly reminded of the bread we received daily in our food rations while in quarantine in Israel. Every afternoon and evening meal included a stale piece of bread that looked like a hoagie roll, exactly like the one on my car. The first couple of days my roommate and I didn’t eat the bread but eventually mostly due to hunger, we appreciated and gave thanks for it and the nourishment it provided.
Jesus uses bread as a metaphor throughout the Gospels. In the sixth chapter of John, Jesus feeds thousands of people with five loaves of bread and two fish and has leftovers, He walks on water and calms a raging storm. The next day the same multitude of people went to Capernaum in search of Jesus desiring to be fed again. But this time Jesus offers them salvation-eternal nourishment. Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now He offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32) Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
Why did God allow a bird to drop a piece of bread at the precise time and place to land on the hood of my car? I believe God sent a tangible reminder that in the midst of fear and anxiety, whether from unknown medical tests and impending the results, illness or anything else this world throws at us, He is the Bread of Life. He is the one we should turn to provide our sustenance physically and spiritually. We need to feast on Jesus because He is the only One who can make us feel “full” and overflowing with peace in every circumstance, whether in an Israeli quarantine facility or a doctor’s office in Fairfax, Virginia. And that’s your Tuesday Tidbit.
The pictures are of the bread on my car and the ruins of the synagogue at Capernaum