On food

In this morning’s Fruit of the Vine, Katy Matchette reflects on one of my favorite topics: food. On Friday morning, my family was driving through town on their way to the Oregon Coast. I had to work and couldn’t join them on their adventure, so they joined me for a quick breakfast at the Newberg Bakery. I had a cup of coffee and a marionberry cinnamon roll. It was good.

Katy and I agree about food. “If it’s food, I like it,” she writes. An interesting thing about food – as far as Katy and I are concerned – is how often it shows up in scripture.

“Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes form the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3). “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12 KJV). God’s precepts are “sweeter than ... honey from the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:10).

And then there is Jesus’ challenge in John 6:27 that his followers “devote their energy not to seeking food, but the sustenance that would lead them to eternal life.” Katy admits that this is a hard word: “How do I begin to esteem God’s Word more than dinner?”

I think back on that cinnamon roll. I appreciated its shape and color. I took in the aroma. I ate it with my fingers, savoring every mouthful of cinnamon, butter, brown sugar, soft-baked dough, and warm marionberries. I know that I might not get to have a cinnamon roll (or probably shouldn’t have one) every morning. But I do have to eat. Every single day. Which might be Jesus’ point. Getting to know him is something I have to do. Every single day.

“Assimilating the Bread of Life is a long-term project,” according to Katy. And she offers this prayer: “Father, whet my appetite for the Bread of Life.”

Eric Muhr