Bread (poem)

Note: This is a piece I have pulled out of the archives. I thought it might be fun to post this during this week as a way to celebrate both National Poetry Month (which is in April) and Holy Week. I will plan to do poetry readings videos for the rest of week, if anyone's interested (These are specifically available for my family and friends on Facebook.) (I'll still do them to amuse myself even if no one's interested- lol. :-)) The text of the poem and a little introduction is below. Enjoy! Happy Easter! In honour of Holy Week and The Lord Jesus, I also wanted to read poems reflecting on the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us when He died and rose to pay for all sins for all time. We can have forgiveness of sins and salvation from the hell we deserve and entry into the Heaven we don't deserve all through our faith in the love God has for us and the salvation He has provided through Christ! (Romans 10:9-13) ................................................................................
I thought this poem would be appropriate for Maundy Thursday, the day Jesus had The Last Supper, also known as The Lord's Supper, with His disciples. Jesus uses the imagery of broken bread and wine poured out to represent the breaking of His own body and the spilling of His own blood that He would soon freely offer to pay for the sins of the world. In John 6, Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life and He promises that whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood will never hunger or thirst again and they will have eternal life! As I like to explain it, it's like being spiritual cannibals and vampires. That may seem like a grotesque picture but the point is very clear. In the same way that they must depend on their preferred diets for sustenance, we must hold on to Jesus for sustenance, as He is the only One who truly gives us life and life abundant. (John 10:10)        This poem is largely based on that, along with the account of the lepers in 2 Kings 7:9, who would have likely also been beggars in that age and culture, who had discovered where to find food and knew it was not right for them not to share this good news with a city in a famine. That's infinitely more true on the spiritual level- we must share the Good News of Jesus to a world famished for the Life that is truly Life.


"Bread"
(original poem copyright Nathan Ludwick 7/14/1998)
(John 6, John 10:10, 2 Kings 7:9)

Two beggars sitting in the village,
They cry for alms to no avail.
And they feel a longing in their souls,
A deep hunger for bread to eat.
Yet this hunger goes unfilled.
They hunger more than physically,
This hunger reaches to the soul.
Who can feed their souls?
And then a stranger walks up,
And he says he knows where to get bread.
Two beggars go together for a bite,
A bite to eat of this bread.
They find the Bread of Life,
Who was broken for us.
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Someone said, "Witnessing is one beggar
telling another beggar where to find bread."
Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life."
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(Note: I am grateful this poem was published in the 2000 Pendulum, my high school journal. :-))