Snickers have an awesome marketing team.
In one of their ads, an old man is attempting to pull off a big jump on his motorbike. Yes you heard me right. But the old dude is super confident about his chances. He thinks he has the jump covered. However, in a twist of events, old dude starts to lose control of his bike. He takes off from the jump but, you guessed it, he fails miserably. He face-plants into the ground.
Eventually a mate walks over and hands the old man a Snickers bar, because he “becomes a cranky old man when he’s hungry.” The old man angrily takes the bar, and after taking a bite, instantly morphs into a young man. He has become a new man. No longer hungry – he is back to his normal self and ready to hit the jump again. The commercial ends with their simple catch-line:
“You’re not you when you’re hungry. Snickers really satisfies.”
I think a round of applause is in order. That’s the sort of advertising we turn the television on for. That’s the sort of commercial we all want in-between overs of the cricket. Inspirational stuff.
No I’m not a Snickers salesman in disguise. This is going somewhere. Stick with me here.
“I am the bread of life” – Jesus
Like the Snickers advert, Jesus claims to fill our deepest hunger. Jesus claims to be really satisfying. And Jesus used bread as his analogy of being satisfied.
I know. Disappointing stuff.
Of all the things to compare yourself with, Jesus calls himself bread. Boring old bread. Not the pizza of life. Not the cheeseburger of life. Not the snickers of life. The bread of life.
Shoutout to all you gluten free people out there. Sometimes I wonder what goes through your minds when Jesus calls himself the bread of life. You the real MVP.
The question remains: why did Jesus equate himself to bread?
Let’s get a roll on.
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FOOD FOR LIFE
“I am the living bread…anyone who eats of this bread will live forever, and this bread, which I offer so the world may live, is my flesh” – Jesus
Our basic human right.
When we’re talking the most basic rights, sufficient food and adequate water supply is deadly important (literally). Forget other social issues that the media like to give more weight to. Food and water is the most basic, necessary, vital human need.
Now we’ve got to understand some context. Bread was to the Jews what rice is to Asia. Their staple diet. The food most routinely eaten. It took up a dominant portion of their regular food consumption, providing the required energy needs to that certain group of people.
So by equating himself to bread, Jesus is saying he is essential for life. A basic human right that all people should have access to. Vital in growth and development.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (pictured above) aims to understand what motivates people.
His theory was that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. When one need is fulfilled, a person seeks to fulfil the next one, and so on. The needs start at the very basic level (Physiological) and work up to the top (Self-Actualisation). Some pyramids add another level on top, Transcendence, which is essentially seeking to help others reach their potential.
Many people have often labelled life as The Pursuit of Happiness.
For the most part, I think it’s pretty spot on. We generally try to fill our lives with things we enjoy. I doubt many people leave home each day intentionally looking for ways to increase their sadness. We all have a deep need for belonging. Good friendships, relationships, family. We try to fill our lives with things we enjoy doing. Activities that are fun. Things that challenge us.
Essentially, we are up in the top three tiers of the pyramid. Satisfying the needs that only privileged people can reach. But these are all secondary issues.
Jesus saw a people starving themselves spiritually. He saw a people that thought pretty highly of themselves, yet bypassing their most basic needs. Avoiding their basic need for him whilst trying to climb to the top of the pyramid.
I’ll say this once: we are never going to reach the top of the pyramid without a solid foundation (Matthew 7:24-27). All we have worked for, that pyramid we climb, will come crashing down at our final breath.
Death puts an end to all pursuits of happiness. Mankind has its fate sealed. Everything we enjoy now is just temporary. The wages of sin are death (Romans 6:23), and death separated us from God.
Morbid stuff.
But Jesus had intense compassion on the human situation (John 3:16). He saw a people doomed for death and chasing secondary issues. He loved the world so much that he provided the solution to our mess.
Himself.
“Give us today our daily bread” – Jesus
This was pretty cheeky of Jesus.
The disciples had just asked Jesus how they should pray. He responded with what we affectionately know as The Lord’s Prayer, which includes the words “give us today our daily bread.”
Some might have (justifiably) thought Jesus was talking about actual, physical bread. But Jesus wasn’t talking about actual bread here. He was referring to himself.
Jesus was essentially rehashing the same awesome message: I am your staple diet – come to me regularly. I am your basic human right, let me grow and develop you into the person you were made to be. I am the provider of all the energy and motivation you could need. I am the solid foundation that your life needs to be built upon.
I am.
Jesus provided himself as the bread for all – that we could be completely satisfied through him. Whoever comes to him will never hunger again (John 6:35).
That through him we would have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).
It is no coincidence that God uses bread as a symbol of his provision throughout history.
The feeding of the 5000.
People have flocked from everywhere to see Jesus. To hear his teachings, talk or be healed by him. Everyone just can’t get enough of this Jesus. Time passes. The huge crowd eventually grow hungry. The disciples, seeing the obvious dilemma regarding the food-to-people ratio, suggest Jesus should send the people home so they can buy their own food.
Jesus, not known for following the rules of physics, feeds the thousands with just five loaves and two fish. Just another day at the office for the Son of God.
The disciples and the crowd are obviously amazed. Gobsmacked. Somehow Jesus managed to feed a huge crowd from an extremely little amount of food.
What was the creed behind Jesus doing this?
On this particular day, Jesus was providing for the people’s physical need for bread. But through this situation, Jesus calls all people to a type of bread that doesn’t perish (John 6:27). That doesn’t make them hungry again. He is the bread that gives life, that truly satisfies.
Jesus doesn’t just call himself the bread of life and then fail to provide bread. What a massive disappointment that would be.
Jesus demonstrates here that there are no limits to his provision. There are no limits to his power. Everyone can eat of his bread and be satisfied.
Heck, there are even leftovers.
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THE BIG PICTURE
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” – Jesus
Cast your minds back to the Snickers commercial.
We have a big jump ahead of us. Life. We try to satisfy our lives with all types of things. Relationships. Good times. Success. Everything is going great. We start revving our engines towards the ramp. Everything is cool. Everything is under control.
Until we actually hit the jump.
The jump proves too big for anyone to make. Humanity always falls short of the mark.
Forget climate change. Forget the economy. Forget equality. The biggest problem the world faces today is death. Nobody avoids death, everyone falls victim to it. None of us can build a ramp and jump over death. Everyone that tries ends up face-planting into the ground. Confused. Angry. Hurt. Dirty. Hopeless.
Enter Jesus.
He finds humanity in its mess. Caring so much for the world he comes and extends a hand to us. Offering life. Full of compassion he meets us in the dust. Expressing his deep longing that we stop filling ourselves with that which only he can satisfy.
And when we take up his offer, we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). We become like a new person. We take part in the greatest testimony anyone could ever have: that we are not saved from death, but through it.
That ramp which once limited us is now not even an obstacle. The gap has been bridged.
Jesus: eternally satisfying.
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Appreciate this man. All glory to Christ 🙂
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You speak a fabulous message! He is the bread and He gives us such great life.
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So true – in Jesus alone is life. Appreciate your time in reading this. Hope you have an awesome day 🙂
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Glad you visited again. Hope to see you back. 🙂
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No Problems 🙂
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Meaning? Father is leading all the way. He is bringing us all back to the state of our creation. He created us to love and be loved by us in return. He is doing it all in such a way? Totally unexpected by yours truly. So, I get excited when one of His children like yourself, visits the blogs he has inspired me to create. 🙂
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Jesus is the only bread we need! Thanks for this inspiring reminder.
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Thanks for reading! All glory to God. Hope your day is awesome Elizabeth 🙂
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Love the analogy ! Great post !
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Thanks for your time Lisa! All glory to our awesome God 🙂
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You deleted my comment? Why?
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I didn’t delete your comment, just got caught up in our other discussion and didn’t get back to responding with you. And now your previous comment has gone from my notifications bar, so I can’t accept it.
If you want to talk more about stuff, maybe email me instead.
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This was the question.
”How do you know the words attributed to the character Jesus of Nazareth were actually spoken by him?”
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Ah yeah, awesome. It all comes back to the whole credibility of the Bible argument we were talking about. Obviously there is an element of faith involved in all history, but we have good reason to believe more likely than not these words were actually spoken by Jesus.
Can discuss more in email if you want – I’m not really looking to clog up the comments feed.
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Very insightful, I liked how you to describe our need for Jesus using Maslow’s hierarchy
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Thanks for reading Kris. Appreciate it 🙂
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Hey Jonathan, thanks for the like on my first day! Even though I don’t consider myself as religious or with strong beliefs person, I found helpful remember the Maslow pyramid, I really need to work on that to heal myself and breath for a moment.
Thanks again, I admire your faith tho’.
Leon.
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Hey Leon. Definitely good to take a step back and appreciate all we have! Hope that you will see Jesus is our bread of life and satisfies us with life beyond the grave. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Great post explaining Jesus and the bread of life. If only there were chocolate commercials that sold Jesus, what a better world this would be.
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interesting concept of Jesus as a chocolate bar, but lets runs with it 😉
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I like this!
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How awesome is our God!
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Are you in health field? I studied Maslow in one of my classes. Amazing post. Great job added this in as one of our needs. All need Jesus but all haven’t realized it yet.
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I did Psychology in Year 12 and loved it. This year I’m in Health and PE at uni. So I’ve become familiar with Maslow. So true Tracy. Appreciate your time here 🙂
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Loved it, great sense of humor, I especially enjoy and appreciate the metaphors that Jesus used to identify himself, great job! Have a great week!
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Glad you got so much out of it! So cool how our God understands us so well and uses such simple analogies 🙂 you too!
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I love that you used Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to really put things into perspective! 🙂
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It’s a great reminder of how privileged we are hey 🙂 but also an even better reminder not to abandon our foundation and source of life – Jesus! thanks for your time 🙂
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Amen! The ad reminds me of the time when I crashed on the bike during my first triathlon race. I should have eaten a snickers bar while in transition. Lol.
Praise God for using you to put the Word out there. All of us need Jesus in our lives. And not only is he the bread of life, in John 4:14, he also said that he is the living water. So there you have it, a complete Jesus meal. What more can you ask for, right?
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If you had eaten a Snickers bar after falling over, you would have smashed everyone for sure 😉 So true hey. Couldn’t ask for anything more. Thanks heaps for your time Arlyn, all the best!
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Haha. I wish I had. Then I wouldn’t have a DNF on my record. But it was a pretty bad crash. The first thing I asked the person who rescued me was “Are my teeth still intact?” 😁 Although now I use Almond Snickers as a substitute for energy gels. Too bad I only found out about it after that triathlon race. Anyway, thanks also for finding time to respond. May you continue to become a blessing to those lives you’ve touched. Also, I want to encourage you to just keep at it. Just like what Paul said to the Philippians, I believe that you can also do ALL things through Christ who strengthens you. 😊
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Wow! Sounds like a pretty full on crash. I’m a bit of a cyclist too, but I never had a drastic fall of any kind. Worst I had was running into the back of a stopped car, which I only got slightly concussed from.
No problems Arlyn. Thanks so much for your kind words. And same for yourself 🙂
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Wow! That explains your photo. I’ve always admired cyclists (or envy them for that matter). It’s just so amazing how you guys manage to ride almost as fast as a car and not fall off a cliff. I went downhill at a much slower speed and got 10 stitches on the face and a dislocated elbow. Lol.
By the looks of it, I don’t think you’re just “a bit of a cyclist.” Is that you on a podium?
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haha yeah, I sure don’t envy the life of a pro cyclist. The Tour De France is right up there with one of the greatest peaks of fitness (and ridiculousness) in my opinion. Superhuman. The photo of me is from a running race – I came third 🙂
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Loved the line about not being known for following the rules of physics! Sharp, gospel centered article.
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haha yeah, suppose the law writer doesn’t have to take the law as His primary authority 😉 thanks again Dad 🙂
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I’ve just read this and it’s a real word from God. Thank you Jonathan, God is speaking through you for sure here. Truly inspirational and funny also! :’)
God is the bread of life, our spiritual bodies die without the nourishment of his continual word. God bless you,
Manassa
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Thanks heaps Manassa! I sure hope that I haven’t done an injustice to the word of God. haha yeah, I try to make it a little funny where possible. Glad you got something out of this post 🙂
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Awesome word. You have a way of making the word of God tangible. It’s right on a level of understanding with a tremendous depth. Awesome article. Also, you used my favorite scripture that called me into a relationship with Christ – 2 Cor 5:17. Great read.
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Appreciate your words Rheni! Thanks for stopping by once again 🙂 great verse that one, pretty awesome stuff
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Brilliant post and I loved the idea of using a TV advert, and a much needed reminder that we all need Jesus every day
You have a good insight to the meanings behind what Jesus said,and explained it so we could understand
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appreciate your words Graham! it would be my deepest prayer and joy for posts like this is to direct people to God. Hope it has in some way 🙂
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Snickers = Jesus comparison and Maslow and feeding the 5000. Excellent.
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appreciate your time and support one again Cross Foundation!
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Hey Jonathan, I enjoyed reading this. Honestly I felt like I was actually hearing a sermon from a madly-in-love-with-Jesus priest, who knows how to keep the masses engrossed and sow the seeds of faith and hope! Pax!
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haha that’s a sick description! I sure hope it comes across like that. Glad you were able to get something out of the post Carol 🙂 Thanks for your time – and Merry Christmas!
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Hehe : P, Merry Christmas to you too!
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Amazing post and I love that picture!!!!!!!
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stoked you got something out of it! thanks for your time 🙂
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I’m thankful that Jesus filled the gas with his grace! Thanks for writing.
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Haha! Love your take on that. We wouldn’t be able to go on without the grace of God. Appreciate your time and interaction with this post Mike. God bless 🙂
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Great post, it made me smile. Jesus is our sustenance for living a healthy spiritual life.
Thanks for the sharing!
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Glad you enjoyed it! Trust it stirred up your hope and affections in Jesus. Appreciate your time 🙂
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Reblogged this on heartshabitation and commented:
I like how this was written.
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Glad you got something out of it godschildshari! Jesus really does satisfy our deepest need. Thanks for your time 🙂
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I enjoyed reading this. Well written Jonathan! 🙂
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thanks again! Trust it stirred up your affections and hope in Jesus 🙂
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Great piece. Preached well as I read through it, loved the hierarchy chart. Well done!
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Thanks heaps Will 🙂 All glory to our awesome God!
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