The Bread of Life

In a recent podcast, Sister Wendy Ulrich spoke about where the word deacon comes from. She said, “Where do we get that word? It's interesting that that word goes back to the word diákonos in Greek, which shows up all over the scriptures. The first real place where we see it as sort of an office is in the church after Christ is born and they've got Greeks and Gentiles now part of the church…. They want the food to be distributed better, and Peter says, ‘It doesn't make sense for us to leave the ministry of the kingdom to wait tables. We're going to choose seven good men who happen to all have Greek names,’ which is kind of interesting. He doesn't put the Jewish men over this responsibility. It's the Greek women who are complaining and he puts Greek men over taking care of this problem and puts them in charge of making sure everybody gets their fair share of the food. They are the seven diákonos. That's the word that is used, and that word means waiters, like the guy who brings you your food in the restaurant.” And so it is fitting that the deacons of today are also the ones who distribute food and water—they are like the spiritual waiters who provide the sacred ordinance of the sacrament. But really, they are representing the Savior who first gave us the sacrament. He is the ultimate Deacon. For example, in the Book of Mormon, He first introduced the ordinance as Mormon recorded: “He took of the bread and brake and blessed it; and he gave unto the disciples and commanded that they should eat. And when they had eaten and were filled, he commanded that they should give unto the multitude” (3 Nephi 18:3-4). He did this again the next day in a more miraculous way: “And it came to pass that he brake bread again and blessed it, and gave to the disciples to eat. And when they had eaten he commanded them that they should break bread, and give unto the multitude. And when they had given unto the multitude he also gave them wine to drink, and commanded them that they should give unto the multitude. Now, there had been no bread, neither wine, brought by the disciples, neither by the multitude; But he truly gave unto them bread to eat, and also wine to drink” (3 Nephi 20:3-7). He gave the people to eat and drink, both physically and spiritually.

               Sister Ulrich commented more generally about how the Savior has consistently given the children of men food to eat. She said, “Who serves the food in God's world, in Christ's church, from the Garden of Eden to the resurrected Savior? God supplies the food. He is our deacon. He makes sure we're fed, whether it's the trees in the Garden of Eden or feeding the 5,000 or the resurrected Savior of the world, coming back as a resurrected being to the shore of Galilee, building a fire, kneading the bread, cleaning the fish to feed breakfast to his apostles. Christ is the deacon who serves.” All the food that we have—the whole earth—was created by Him for us to sustain and give life. He commented in this dispensation, “I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine. And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine…. For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things” (Doctrine and Covenants 104:14-17). We have a habit as Saints to pray over our food. I believe far more important than blessing it so we can be healthy—we can’t really think that blessing the donuts we have for refreshments will make them good for us—we should use that opportunity to give thanks and remember Him who gave us all that we have. As we give thanks for our food we should remember Him feeding the 5000 and Him feeding the 4000 and Him feeding the apostles on the Sea of Galilee.

And surely the fact that He has provided us physical food is a symbol of the more important spiritual sustenance that He gives us. He made that very clear during His mortal ministry: “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst…. I am that bread of life…. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:35, 48, 51). Food, that we must consume each day, should point us to remember Him who is the “Bread of Life,” reminding us of the salvation He has purchased through His flesh.