Matthew 7:9a Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone?

Jesus' words convey a stunning imagery. A child asks for bread, and the parent gives a stone. What parent would do that? In Jesus' mind, none. The context of these words is a message from Jesus about how wonderful God is, what good gifts God gives us, and if we can trust even earthly parents, who, though evil, know how to give their children bread, not stones, how much more can we trust God.

But this image of bread and stones stays with us even apart from the message Jesus originally intended. It occurs to me that here on Capitol Hill we are in the business of bread and stones. In virtually every issue that we confront, people have asked for bread, and received instead a stone.

Is there anyone who does not say they want the bread of peace? But everyday the world's humanity receives the stone of violence, war, and hatred. People far and wide call for respect and nurture for our fragile environment, but the world's leaders give them the stone of toxic pollution. Healthcare tops the list of concerns for many, but our leaders cannot agree on a way to provide quality, comprehensive healthcare for all; 40 million uninsured receive instead the stone of fear, accompanied by bankruptcy for some and death for others. A whole continent suffers from an epidemic of HIV/AIDS, and for the most part receives the stone of being ignored. God's children have asked for bread, and they have received stones. Perhaps Jesus was wrong, and the parents who lead us truly do not know how to give bread to their children.

When issues polarize us, we ourselves become stones. I hear in the news that a five year old child has been killed in a Jewish settlement in occupied Palestine. I have become so polarized about Palestine that I feel nothing for the child. I don't like what I have become. On this issue I have become a stone, fit only to be thrown and to cause pain to whatever I strike.

Our scriptures contain another image of bread. In this image we see Jesus in the last hours of calm before his enemies take him, gathered with his disciples for a final meal. He knows one of the twelve has become a stone - what of the others? What can he give that will nurture them and enable them to nurture each other? He gives himself. This bread which you break, he says, is my body. In this bread, I give you myself. And so later, after the betrayal and the torture, the trial and the killings on at Golgatha, the place of the skull, as those who loved him search to make the connection they have lost, they break bread together and discover the one they loved is known to them in the breaking of the bread. In this bread, he has said, I give you myself.

D. T. Niles, the great missionary thelogian from Sri Lanka, once said, "Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread." Where is there bread to be found in the world today? Is it not among those who have not allowed themselves to be turned to stone, who have given themselves so that others may have bread? Is it not in the true heroes of our day - people like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela? Is it not from the unsung heroes of our lives, those around us who give us not stones but bread because they give us themselves?

The image of communion is powerful because in accepting the bread, we commit ourselves to being bread for others. We do what Christ did, and proclaim the same message: "In this bread, I give you myself." As we do so, we walk on Christ's path, we share Christ's journey, and experience Christ's presence.