“Mr. Baker, you have been charged with committing multiple acts of violence. How do you plead?”
“Guilty, Your Honor.”
“Do you wish to make a confession?”
“Yes, Your Honor. On Tuesday night I went to Wal-Mart, where I hired assassins to cut down an entire wheat field.”
“What did you do with the wheat?”
“I had it threshed.”
“Can you explain how that was done?”
“You take the wheat and whack it against the wall to separate the grain from the stalks.”
“Where are the stalks now?”
“They were chopped up and fed to the cattle.”
“What happened to the grain?”
“It was crushed.”
“What happened next?”
“I took the crushed grain home in a bag. Then I mixed it with some oil I had from crushing olives, along with water, salt, sugar, and yeast. Then I kneaded it.”
“Can you explain what you mean by ‘kneading it’?”
“Yes. Basically, you just beat it around a bit. I kneaded it so hard, my arms got tired.”
“Through all of this, did the grain protest in any way?”
“No. It was silent.”
“Then what did you do?”
“I let it rest. But I noticed it was beginning to rise, so I decided to watch it for a while to see what would happen.”
“And what did happen?”
“It kept rising, so I punched it down, put it in a loaf pan, and applied the heat.”
“How much heat?”
“I set my oven at 350 degrees and stuck the loaf pan inside. Ahh, the aroma was amazing!”
“Do you have anything else to confess?”
“Yeah, this morning I broke bread.”
“You committed even more violence!?”
“Yes, Your Honor. I sliced the thing and then I ate it.”
“And Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you.” (Luke 22:19 ESV)
“Mr. Baker, I sentence you to eternal life.”
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities;
Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
And with His wounds we are healed.”
(Isaiah 53:5 ESV)