Johan SlabbertPhoto: Georgios Domouchtsidis (Unsplash)
In Vietnam, we often hear a haunting call ringing in the streets in the afternoon until late at night, “Bánh bao đây!” At first, we had no idea what this call meant. We speculated that perhaps this was some kind of call or announcement by the police or some local authority, informing the people of an upcoming event or even curfew. We noticed for example, that at 6 pm, everyone was ordered by the lifeguards to leave the sea. We heard this call so often, that I was starting to echo, “Bánh bao đây!” to myself. As we grew more accustomed to our surroundings, we noticed that the call was made by vendors on bicycles or scooters. What was this call and what did it mean?
My beloved did an online search and found what it actually meant. Vendors drive around with their bicycles or scooters, with a fire on one side and dumplings they had made in a container or basket on the other side. They sell these dumplings from late afternoon until well into the night. This call of “Bánh bao đây!” simply meant, “Dumplings here!” Bánh is the word for bread and you get various kinds. A bánh mi is a Vietnamese roll with various kinds of meats, onion, paste, and green leaves inside. This call was the vendor’s way of announcing to everyone that he had a specific kind of ‘bread’ available to eat.
As we are not just simply here on holiday, but also looking to where the Lord might in future perhaps lead us, for the sake of the gospel and the kingdom, we try and look and hear and observe with different eyes and ears than just the normal tourist. When hearing this haunting, almost eerie call ringing out in the streets at night, we inevitably thought of the call of the gospel. What if someone were to go around late afternoon and well into the night calling out for people to be saved? What would it sound like in Vietnamese?
Do you know that today, just like these dumpling vendors calling out in the streets of Vietnam, Jesus is calling as well? What is Jesus calling? In Vietnamese, he would call out something like, “Bánh mì sống!” What does this mean? It means, “Living bread!” Or one could call, “Bánh mì sống đây!”, which would mean “Living bread here!” This call has been going out right through the day and night; throughout the ages. Jesus is calling out and announcing the good news. “Living bread is freely available!” Jesus came just as these poor street vendors to announce the good news of immense importance to all mankind.
What if instead of calling, “Bánh bao đây!” or “Dumplings here!”, as they do in Vietnam, one were to call out, “Bánh mì sống!”, or “Living bread!” Would that not be a way to reach the masses of the Vietnamese people? In more familiar terms, Jesus cried, “I am the bread of life! (John 6:48)” The Vietnamese people, and many other nations, just like ourselves, need Jesus. They need this living bread. Eating the dumplings offered by these poor vendors may still your hunger for a while and provide temporary satisfaction. However, you will become hungry again. In contrast, the bread that Jesus offers, will still your hunger for all eternity. "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry.” (John 6:35).
Have you eaten this bread? When Jesus says, “Take and eat. This is my body”, what he means is that you must believe that he is who he claimed to be and that he came to offer his sinless life as a ransom for many. If you eat this bread, that is believe in Jesus and all he claimed to be and have done, you will never be hungry again.