The True Bread Broken

The ballad opens by contrasting Herod’s banquet of death with Jesus’ coming banquet of life. John the Baptist has been executed, his voice silenced in a corrupt feast that reeks of power and manipulation. Into this grief and darkness, Jesus retreats to a quiet place. Yet the crowds follow, and instead of turning them away, He responds with compassion. Where Herod’s table destroys, Jesus’ table will restore.

The disciples see only scarcity, telling Jesus to dismiss the people so they can find food. But Jesus commands them to feed the crowd, drawing attention to their insufficiency. A boy’s small meal — five loaves and two fish — is brought forward. In His hands, what is weak and inadequate becomes abundant. He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it, and gives it. The wilderness is transformed into a feast, echoing the manna of Israel’s wilderness wanderings.

Yet the miracle is more than provision for empty stomachs; it is a signpost to something greater. The bread points to Jesus Himself, the true Bread of Life. Just as He blesses and breaks the loaves, so His own body will be blessed, broken, and given for the world. The pattern of the miracle anticipates the cross and the Last Supper. In Him, the broken becomes the blessing, and through His death comes life abundant.

The ballad ends with Christ’s table stretching to the ends of the earth. The feast of five thousand is but a foretaste of the greater banquet of the kingdom, where all who hunger and thirst will be satisfied. Jesus is not merely the One who gives bread — He is the Bread. He is the Table, the Host, and the Feast itself. Through His death and resurrection, He makes provision not just for daily bread but for eternal life.

Lyrics

Verse 1
The word had just been spoken, of a prophet struck down,
Herod’s hall was loud with laughter, but his table was unsound.
A banquet steeped in shadows, where a dancer’s steps grew grim,
And the voice that cried repentance was silenced there for him.

Verse 2
So He sought the lonely shoreline, with the sorrow in His eyes,
But the people still pursued Him, their need would not subside.
And though His heart was heavy, His compassion did not cease,
For the Shepherd feeds the hungry, and His feast is life and peace.

Prechorus
And the bread He breaks before us is a shadow of the cross,
Where the Giver is the giving, where the broken conquers loss.

Chorus
He’s the Shepherd of the table, He’s the Shepherd of the bread,
Every heart He fills with mercy is a soul He raised from death.
From the hillside to the heavens, from the hunger to the feast,
He is bread enough forever, and His kingdom will not cease.

Verse 3
“Send them to the villages, let them find their bread alone.”
But He turned and faced His weary ones: “You feed the ones I own.”
They brought their meager offering, a boy’s small gift of food,
And He blessed it, broke it open, till the wilderness renewed.

Prechorus
And the bread He breaks before us is a shadow of the cross,
Where the Giver is the giving, where the broken conquers loss.

Chorus
When our hands are nearly empty, He’s the Giver without end,
Every heart He fills with mercy is a soul He calls a friend.
From the hillside to the heavens, from the hunger to the feast,
He is bread enough forever, and His kingdom will not cease.

Verse 4
The manna in the desert was a whisper of this day,
When the Bread of God descended, in the breaking, gave away.
For the hunger of the body is the shadow of the soul,
And the One who feeds the many is the One who makes us whole.

Prechorus
And the bread He breaks before us is a shadow of the cross,
Where the Giver is the giving, where the broken conquers loss.

Chorus
He’s the Manna in the desert, He’s the wine that makes us whole,
Every heart He fills with mercy is a banquet for the soul.
From the hillside to the heavens, from the hunger to the feast,
He is bread enough forever, and His kingdom will not cease.

Verse 5
On the night before His passion, in the breaking of the bread,
He revealed the greater banquet, and the life that lay ahead.
And upon the hill of Calv’ry, where His body bore our sin,
The true Bread once was broken, that the world might feast in Him.

Hook
“Not the bread, but the Giver—
Not the feast, but the Host—
It is Jesus who sustains us,
It is Jesus we need most.”

“Not the bread, but the Giver—
Not the feast, but the Host—
It is Jesus who sustains us,
It is Jesus we need most.”

Final Chorus
He’s the Table and the Giver, He’s the Life that conquered death,
Every heart He fills with mercy is a soul He raised from death.
From the hillside to the heavens, from the hunger to the feast,
He is bread enough forever, and His kingdom will not cease.
Not the bread, but the Giver, not the feast, but the Host—
It is Jesus who sustains us, it is Jesus we need most.