Bread of Affliction

Have you ever heard of "Weenie Royale?" I doubt it. It was a food prepared by Japanese people during their unjust internment in the United States during World War II. It was wartime, and there was a general fear than anyone ethnically Japanese, regardless of legal status or citizenship, might pose a threat to the U.S. Despite being in wartime now, I don't think we who came after that generation fully appreciate the paranoia of those times, or the lengths to which the federal government went for the sake of security.

Mail was intercepted and read. Signs and billboards reminded people that "loose lips sink ships." One wonders how much the common person would have known that could have been of interest to foreign powers.

It was a bad time for the Japanese people in the United States. The living conditions were cramped and uncomfortable, the cafeteria was not conducive to the traditional Japanese family meal, and the diet was terribly restricted. They were fed surplus from the military and other basic commodities. Sick and tired of it the same old thing, what to the detained Japanese was truly foreign food, they began taking the items and making it into food roughly similar to things they once knew. Weenie Royale came into being, as did Spam Sushi. Read more about it here. Nowadays these recipes serve as a reminder of what the Japanese-American community suffered during WWII.

The Jews have a far more ancient tradition commemorating how they were released from bondage in Egypt. Passover began at sunset just a couple of nights ago as I write this. Notice what the Scripture says about their eating during this time:

"You must not eat with it anything leavened. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it—the bread of affliction—because you came out of the land of Egypt in great haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt" (Deuteronomy 16:3 NRSV).

Historically, God has shown time and again that He stands with the weak, outcast and marginalized. The least respected of peoples are frequently held in His highest esteem. The bread of affliction of the Japanese may be Weenie Royale, and of the Jews it is unleavened bread, but the powers of this world that deprive people of their basic sustenance are put on notice by how the afflicted remember their deprivation. The food, or lack thereof, stands as a testimony against the rulers, powers and authorities that have lost their way, claiming to offer the peace and security of the majority at the expense of the minority. Having thought they'd claimed God's rightful place in this world, they discover time and again that they are simply unable to fill the role.

Perhaps in the New Heavens and New Earth, following the resurrection, there will still be some bread of affliction. Not to remember the pain or stand as testimony against the disarmed and subjected powers, but as signs and reminders of God's everlasting fidelity.