Bread

Good morning!

One of the things that fascinates me about the Scriptures is how the three Persons of the Trinity have a variety of names.  Because it is so difficult for us to comprehend the Godhead, Three-in-One, the Scriptures use similes to help us out.   I would love to do a study on the many names of God the Father, for example. I have a Messianic Jewish friend on Facebook.  Routinely, she publishes a post describing one of the names of God the Father, Son or Holy Spirit in the Hebrew, along with the meaning behind it.  I love to read those and worship along with her.

One of the names Jesus applies to Himself is the Bread of Life.

When I was young, I had a friend at whose house I would sometimes spend the night.  The matriarch would rise each morning and make a huge pan of fresh biscuits.  (I was fascinated by this, as it did not occur at my house.) Many of the biscuits would be consumed at breakfast, but the rest would be left in the pan on the stovetop, covered with a cloth, to be eaten during the day.  And then, the next morning, she would do it all over again.

Bread has, for centuries, been a staple of the human diet.  When Jesus gave us The Lord's Prayer, He did not pray "give us this day our gluten-free food product".  He prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread."  Elsewhere, He referred to himself as "the bread that came down from Heaven".  In the 6th chapter of his book, John describes this scene.  Jesus is speaking to a group at the synagogue in Capernaum, including a large number of Pharisees, a highly legalistic sect of Judaism.
"I am the living bread that came down from Heaven.  Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." (NIV)
The Pharisees were appalled, to say the least.  They totally did not get what Jesus was saying.  They took His words very literally and believed that He was promoting cannibalism.  Because of this simile Jesus used, many of His followers turned away and abandoned their following after Him.

Later on in this passage Jesus is talking with his 12 disciples and explaining the deeper meaning of His words.  (vs. 63 "The words I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.")  Jesus is explaining with these puzzling words that unless we take His words and message, literally Himself, inside our very beings we cannot have eternal life.  He is explaining that He is the only God-the-Father-ordained way to Heaven.

Jesus went on to expand this illustration by instituting the sacrament of Communion, which most Christian churches practice. We read about this in Luke 22, as Jesus was sharing with his disciples "The Lord's Supper", the last meal they would share together before Jesus' crucifixion.   Some practice Holy Communion daily, as in the Catholic mass.  Other churches practice it periodically.  Jesus did not specify how often we should do it.  But, in the sacrament of communion, we eat the wafer, which represents Jesus' body (the bread) and we drink the wine or grape juice (the wine) which represents His blood.  This is an act of worship, because we are reminding ourselves by these actions that we have accepted Him and that we are His.   He said, "Do this, in remembrance of Me." (Luke 22:19)

In The Lord's Prayer, Jesus prayed that we would have "daily bread".  Did He mean that we should pray God to provide our physical food each day?  I believe that this was one meaning, but that He was also praying that God would provide for us each day a new heaping, helping of Jesus to our souls. This is why we as Christians admonish each other to get into the Scriptures every day.  This "communion" with God IS our daily bread!

Later this morning some ladies from our Sunday School class are coming over to "break bread", fellowship and pray.  I am so looking forward to worshipping with them!  After I finish this blogpost, I am going into the kitchen to bake the muffins we will share, the "bread we will break" together.  After our muffins and coffee, we will pray to Father for awhile, lifting up to Him our requests and interceding for each other.

There is this ghastly movement afoot in my country to either 1) eat fake "enriched" bread or 2) avoid all bread.  Neither is right.  As we have perverted bread products in our country by removing essential ingredients and then trying to "enrich" them by putting those God-created ingredients back, our nation has developed food allergies to these artificial products.  Some people have stopped eating bread as a result.  There is a spiritual analogy here.  We must be sure to eat only "the true Bread, which is come down from Heaven":  Jesus Christ - - - not some man-made imitation "spiritual" product, which will make us spiritually sick!

As bread is foundational to our physical diet, so also spiritual, Living Bread is foundational to our faith and our walk.  We must have it every day... to be resplendent!

Loving Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, the Living Bread from Heaven, whose body was broken for us.  Thank you that each day, we can "eat" the Living Bread as we search your Scriptures, the Holy Bible, as we pray to You, as we seek your face and walk with You, commune with You, throughout the day.  You stand ready to provide our every spiritual need, and we are eternally grateful! In Jesus' name, amen.