I Am The Bread of Life

I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry. John 6:35

Bread has always been a part of Jewish history and tradition. The manna in the wilderness, a symbol of the covenant between God and man; the showbread, placed in the temple as an offering to God, representing His enduring presence with His people. Even the challah, prepared in Jewish homes, symbolizes the unity of family, community, and faith—all honoring God’s provision for His chosen people.

Jesus identifying as the Bread of Life came on the heels of two miracles. The first, feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fish from a young boy’s lunch, was a very public miracle (John 6:1-14). The second was very private, involving only disciples on a storm-tossed lake (John 6:16-17). Oddly enough, some disciples stopped following Jesus after these events, their faith weakened by their familiarity with Jesus’ past. Wasn’t this the man who had grown up among them, whose family they knew? A prophet perhaps, but the Messiah? The issue of bread becoming flesh and the wine becoming blood had also become a stumbling block. They were focused on the physical when the spiritual was before them.

“Will you leave me too?” Jesus asked the remaining twelve?

“Where would we go?” Simon Peter replied.

“You have the words of life.”

At the Last Passover that Jesus celebrated with His disciples before His arrest and crucifixion, He again identified himself as the Bread.

“Then He (Jesus) took the loaf and, after thanking God, He broke it and gave it to them with these words, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

As Christians, we celebrate this in our communion time on the first day of the week. We repeat the words from the upper room: “Do this in remembrance of me.” The emblems remind us of the death and resurrection of Christ and the promise of eternal life. But when we accept the bread and the cup, we are joining in union with Christ. He who is the Bread calls us to more than remembrance. He calls us to commitment, to share the manna.

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

1 Corinthians 10:17