Communion 3

John 6:48-51

We are very excited by the fact that a Panera Bread has opened near our home. For Mother’s Day we even bought a loaf of fresh, country style bread and sliced it up as part of our brunch after church. It didn’t last long.

As much as we enjoy this bread, there is a better bread that is offered to nourish each one of us spiritually. What is Jesus? What does he remind the Jews about? What type of bread is Jesus?

Obviously, Jesus is speaking metaphorically. He is not truly made of wheat or rye. He is not literally a piece of bread.

Instead, this comparison is a foretaste of what he will do during the Last Supper with his disciples. He is comparing himself with bread.

Why bread? I believe it is because bread is such a mainstay in almost every diet of almost every culture throughout the world. It is one of the basic foods that we as people eat. It is a basic food that keeps us going.

But Jesus points out that even the Jews with Moses in the desert were given a type of bread – manna – something special from God to keep them going. Yet even this special gift from God was not enough to keep the people alive forever.

Only Jesus is the bread of life. Only Christ is that basic component for us, something that gives us strength and nourishment, not for our bodies, but for our souls.

If we can feed on Jesus – that is, if we can follow his teachings and imitate his life, if we can make him a basic part of who we are and how we live and love – then we can find that everlasting sustenance from God.

Jesus points out that his flesh, his physical body, was like bread. It was meant as something real and tangible that was broken for us. His flesh was broken as a sacrifice for us so that we may have eternal life. But to achieve this holiness, this sanctification, we must feed on Christ, symbolically, taking him into us and making him a part of us on a daily basis.

The bread of life, Jesus himself, is a gift from the abundant table of the Lord.

DAILY CHALLENGE: How can you feed on Jesus every day?