The Bible has a fairly developed view of bread. Bread appears as a gift, such as in Melchizedek’s gift to Abram; it shows up when Jacob deceived Esau and gave him some bread with the lentil stew; bread is also a protagonist in the Passover Feast; it’s what fed the Israelites in the wilderness; in fact, sharing bread in the Psalms is an expression for close friendships; in the Book of Ruth, dipping bread in the vinegar is given as a ritual that brings Boaz and Ruth together. There is so much more.
If you were to put all that data together, you would see that the purpose of bread—whether literal or figurative– is central to the relational life of the church. In I Corinthians Paul says that we are one loaf, which is to say we are bound together as one. And finally, in John 6, Jesus is referred to as the true bread from heaven.
At the Lord’s Supper, we eat from one bread as a fulfillment of this beautiful typology. God uses this theme to invite us to his Son, the bread of life. We come together today as one loaf offered to God. May God hear us and accept our offering.
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