The Theology Of Bread… A Christmas Post

John 6:
32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life…

I love just opening the gospel of John and reading Jesus’ “I am” statements. It shows that Jesus and his way bring life and can sustain us. Through Jesus things of Heaven and the things that were promised to come, are fulfilled, and are available to humanity.

I studied a lot about the ways that Bread was used in the Bible. The bread of presence was used in the tabernacle the temple. It was in the entrance and replaced daily by the priest.

Bread fell from heaven in the wilderness to sustain God’s people before they entered the promise land.

I knew that Jesus had used unleavened bread (Bread with no yeast) in the Lord’s Supper account. He interrupted Passover (where they would use unleavened bread to represent the inability to have life without leaven) and pointed to the bread as “His body crushed” for us.

Here is where my mind was blown a week ago. I like to watch Ted Talks. I watched one called “The Art Of Baking Bread”. What I heard gave me a new perspective. A theology that makes me thankful to Jesus every time that I take a bite of bread.

It starts with life. The Wheat is grown, but then it is cut. Not only is it cut and dead, it is crushed to the point that it has no hope of life into this world through seeds. When leaven (yeast) is added, it starts to change. The word leaven means to “enliven”. New life has come to the wheat by this outside ingredient. Now the baker with care for his creation is allowing life and newness to come to the wheat that lost all hope of living without him and the yeast. Here is the deal… the purpose of the wheat is for it to become bread (which is the new creation being made). In order for that to happen, at 140 degrees, the yeast has to die.

Here is where this should connect with us:

We are like wheat. We have no chance of life without a caring creator sending us leaven or the ability to have new life, which was Jesus Christ. In order for us to be what we were intended to be, Jesus had to die.

Think about this this season as you are making rolls for family meal, gingerbread houses, or even taking communion at your local church.

Here is another amazing part of God’s story. Jesus (the bread of life) was born in Bethlehem which is translated “House Of Bread”.