Flour + Water + Salt
“Bread has existed in some form for over 12,000 years, especially amongst the poor. Flour and water. What could be simpler? Even today, grain represents 65% of all agriculture. Fruits and vegetables only 6%. Ancient Greek peasants dipped their stale, measly bread in wine for breakfast. And how did Jesus teach us to pray if not to beg for our daily bread?”
- The Menu
We love bread. It’s a staple food for all of society. Bread is mentioned at least 492 times in the Bible beginning in Genesis and continuing right through Revelation with a variety of meanings and symbolism. Bread is a symbol of God's life-sustaining provision. Everyday for 40 years the Israelites ate Mana (bread God provided from heaven) while exiled in the desert of Egypt. The first appearance of bread, in the Bible, is in Genesis 3:19 as the LORD is explaining the consequences of “the fall” to Adam. He says, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” It’s sombering, but God lets man know that he will live on bread until his death. But then in Deuteronomy 8, Moses wrote that, “Man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
Jesus spoke of himself as, “The bread of life.” John chapter 1 mentions how “in the beginning” the “word” was with God and the “word” was God. He culminates in verse 14 as he states, “And the word became flesh, and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John understands that this Word which man lives by from Deuteronomy 8 is Jesus, the Messiah. He is the Word of God and He became flesh. This understanding of “the word, the flesh, and the bread” comes together in Jesus' testimony of Himself in John 6:48-51.
“I am the bread of life… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus is the Word of God. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Messiah in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Our answer, in the end, is set up in true Hebraic fashion with this poetic play on words. What two things do men live by? “Bread” and “bread.” Our bodies eat, only to die, the bread of the ground. Our spirits eat, to live forever, Jesus – the Word of God and the Bread of Life.