By Victor Knowles
Bread has been called “the staff of life.” I loved bread as a young boy. Some of the brands of bread I remember my mother buying were Sunbeam, Butternut, Roman Meal, and Wonder. I still love bread. Bread makes the world a better place.
The first mention of bread in the Bible is in Genesis 3:19, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (New King James Version). The Romans perfected the art of making bread. The process of making bread begins by crushing grains of wheat. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Our Lord understood the awful implications of that statement. Isaiah prophesied, “He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5).
At the institution of the Lord”s Supper, Jesus “took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “˜This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me”” (Luke 22:19). Jesus is the true Wonder bread. It is a wonder he left Heaven to come to earth and give his life a ransom. It is a wonder he referred to himself as the bread of life, when he knew his life would be crushed. It is a wonder he went to the cross to atone for our sins, when he himself was without sin.
Another wonder to consider is how Paul likens the church to “one bread.” “The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:16, 17, New King James Version). When Israel came out of Egypt in the exodus, they came out as a united people. When Christians observe the Lord”s Supper, they show their unity in Christ. “For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). This is the second wonder of Communion.
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Victor Knowles is founder and president of POEM (Peace on Earth Ministries), Joplin, Missouri; www.poeministries.org.
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