Listen To The Bread

Theme: Listen to the Bread

Text: Luke 22:19 “And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me.”

INTRODUCTION: The Egyptians are credited with the invention of bread. Over 10,000 years ago the people of Egypt began to crush grain and the bakers put flat circular discs of the crushed grain that was infused with water, flattened, and shaped into what looks like tortillas or pita bread. The products were then baked, and bread became a global dietary staple. Since that day, people from every nook and cranny of the earth have made a wide variety of breads that we have become accustomed to seeing and eating.

There are many types of breads from all around the world: Biscuits, cornbread, tortillas, pita bread, white Bread, Wheat Bread, Whole Wheat Bread, Multigrain Bread, Focaccia, Challah Bread, Naan, Whole Grain Bread, Rye Bread, Pumpernickel Bread, Sourdough, Roti, Banana Bread, Boston Quick Bread, Irish Soda Bread, Brioche Bread, Chapati, Paratha, English Muffin, Baguette, Bagels, Brioche, Belgian Waffle, and Pumpkin bread.

Bread graces tables across the globe every day. All of us love the aroma of freshly baked bread. Bakeries have natural magnetic appeal to passersby who are captivated by the waves of yeast ladened air that float from their ovens. At almost every dinner table someone would say “pass the bread.”

We use bread for many things, for example bread pasted with peanut butter and jelly is a marriage made in heaven. Sandwiches are usually made with bread, be it traditional slices or on wraps. Turkey is the largest bread consumption nation in the world. The average Turk eats a whopping 440 pounds of bread per year. But bread is more than a nutritional product. Its symbolic and metaphoric meanings have made their way into human language. In some cultures, bread refers to health, luck, and prosperity. People speak of breaking bread, and it can just mean having a meal or even making peace. Bread is even used to mean the basic necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. In the 1930’s people in various places used the word bread to mean money and up to today some people still do so in America.

BODY:

Biblical Meanings and uses of Bread: The word bread appears 492 times throughout the scriptures referring to food and symbolizing wealth, forgiveness, salvation, the Word of God, the Presence of God, and the Provision of God. The word bread was first spoken by God in Genesis 3:19 when He pronounced a curse upon the ground consigning it to bring forth thorns and thistles making it hard for cultivation and on Adam saying, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” In Genesis 14:18, Bread makes a significant appearance when Abraham met Melchizedek king of Salem, and Melchizedek “brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.)” A key element in the Jewish Passover was unleavened bread according to Exodus 12:8. We see bread falling from heaven to feed the Israelites for the forty years of their wilderness wandering. Then some of that same bread, called manna, was placed in a pot, and put into the Ark of the Covenant.

Further, God commanded the people of Israel to present a Peace Offering using bread as recorded in Leviticus 23:17, “You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord.” In Exodus 25:30, God required a perpetual presence of bread in the Tabernacle saying, “… you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.” Bread shows up in the Psalms and in the Proverbs as well as in the Prophetic writings of Hosea and Jeremiah and also in Ezekiel 4:9 where a recipe for making Ezekiel Bread is given. When Jesus was tempted by the devil during a time of fasting and the devil told Him to turn the stones into bread, He said to satan “man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Jesus fed the people that followed Him on at least two occasions with fish and bread. Bread, as we have seen, is of great significance in the Bible, but of all the scriptural dictates and descriptions of bread, the words of Jesus abut bread, found in our text for today is by far the most important.

Exegesis of the Word Bread in our Text: As Jesus and His disciples were eating the Passover supper, near the close of the meal, according to Luke 22:19, Jesus took bread and said to His disciples “This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.” In other words, Jesus was saying, “this bread represents My Body.” Just as the Passover Lamb that was killed represents the Lord’s passing over the Israelites on their last night in Egypt, this bread represents My Body. This Body of God incarnate, or God in human form.