We regularly consume bread. Only during certain seasons are some fruits accessible. Only during holidays are certain drinks produced. Contrary to bread. It’s different with Jesus. Every day, He ought to be brought to our table. We allow Him to feed our souls every day, not just during particular months or on special occasions.

Many requirements are satisfied by bread. And Jesus can. He has a phrase for both the famous and the lonely. He has assistance for the physically ill and the emotionally ill. He can aid you if your eyesight is clear. He can aid you if your eyesight is blurry. Every need can be met by Jesus.

Can you see why Jesus called himself the Bread of Life?

I can only think of one other parallel. Take baking bread as an example. Consider the procedure. Field-grown wheat is harvested, winnowed, and processed into flour. It goes through the oven’s fire before being disseminated globally. It is only through this procedure that bread is made. Every stage is crucial.

Jesus grew up as a “small plant before the Lord” (Isaiah 53:2). One of thousands in Israel. Indistinguishable from the person down the street or the child in the next chair. Had you seen him as a youngster, you wouldn’t have thought he was the Son of God. He was just a boy. One of hundreds. Like a staff of wheat in the wheat field.

But he was destroyed, just like wheat. He was pummelling and pounded like chaff. “He was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did.” (Isaiah 53:5). And he made it through the flames like bread. On the cross He passed though the fire of God’s wrath, not because of His sin, but because of ours. “The Lord has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done.” (Isaiah 53:6).

Jesus experienced each part of the process of making bread: the growing, the pounding, the firing. And just as each is necessary for bread, each was also necessary for Christ to become the bread of life. “The Christ must suffer these things before he enters his glory” (Luke 24:26).

The next part of the process, the distribution, Christ leaves with us. We are the distributors. We can’t force people to eat the bread, but we can make sure they have it.