Optimist’s Roundtable

By Martha Sykes

For many years, Moses was the greatest of all the prophets. It was he who gave the Israelites manna. Jesus reminded them, however, that it was God, not Moses, who provided the manna.

And He wanted them to realize that He, Jesus, Is the true bread from heaven. Manna was food for the body, but Jesus is God’s full provision for the soul. Jesus is the Bread of God. Both water and bread in scripture are used in reference to that which gives life. John 10:10 says, “I am the Bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Back in Palestine,in the days of Jesus, bread was not looked upon as an add-on to a meal. Bread was the essential staple. You might have nothing else to eat, but as long as you had bread you could survive. Bread was seen as that which provides life. Jesus was saying to them and to us today, “ I am the one who provides life, abundant and everlasting. I am essential.”

Because we are not as dependent on Brett as Jesus’s original listeners, we may not appreciate it as much as they did. When He said to them that He was the bread of life,He Is saying you cannot live without me I am essential to your life.

This may be why the first petition in our Lord’s prayer is, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

For many people historically, life without bread was impossible.

Jesus is the life; that’s what we need to remember every day.We , of course, do need bread every day, but we also need to have bread for the soul. That bread is Christ, who sacrificed his life so that we could have life and have it abundantly.