Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life, Why?

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

I can think of one other similarity. Consider how bread is made. Think about the process. Wheat grows in the field, then it is cut down, winnowed, and ground into flour. It passes through the fire of the oven and is then distributed around the world. Only by this process does bread become bread. Each step is essential. Eliminate the plant, and you have no wheat. Eliminate the winnowing, and you have no flour. Eliminate the fire, and you have no product. Eliminate the distribution, and you have no satisfaction. Each step is essential.

Now, consider Jesus. He grew up before the Lord “as a tender plant” (Isaiah 53:2). One of millions of boys on the planet. One of thousands in Israel. One of dozens in Nazareth. 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. You might have thought Him polite or courteous or diligent, but God on earth? Not a chance. He was just a boy. One of hundreds. Like a staff of wheat in the wheat field.

But like wheat, He was cut down. Like chaff He was pounded and beaten. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). And like bread He passed through the fire. On the Cross He passed through the fire of God’s anger, not because of His sin, but because of ours. “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (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. “Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26).

[Taken from A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado]

THINK BIG. START SMALL. GO DEEP.