Writings: The Jesus Bread

By: Dr. Gregory S. Neal

Abby was a darling child; I was her pastor about 25 years ago, when she was just 6 or 7 years old. She was an adorable, intelligent, talkative, bright-eyed little girl always full of life and laughter, song and dance. On one particular Sunday that I remember she was even more happy and excited than usual because it was going to be her first time to receive Holy Communion! Up until now she had always stayed behind in the pew with a grandparent and watched as her older siblings and her parents went forward to receive; but, no longer was she going to be left behind. That day she was going to get to eat what she loudly and excited proclaimed: “The Jesus bread!”

I love that phrase: the Jesus Bread. That pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? Theologians will debate and argue all they like about the meaning of Holy Communion — believe me, I’m one of them, and we do! My doctorate was in the Theology of Holy Communion: its origin, how we understand it, what it does for us, and how Jesus is received through it. It can be an area of sometimes heated disagreement among the various Christian traditions.

Our siblings in the Roman Catholic Church understand Jesus’ presence in Communion according to the doctrine of Transubstantiation, which teaches that the ontological substance of the consecrated elements becomes the body and blood of Christ while still retaining the external characteristics (appearance, taste, smell, texture, etc.) of bread and wine. Methodists, on the other hand, do not attempt to explain how Jesus is present; instead, we simply accept the truth of Christ’s presence as being a “Holy Mystery” that we experience rather than explain. We prefer to focus upon the bread and the cup as being “conduits” or “means” through which the real presence of Christ is conveyed to us when we eat and drink with faith. Far from just reminding us of, or symbolizing for us, the presence of Jesus, we understand our participation in the sacrament as actualizing Christ’s life and transforming presence within us. “The Jesus Bread.” Abby was right … that’s what it is: “The Jesus Bread.”

Bread is very important in both the Christian and the Jewish experience of community and of God’s grace in our midst. This was actualized in the story of the Manna in the Wilderness, which is also referenced in our scripture passage from John's Gospel. The word manna means: “what is it?” which is what the Israelites asked when they first saw it. It’s the “what is it” Bread … a gift of God’s miraculous, mysterious provision of nourishment in trying times. When the people heard Jesus talking about the “Bread of Heaven,” they made the connection:

“Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:31-33)

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:48-51)