Broken Bread

19 Apr 2017 • Articles

Author: Lucy Mills

Breaking freshly baked bread, warm and crisp between our fingers, feels both simple and luxurious. Bread is seen by many as a staple food. If we don’t have any bread, we go out to buy bread, or even make some of our own.

In biblical times, ‘breaking bread’ marked the beginning of a meal, and extended to the meal itself. It was associated with a prayer of thanksgiving to God, the provider. We see this in the times Jesus breaks bread – during the feeding of thousands, he gives thanks for the loaves, then breaks them. On a more profound level, Jesus breaks bread and gives thanks for it at what we now call the Last Supper. Many churches still perform this breaking action before sharing communion today.

When the risen Jesus met the two disciples walking to Emmaus, they don’t recognise him. He doesn’t reveal himself to them – but instead he encourages them to tell him what has been going on. They talk to Jesus, about Jesus, not knowing it is Jesus who is listening to them! As they walk with him, you can sense the disappointment in their words:
‘We had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel.’ (Luke 24:21)

We had hoped. ‘Had-hopes’ are full of sadness. It is only when they invite Jesus to eat with them, and witness him breaking bread and giving thanks, that these disciples recognise him. They see beyond the ‘had-hopes’ and perceive the living messiah, the bread of life who has been broken for them.

From here on in, the breaking of bread would become even more significant for Jesus’ followers. In the bread and wine we partake of a memory, recalling Jesus’ brokenness, and offering to him our own longing to be whole.

How do we break bread today? What do we associate with our meal times, our food? Where might we need to make more room for ‘breaking bread’ as an act of thankfulness and then of sharing together?

Bread of life,
You sustain us,
You feed us,
You bless us,
You share your very self with us.
Thank you. Amen.