It’s hard to talk about the Christmas story without
mentioning the city of Jesus’ birth – Bethlehem.
I find it very fitting that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Not
only was it prophesied to be the place of Messiah’s birth, but it also
completes a biblical narrative that began back in Genesis. It is of interest to
note that the name “Bethlehem” literally means in Hebrew “the house of bread.”
I say this is fitting that Jesus is born in the house of bread because
certainly, Jesus offers us the bread of life. He is the spiritual manna which
saves us from our spiritual hunger and sustains us along our spiritual journey.
His body was beaten and broken and offered as a sacrifice for our sins. And
Jesus, who is himself born in the house of bread, offers his body, which is the
new spiritual house of God, as broken for us. He symbolizes this profound reality with the Lord’s Supper
and bread that is broken and given to his people. As we partake of communion
and celebrate the broken body of Jesus, who was born in Bethlehem the house of
bread, let us not forget Jesus, in his sacrifice on the cross, has become the
true house of bread. He is the true and better Bethlehem, house of bread, and
if anyone eats from him, he will never hunger again.
