I want to focus on the Bread of Wisdom and the Bread of Life.
Bread, like everything else, has a history. It goes back 10,000 years, to when the first wheat began to appear in the Middle East, which led to cultivation and farming, to villages and towns, and eventually to the great cities of Mesopotamia: the cradle of civilization.
There are many metaphorical references to bread in the Old Testament: to eat the bread of affliction, the bread of oppression, the bread of tears, the bread of idleness. We also find mention of the bread of learning, the bread of understanding, and today, in Proverbs 9:5, Wisdom says, “Come, eat of my bread,” the bread of Wisdom.
In John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life…I am the living bread” (6:35, 51). For John, Jesus is also the Word made flesh, the Wisdom of God incarnate (1:14). The Bread of Wisdom and the Bread of Life are one.
Anglicans, Lutherans, and Orthodox all believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; Catholics are the only ones who try to explain it with the interesting word transubstantiation. I’m tempted to give an excursus on transubstantiation, but I’ll resist that temptation, except to say that it simply refers to Aristotle’s understanding of material things as made up of substance and accidents: the accidental qualities of bread – the texture, taste, and smell – remain unchanged, while the underlying substance is changed into the Body of Christ. The problem with this explanation is that it directs our focus to the matter of bread, whereas our attention should instead be on the mystery (the very word the Orthodox use instead of sacrament).
We need to focus on the big picture, on the context: the Eucharist is always celebrated in the context of the Word of God. We need to hold in focus our whole celebration – what takes place from the beginning to the end of it, at the ambo and at the altar, and the presider’s chair. The Bread of Wisdom is always part of the Bread of Life. It’s a reality beyond explanation, but not beyond comparison.
There is a real presence of Christ in the bread and the wine; there is also a real presence of Christ in the Word proclaimed to the assembly; and there is a real presence of Christ in the gathered assembly itself. Christ is really present in us here and now, gathered in his name.
If we struggle to believe, if our faith is weak, it’s probably this that we struggle with most: to believe that Christ is really and truly present in us, not just on the altar; and that we really are temples of his Holy Spirit, of his Love. That we can always call upon his Wisdom, and that we are assured of his Love: this is our faith and our hope. This is the Bread that gives us strength in our weakness.