My favorite restaurant bread happens to be at Johnny Carino’s. There’s just something about fresh hot bread with olive oil and herb dipping sauce that’s irresistible. There’s even something better about it when you’re having to wait for your three cheese tortellini. It fills this insatiable hunger gap and when you have to share your bread with a party of six or more, the bread is even more irresistible. You don’t want to be last and end up with the cold end piece!
You can find some sort of bread item at most meals and almost always it’s a shared affair. When I fix spaghetti, my wife and I split out evenly the crescent roles. Four for her, Five for me… just kidding, four for me too unless I eat one before they hit the dinner table. We tend to share life around bread because it’s a shareable item.
I really believe that when Jesus was sharing his last meal with his disciples that this was the kind of setting they were engaged in. They were sharing a meal, sharing bread and doing what was normal. The Jews broke bread before a meal as a sign of God’s blessing, sort of like when we pray over a meal before we eat. Out of something very ordinary and normal, something daily, Jesus tells us to break bread in remembrance of him.
Jesus said as often as you break bread, do it in remembrance of me. Could it be that when we break bread in our homes, or the restaurant, or at a picnic that we should pause and celebrate and remember Jesus? Is that what he was talking about when he said, “as often as you do this?” I think the answer is a resounding yes. I hope the irresistible bread you devour in your favorite restaurant, in your home, and anywhere you meet with other believers is a reminder of the irresistible relationship you have with the Bread-of-Life Jesus.
