Pão
O pão é símbolo central na Bíblia: do maná no deserto ao pão da vida — Jesus. A Escritura usa o pão para ensinar sobre provisão divina, comunhão e dependência espiritual.
O maná do céu
Deus alimentou Israel no deserto com pão do céu. O maná era diário, fiel e suficiente — retrato da provisão constante de Deus.
The Lord told Moses, "I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘In the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have as much bread as you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’"
That evening quail flew in and landed, filling the camp. In the morning dew covered the ground all around the camp. Once the dew had gone, there was something thin and flaky on the desert, looking like frost crystals on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked each another, "What is it?" because they had no idea what it was.
So Moses explained to them, "It’s the bread the Lord has provided for you to eat.
The Israelites called the food manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers with honey.
Even so he commanded the skies above and the doors of heaven to open,
and he made manna rain down on them to eat, giving them bread from heaven.
Human beings ate the bread of angels; he sent them more than enough food.
You make the grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to eat—crops produced by the earth for food,
and wine to make them happy, olive oil to make their faces shine, and bread to make them strong.
O pão da vida
Jesus declarou: 'Eu sou o pão da vida.' Quem vem a Ele nunca terá fome, e quem nele crê jamais terá sede. Ele é o sustento eterno.
"I tell you the truth, it wasn’t Moses who gave you bread from heaven," Jesus replied. "It’s my Father who gives you the true bread of heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Lord, please give us this kind of bread all the time!" they said.
"I am the bread of life," Jesus replied. "Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry again, and anyone who trusts in me will never be thirsty again.
I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate manna in the desert but they still died. But this is the bread that comes down from heaven, and anyone who eats it won’t ever die. I am the life-giving bread from heaven, and anyone who eats this bread will live forever. The bread is my flesh that I give so that the world may live."
He humbled you, and when you were hungry he gave you manna to eat, which nobody, including you and your forefathers, had ever had before. This was in order to make it clear to you that human beings do not live by only eating bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Jesus answered, "As Scripture says, ‘Human beings do not live by only eating bread, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’"
Partilha e comunhão
O partir do pão une o corpo de Cristo. Na Ceia, na generosidade e na partilha, expressamos a comunhão com Deus e uns com os outros.
He picked up some bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it into pieces and gave it to them. "This is my body which is given for you; do this in order to remember me," Jesus told them.
For every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup you announce the Lord’s death, until he returns."
When we give thanks for the cup we use in the Lord’s Supper, don’t we share in the blood of Christ? When we break the communion bread, don’t we share in the body of Christ? By eating from one loaf of bread, we show that even though we are many, we are one body.
So pray like this:
Our heavenly Father, may your name be honored. May your kingdom come! May your will be carried out in earth as it is in heaven. Please give to us today the food we need.
If you’re generous, you’ll be blessed, for you share your food with those in need.
But Jesus replied, "You give them something to eat."
"What? We’d need more than six month’s pay to buy bread to feed all these people," the disciples replied.
"Well, how much bread do you have?" Jesus asked. "Go and see."
They went and checked, and told him, "Five loaves, and a couple of fish."
Jesus told everyone to sit down in groups on the green grass. They sat in groups of hundreds and fifties. Then he took the five loaves and the two fish. Looking up to heaven he blessed the food and broke the bread into pieces. Then he handed the bread to the disciples to give to the people, and he divided the fish up between all of them. Everyone ate until they were full. Then they collected up the leftovers of the bread and fish—twelve basketfuls.
Provisão divina
O justo não é desamparado e seus descendentes não mendigam pão. Deus provê com fidelidade o alimento de cada dia.
Once I was young, and now I’ve grown old, yet I’ve never seen those who do right abandoned, nor their children having to beg for bread.
Having crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples realized they’d forgotten to bring bread with them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees," Jesus told them.
The disciples started arguing among themselves. "He’s saying that because we didn’t bring any bread," they concluded. Jesus knew what they were saying and said, "You have so little trust in me! Why are you arguing among yourselves about not having any bread? Haven’t you worked it out yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed five thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you collect? And what about the seven loaves that fed the four thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you collect? Haven’t you worked it out yet that I wasn’t talking to you about bread? Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!" Then they realized that he wasn’t warning them to watch out for bread yeast, but about the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Send your bread out on the surface of the water, and many days later you will find it again. Share what you own with seven or eight people, for you never know what disaster could happen.