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.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "I have heard the Israelites’ complaints. Now tell them, ‘In the evening you will have meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’"
That evening vast numbers of quail flew in and covered the camp. And the next morning the area around the camp was wet with dew. When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground. The Israelites were puzzled when they saw it. "What is it?" they asked each other. They had no idea what it was.
And Moses told them, "It is the food the Lord has given you to eat.
The Israelites called the food manna. It was white like coriander seed, and it tasted like honey wafers.
But he commanded the skies to open;
he opened the doors of heaven.
He rained down manna for them to eat;
he gave them bread from heaven.
They ate the food of angels!
God gave them all they could hold.
You cause grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for people to use.
You allow them to produce food from the earth—
wine to make them glad,
olive oil to soothe their skin,
and bread to give them strength.
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.
Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven.The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Sir," they said, "give us that bread every day."
Jesus replied, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Yes, I am the bread of life!Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died.Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die.I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh."
Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
But Jesus told him, "No! The Scriptures say,
‘People do not live by bread alone,
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 took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.
When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.
Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
may your name be kept holy.
May your Kingdom come soon.
May your will be done on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us today the food we need,
Blessed are those who are generous,
because they feed the poor.
But Jesus said, "You feed them."
"With what?" they asked. "We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!"
"How much bread do you have?" he asked. "Go and find out."
They came back and reported, "We have five loaves of bread and two fish."
Then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of fifty or a hundred.
Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. He also divided the fish for everyone to share. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish.
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 am old.
Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned
or their children begging for bread.
Yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees
Later, after they crossed to the other side of the lake, the disciples discovered they had forgotten to bring any bread. "Watch out!" Jesus warned them. "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, "You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread?Don’t you understand even yet? Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves, and the baskets of leftovers you picked up?Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves, and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up?Why can’t you understand that I’m not talking about bread? So again I say, ‘Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’"
Then at last they understood that he wasn’t speaking about the yeast in bread, but about the deceptive teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
The Uncertainties of Life
Send your grain across the seas,
and in time, profits will flow back to you.
But divide your investments among many places,
for you do not know what risks might lie ahead.