The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-02-06
BY RALPH ROGERS
Christ, the living bread. John

Life itself depends upon bread.
Men work for it, fight and even
die in search of bread. It's a ter
rible thing to be hungry. During
the depression of the thirtieS a
group of men in Arkansas went
into the store and sacked it say
ing their children were starving.
Without bread men can be deSper-
ate.
Jesus had just fed five thousand
people and from this he draws a
lesson emphasizing the fact that he
lis living bread This is a term
which needed considerable expla-
nation and through the years has
been the source of much contro-
lversy. Some have found in this
mataphor a perfect statement of
the meaning of real diScipleShip,
the secret of Christian faith and of
Christian living. 1t has actually
rent the church, some holding that
lit is grossly pagan and others that
it should be taken literally in its
original Interpretation. The holders
of the doctrine of tranSubstantia-
ton believe that what is visible
and tangible about the bread re-
mains unaltered, but that the sub
stance, that is the intangible and
invisible something, becomes the
substance OF the body of our Lord.
We should remember that this is
only a metaphor. 1t is true that
Jesus spoke of himself as being the
living bread saying this is my
body He also said i am the door,
both of which are true. However
no one thinks OF Jesus as being
the literal swinging door on hing
les. Accepting Jesus statement as
a metaphor as he certainly meant
/ it to be and as he often spoke in
parallels, we can understand that
we can take Christ into our lives
and absorb his teachings, his char
acter, his ways until his mind be-
comes our mind and his ways our
ways. Paul understood what Jesus
meant when he wrote the Philip
plans 4:13, 81 can do all things
through Christ which strengthened
me-"
The repeated reference to bread
in this chapter would indicate that
the people and the disciples had
difficulty in absorbing its full
meaning. Somewhat later, under
the Emperor Trajan, A. D. 1OS,
IIgnatiuS, a bishop of the church,
was led into the Colosseum where
he was about to be thrown to the
vicious beasts. He said, 81 am the
wheat of Christ: am going to be
ground with the teeth of wild
beasts, that / may be found pure
bread" The fact that some ten
thousand Christians followed these
Headers into the arena of triumph
lis evidence that they had partaken
of the bread of life
II is hard to understand how a
imam can be bread. Again we must
accept this as a metaphor and try
to understand what Jesus meant.
We can better understand if We
put another statement with this one
when Jesus said. Il am the truth. "
Those who believe the truth shall
be saved. As one accepts the truth
as Jesus proclaimed it and makes
lit a part of themselves, even as
bread becomes part of the man,
then we shall not only be spiritual.
lily fed and sustained, but we shall
Ihave life.
Another question that the neigh.
lbors of Jesus naturally asked was.
''how can this man give up his
flesh to eat?" They knew this son
of Joseph who worked in a carpen.
tier shop. They had seen him make
OK yokes, they had talked with him
land had seen him on the street.
Who does he think he is to claim
that his flesh viii be bread and
sustain life? While some doubted
others believed and knew that there
was something eternal about this
man from Nazareth. His words and
works certainly proved that ha v,.S,