February 19

Christ who is our life. — Col. iii. 4.

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man sat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. — JOHN vi. 51.

AS our bodies need bread for the sustenance of the physi cal life, so also do our souls need their proper food. In response to this profounder need, our blessed Lord graciously offers himself. He came down from heaven that he might make this offer. As in the olden time the manna fell from the skies to feed the people of God, so has Christ descended from his throne to be the spiritual food of humanity. The manna was only a feeble type of the nobler sustenance given us in our Lord. It was itself corruptible, and administered merely to the necessities of the corruptible nature. Christ is the living bread.

Let us remember, however, that the Christ who is the living bread for humanity is not the pre-existent Son of God, nor even the man of Nazareth, but the crucified and risen Saviour. The bread which Christ offers to men is his flesh given in atoning sacrifice upon the cross, and carried through the grave. As grain must be ground in the mill and pass through the oven before it can become bread, so Christ to become the true bread of humanity must be subjected to the tribula- tions of an earthly life of loneliness and persecution, and pass through the fiery furnace of suffering and death. They only are nourished by the bread of life who by faith receive and assimilate the crucified Christ.

A J Rowland

Bread of heaven, on thee we feed,

For thy flesh is meat indeed.

Ever let our souls be fed

With this true and living bread.

JOSIAH CONDER.