Wonder Bread

I love to look through cookbooks, and recently I found a strange one on the bargain shelf. The Wonder Bread Cookbook. Really. The history of Wonder Bread plus all kinds of recipes. This got me to thinking about bread in Bible times and what an important part it played. The genuine, original wonder bread was God’s manna from Heaven. That was wondrous. And it built strong bodies in more than 12 ways. But the Israelites soon got tired of it and began their whining again. I guess it’s human nature that, no matter how good or perfect something is, we always want more, or better, or different. Maybe that’s because this world is not really our home, so nothing on this earth will ever satisfy us. Can man live on bread alone? For sure he could on God’s heavenly bread. I’m thinking the manna looked nothing like Wonder Bread. Maybe it didn’t resemble any bread we have today. Bread figures in our Bible stories quite a bit. The ravens brought Elijah bread and meat in 1Kings 17:6. God ordered the Israelites to eat only unleavened bread when they were on the run. Ecclesiastes says to cast your bread upon the waters. My commentary says this means to seize life’s opportunities and not play it safe. Then there was the miracle of the loaves and fishes. And, of course, Jesus’ breaking bread at the last supper. And Jesus said “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”