Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial. (Lk 11:2-4)
Jesus taught the disciples to pray, “Give us each day our daily bread.” Bread is such a powerful symbol of God’s provision that I’m surprised we don’t pay more attention to its use in Scripture. In our economic abundance, perhaps we have forgotten that, for most of human history, food was often hard to come by. Fruits and vegetables were only available in season, and meat was mostly a delicacy of the rich. Bread, however, was a staple at every meal. In ancient Greek, one of the words for “fish” even means something like, “that which is eaten with bread.”
Jesus supplies our every need. More than once in the Gospels, this is illustrated through the provision of bread. When Jesus gives bread to his followers, the spiritually attentive see it as a sign of divine presence. Like the Emmaus disciples, they “recognize Jesus” in the breaking of the bread.
Some time ago I saw this article on the bread… HT Mark Goodacre
http://syneidon.org.uk/bread4.htm
I guess that is why bread was the substance He chose to make Himself present in, along with wine (of course). I’m not sure if wine had the same significance as bread, but something tells me it did.