“In addition, we promise to obey the command to pay the annual Temple tax of one-eighth of an ounce of silver for the care of the Temple of our God. This will provide for the Bread of the Presence; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, the new moon celebrations, and the annual festivals; for the holy offerings; and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel. It will provide for everything necessary for the work of the Temple of our God.” Nehemiah 10:32, 33
The showbread in the Old Testament, or the Bread of the Presence, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present on a specially dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. In some way it prefigures the bread that is part of the communion celebration in the New Testament. Christ is the Bread of Life.
I think I see it the way Martin Luther did—that in the Lord’s Supper there is sacramental union of the divine and the earthly, not unlike the sacramental union of two natures in Jesus Christ. The bread is bread, but it somehow is also Christ’s body. The juice is juice, but it somehow is also Christ’s blood.
Dear Lord, give me the grace to appreciate holy communion more deeply, even if it is beyond my ability to comprehend fully.
