“Breaking of Bread”

   ¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"    John 20:19. 

     Among assemblies, the ‘breaking of bread’ is one of our main reasons for being, and our format for public worship. As a background to what I’ve been thinking, let me tell you that my wife and I were at a meeting very similar to our breaking of bread a few months ago. It was a Wednesday afternoon, and we were there (at Smith’s funeral home) for a man who had just died—we were all there in remembrance of him and we talked with his relatives and friends about his accomplishments in life.

     Don Scholefield loved his wife and his family. He served in the Canadian Navy during the war; after the war he started a flight training school in Quebec; more recently he was inducted into the  Quebec Air and Space Hall of Fame.

     But what a difference between that remembrance service and our breaking of bread! Up at the front of the chapel was a casket and a body. We have no body—we have only an empty cross and symbols of a death—bread and wine.

     We know that the Lord asked His disciples, at the last supper, to remember Him. That was the first Breaking of Bread, as we call it. Now look at our header verse—I believe this is the second Breaking of Bread. The disciples had met together, as He asked, to remember Him. And He came to them again. But Thomas wasn’t there. He obviously didn’t take the Lord’s request to heart, so he missed Him.

     The disciples must have told Thomas what he missed, so he was there the next week, for the third ever Breaking of Bread. And the Lord came again (verse   26). We might almost say that Thomas was there in unbelief, but one sight of the Lord changed him forever!

     Twenty or more years ago, Johnny Cash put out a movie called “The Gospel Road” and in it there is a song that reviews some of the experiences of Peter. To quote the final words of the song—and to reiterate what every Breaking of Bread says...

He’s alive! He’s alive!

        He’s alive and I’m forgiven,
     Heaven’s gates are open wide.
        He’s alive!
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