The Proof is in the Bread

Before I entered into the ministry I earned my Bachelor's degree from Johnson & Wales University with an emphasis on food and beverage management.  Part of my degree involved culinary arts and one class I had was breads with Chef Barstein.  When you scale out the ingredients from the formula (baking is a science and requires exact measurements and temps.) you place them into the mixer to begin the process of bread making.  When the ball of dough separates from the sides of the bowl, you cover and allow the twenty or thirty pounds of dough to proof.  The first proof, also called proving, means the rising of the dough due to fermentation by the yeast.  It requires a warm and moist area for the dough to rise to its optimum.  Then the baker will take his fist and punch the dough to release the gases for the beginning of the final proof. 

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. (John 6:35-36 NIV)

Just as most breads are proofed or proved, so did the Son of Man prove himself by the very fact of his first coming.  He chose to give up all the glory, power and worship from the hosts of heaven to put on the confinement of human flesh so we could know God.  He lived the life man was originally to have and showed us the way those who eat of this "flesh" can live.  He loves with such a love that he was willing to die for us. Just as any good baker knows before the final proofing or proving, the dough must be punched. Jesus was himself punched by evil men who laid hands upon him, beat him, spat upon him, whipped him, crucified and buried him in the tomb. 

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:10-11

Then the second proof or proving is the Resurrection and the power behind it which comes from God.  The resurrection is the one proof of Christianity and the blessed hope of overcoming this dead and dying mortal body in which we live. The Spirit which gives life because of the righteousness of Christ brings to believers a freedom from the fear and curse of sin and death.  So, the proof is in the bread--The Bread of Life.