Five or six miles southwest of Jerusalem lay the tiny town of Bethlehem in the Judean hills. It  was here that man’s eyes first saw God in the flesh. The literal meaning of the name  Bethlehem is, “The House of Bread” and this is where our Savior Jesus, who is the Bread of  Life, was born. 

Jesus was born in the House of Bread not in the house of royalty, nor the house of riches, nor  the house of celebrity. Jesus was not born in Jerusalem, nor in Rome, nor in Athens or  Alexandria. Jesus was not born in any political, commercial, cultural, educational, or socially  significant city of the day.

Bread is one of life’s most common things and God wanted His Son available to all people.  So His birth was announced to shepherds, the common man, but not to King Herod. His cradle  was a manger, an animal’s feeding trough in a lowly stable so there could be no human so low  that he or she is outside the reach of the love of God! 

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger.” (John 6:35)  Bread is a good comparison to our Lord because He satisfies, gratifies, and strengthens us  spiritually just as bread does physically. But many of us are eating at the wrong table. It is  easy to get caught up in searching for meaning in life from the wrong things that only bring  temporary happiness. But only Christ can satisfy all the eternal dimensions of the human  spirit.

May we find confidence in the fact that Jesus was born in “The House of Bread” for God does  indeed want to choose us to be His children, no matter how insignificant we may seem to  ourselves or to the world around us.