Broken Bread

I Corinthians 11:23-25, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; an when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

So what is meant by Jesus when He declared that His “body – broken for you”?  What does broken mean?  After all, not one of His bones were broken, For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, “Not one of His bones shall be broken,” John 19:36.

Some have argued that the brokenness came under the Roman whip opening up His back.  The Roman flogging was called a half death for many who received it actually died in the process.

Was He talking about crucifixion?  How does that break a body?

What did He mean that by breaking the bread we would remember that His body was broken?

We need to consider two key points:

1. He was born of a virgin and thus perfect and not under the curse as all other men.  He was NOT going to die!  Death is because of the curse!  Being not under the curse, His blood was like none other.   His blood being pure was able to clot and reconstruct quickly.  The wounds were healing quickly!  His body reconstituted itself quickly as He was not a mere human but a perfect human!
2. Also, Jesus declared that He would die because He willed to die.

John 10:17-18, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

The whip, the horrible beatings (Isaiah 52:14), the crown of thorns, the tearing out of His beard (Isaiah 50:6), and the impalement on the cross did NOT kill Him!  For any other human, any one or combination would have brought death.  Jesus died because He willed to die!

So what was Jesus teaching in declaring that His body was broken?

Genesis 2:7, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

II Corinthians 4:7-10, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

So, God made a human vessel and in the “house” placed His spirit – His breath.

John 12:3, Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

When the vessel is broken, the contents slip out and away just like the pot holding the perfume.

When Jesus said His body was to be broken, He was talking about His physical death when His spirit exited His earthly house.

Luke 23:46, And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last.

Ecclesiastes 1:6-7, Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.  Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

The “broken bread” speaks of His physical death when His spirit left His body.  This happened on the cross at 3 p.m. by His will when He entered death and the tomb in order to defeat them both!  I Corinthians 15:54-55

I Corinthians 15:22, For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.