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INTRODUCTION
Today begins Holy week events of Passion of Christ. Today is formal Communion, my message is
“This is My Body,” and Good Friday is an informal communion with the
message “This is My Blood.”
TODAY’S TEXT: Luke 22:19: “This is My body which is given for you; do this
in remembrance of Me.” Parallel passage: 1 Cor. 11:24 “This is My body, which is
for you, do this in remembrance of Me.”
A textual clarification about both: Some texts have “...My body which is broken for you”
— “broken” is not in Jesus’ words. “given” is
better. The bread this broken, no bones in His body were broken - Psalm 22.
What does Jesus mean when He took bread, blessed it, and broke it, and said “This is My
body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of Me?”
1. Bread illustrates life “taken some bread”
- John 6:33-35, 51 “I am the bread of life”
- The bread illustrates Jesus’ life: “This is My body which is for you.”
- Jesus gave His life in place of our life, His life gives life.
- Jesus is the Lamb of God. After Temple worship ceased Rabbi’s declared the bread
represented the Passover lamb.
ILLUS: Jewish Passover: “Matazh tash” is a linen bag containing 3 pieces
of unleaven bread. The middle piece is removed and broken. Half is put back into the
bag; the other half is wrapped in a napkin and hidden away in the house while the
children cover their eyes. After supper, the children are sent to find it and the
one who finds it receives a reward. Rabbinic law requires that a small piece of that
bread be broken off and eaten by everyone present as a reminder of the Passover lamb.
- The bread - “This is My body which is given for you.” when we take
the communion bread we are remembering that Jesus gave His very life for us
- Life for life. Life sent from heaven to give us life now and eternally.
- The gospel of Christ is all about life — abundant and eternal.
2. Broken bread illustrates breaking the chain of sin “...He broke it...”
- Two types of bread: leaven and unleavened. SHOW Piece of each
- Leaven is made with yeast, it rises. Jews used sourdough method of baking bread; an
unbaked piece of the first loaf is broken and kept aside to mix into the next loaf -
perpetual process.
- Hebrew word for “leaven” = chometz = bitter and sour
- Leaven represents sin almost always in the Bible (except Matt. 13:33).
- A life with sin is filled with bitterness, the sin of pride puffs people up. Leaven we
are linked to the past - Adam, sin is the tie that binds mankind.
- At Passover, in Communion we use unleavened bread - “matzh/matzo” =
“sweet without sourness.” No yeast, it is not linked to previous loaves,
- The chain of leaven in broken, illustrating the chain of sin is broken by Christ the
Bread of Life. Unleaven is a new beginning. 1 Cor. 5:6-8
- Traditionally matzo is striped, cracker-like wafer about 7 inches square, perforated
with tiny holes to reduce bubbling. Passover matzo tastes bland as not even salt is
added. It is simple flour and water dough.
- Jesus breaks the bread showing us that His life breaks the chain of sin; broken bread
also speaks of suffering and eventual death.
- At that Passover long ago, Jesus suffered and died to take away the sin of the world. He
is the suffering, sufficient, and sacrificial Lamb of God.
- Our sin is substantial, a sacrilege of God’s creation, scornful and shameful,
shocking and sickening, has brought slavery to Satan, self destruction to our souls and
our society. Creation groans because of our sin. With time it gets worse, not evolution
but de-evolution.
ILLUS: This week in Iowa we proved what sin keeps leading to - anything goes. The
state has kicked God out of marriage. We have called evil good.
- “This is My body which is given for you” Jesus gave His life for us.
He has come to save us from our sins, cleanse us. He suffered for us.
- How was His life broken, what suffering did Christ endure?
- He being a man, He experienced our weakness and frailty
- He being a man saw, touched sin cursed mankind
- He being a Holy Man was surrounded by our unholiness
- He sweat drops of blood in Gethsemane
- He was scourged in Gabbatha
- He was crucified at Golgotha
- He bore the sins of the world on the cross - Isaiah 53:3-5
3. Blessed bread that we partake illustrates receiving Christ’s new life of
righteousness “...and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying...”
- We partake of the bread, we eat it, and it becomes part of us. Eating that broken piece
illustrates the benefits of Christ’s life - He breaks the chain of sin in our life
by the sacrifice of His sinless life of Christ on the cross in our place, and it
illustrates that Christ’s righteousness comes into our life.
- Eating the bread is a vivid picture of the dying suffering of Jesus for our sins, taking
care of our sins, giving us His life.
- He suffered once and for all for us. We need to remember often.
“Bread of heaven, on Thee I feed,
For Thy flesh is meat indeed;
Ever may my soul be fed?
With this true and living bread;
Day by day with strength supplied,
Through the life of Him who died.” - Josiah Conder (Communion, 91)
- When Jesus broke the bread and spoke these words He shows us:
- The power of sin - it brings brokenness, suffering, to the point of death
- The power of love - Divinity loved us to the point of dying for us
- The power of salvation - His one body for all mankind Romans 5:17-19
Has the power of Jesus Christ suffering and death transformed your life?
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