His Body Broken for You

Series: Comminion
Message: His Body Broken For You
Key Scriptures: Luke 22:14-20, Exodus 16:1-18, John 6:26-35, John 6:47-58, Isaiah 53:4, Matthew 27:50-51

This Week's Message

The Body Broken for You

When we come to the table for communion, we are given two simple elements: the cup and the bread.

Neither is accidental.

The cup reminds us of the blood of Jesus—the blood of the new covenant, poured out for the forgiveness of sins. But Jesus also took bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying:

“This is My body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
— Luke 22:19

To understand the significance of the bread, we have to look back at the story God had already been telling.

Bread From Heaven

When God delivered Israel from Egypt, the blood of the Passover lamb marked them as His people and spared them from judgment. They were delivered from slavery and began their journey toward the land God had promised them.

But deliverance from Egypt did not mean the journey was over.

In Exodus 16, Israel found themselves in the wilderness without food. Their hunger became so severe that they began looking backward. Slavery in Egypt suddenly seemed preferable to freedom in the wilderness.

God responded by providing bread from heaven.

Every morning, manna appeared on the ground. The people were instructed to gather what they needed, and there was enough for everyone.

There is a beautiful picture here:

The blood brought deliverance.
The bread sustained life.

Israel needed both.

The blood brought them out of slavery, but the bread sustained them as they walked in their newfound freedom.

And centuries later, Jesus would use this same imagery to reveal something about Himself.

Jesus Is the Bread of Life

In John 6, Jesus had just miraculously fed thousands of people. The crowds followed Him and began asking for another sign. They remembered the stories of Moses and the manna their ancestors had eaten in the wilderness.

But Jesus corrected their understanding.

Moses wasn't the one who gave them bread from heaven—God was.

Then Jesus took the story one step further:

“I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.”
— John 6:35

The manna in the wilderness had always been pointing beyond itself.

God had once sent bread from heaven to sustain His people physically. Now, in Jesus, God had sent the true Bread from Heaven to give His people eternal life.

Jesus wasn't simply offering bread.

Jesus was the Bread.

Later in John 6, His language becomes even stronger. He tells the people that they must eat His flesh to have life.

He wasn't teaching cannibalism. He was pointing toward the sacrifice He was going to make.

Jesus would give His own life so that we could live.

That brings us back to the table.

His Body Broken for Us

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus took bread in His hands.

He blessed it.

He broke it.

And He gave it to His disciples.

“This is My body, which is being given for you.”

The breaking of the bread pointed toward what was about to happen to Jesus.

Isaiah had prophesied centuries earlier that the Messiah would suffer on behalf of God's people. He would be wounded because of our transgressions and crushed because of our iniquities. Through His wounds, healing would come.

Jesus willingly gave His body for us.

The hands that healed the sick would be pierced.

The feet that carried the good news of the Kingdom would be nailed to a cross.

The body of the Bread of Life would be given so that we could receive life.

The Way Was Opened

Then something incredible happened.

Matthew 27 tells us that when Jesus cried out and gave up His spirit, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

That veil had separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place—the place associated with the presence of God.

Then Jesus died, and the barrier was torn apart.

Through His broken body, access to God was opened.

Communion reminds us that Christianity isn't ultimately about humanity struggling to find its way to God.

It is about God making a way for humanity to come to Him.

Jesus is that way.

His blood delivers us from sin.

His body gives us life.

His sacrifice brings us into the presence of God.

Remember the Bread

So when we take the bread during communion, we aren't simply participating in a church tradition.

We remember the Bread from Heaven.

We remember the body given for us.

We remember the wounds He willingly received.

We remember that because His body was given, we have been given life.

The Israelites gathered manna because without it they could not survive the wilderness.

We come to Jesus because apart from Him, we do not have life.

The bread in our hands points us back to the words of Jesus:

“I am the bread of life.”

And every time we eat it, we remember:

His body was given for us so that we could live.