Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it …
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Matthew 26:17-30
Every Sunday for 2000 years ministers of the gospel have been repeating this phrase.
All over the world, Christ’s people gather to eat the bread and drink the wine and they hear these words:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat…” (Matthew 26:26)
Let’s consider each phrase…
As they were eating…
The Lord’s Supper is a supper. It is a meal. And this is how salvation is portrayed throughout the Bible. God’s people are not promised a heavenly buffet – finger food that we can take poolside while we top up our tan. We are called to a feast – a wedding feast with Christ as host. We are brought into the heart of the Family, to sit at table and dine with our Lord. There could be no greater sign of our fellowship with God than that we are invited to eat with Him.
… Jesus took bread…
As we will see, Jesus says of this bread: “This is my body.” Here is how the feast comes about. Before Jesus is the Host, He becomes the main course. In history, the Son of God did indeed take a body. He took our flesh, entering our humanity and making it His own.
… and blessed it…
Jesus lived perfectly before the Father. And the law set out many blessings for full obedience (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). Therefore Jesus comes into our situation and lives the blessed life in our place. Yet now, at the end of His life, something else happens…
… and brake it…
The violence of the act is shocking. This bread is torn apart in front of the disciples. Here we see the cross dramatised. Now, instead of the blessings of Christ’s obedient life, we remember the curses Jesus takes for our disobedience to the law (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 28:15-29:29). The blessed One is broken. But He is broken for us…
… and gave it to the disciples.
What is the whole purpose of Christ’s taking flesh, of living the blessed life and dying the cursed death? That we might take and eat. Jesus wants to feed us with His very Self. Here is the self-giving love of Christ – to be torn apart to bring life to the world.
So then, as it says in the Book of Common Prayer: “Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving.”
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