This Is My Body Which Is Given For You – What Does That Mean For Us? – An Easter Message For Good Friday Series

THIS IS MY BODY WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU – WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR US? – AN EASTER MESSAGE FOR GOOD FRIDAY

PART A. LOOKING AT CERTAIN TEXTS

{{Luke 22:19 “When He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them saying, “THIS IS MY BODY WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU. Do this in remembrance of Me”}}

Luke is the only evangelist to mention “which is given for you”. Jesus gave His body for us and soon we will examine what that means.

There was one stage I was using an expression quite without thinking, a habit a lot of us do. We just repeat what we have heard and don’t critically examine it. Well I did examine it and went to check it against scripture and found it was wrong, or is it fully wrong? The expression is “His body was broken for us.”

How can the body of the Lord be broken if His bones were not? {{John 19:36 These things came to pass that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “NOT A BONE OF HIM SHALL BE BROKEN,”}}. His body was whipped and torn, lacerated extensively, bruised and shamefully treated but it was not broken.

Someone might say, “How can you say that when we have a verse like this – {{1Corinthians 11:23-24 for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, HE BROKE IT, and said, “This is My body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”}} “Surely the broken bread represents a broken body?”

That is a good observation and to connect this we look at the great Day of Atonement when two goats were taken, the one for sacrifice and the one for the scapegoat. The sacrificial goat was killed, giving its life, and the blood was taken by the high priest to be sprinkled on the ark and mercy seat. Its body was not broken though, nor a bone broken. The scapegoat had the nation’s sins confessed over it and then released to a solitary place bearing away the sins of the people. It also was not broken in its body.

What does the breaking of the bread mean and is there a correlation to a broken body? The answer to the second part is “No” because the Lord’s body was not broken. Greek scholar F B Meyer says in his Commentary – [[“Christ’s body was not, indeed, literally broken (John 19:33), but in His violent death our Lord sees that accomplished in His body which He had just done with the bread. This is the point of what He beholds in the broken bread looked upon by Him with such direct creative vividness of regard; but in truth the simple t? ?p?? ?µ?? is more in keeping with the deep emotion of the moment than any attempt to expound in a more detailed way the symbolism which both presents and interprets itself in the breaking of bread; and Matthew and Mark have not even this “for you.”]]

In fact there has been much dispute among scholars and textual critics about the Greek in this verse - 1Corinthians 11:23. The Pulpit Commentary touches on that dispute in summary – [[These words are omitted by all the best uncials, “Which is broken for you.” The word "broken" is of doubtful authenticity. Some manuscripts have "given," and one (D) a milder word for "broken," as though to avoid any contradiction of John 19:36, where, however, the word is "shall not be crushed." The "broken" is nevertheless involved in the "he broke it," which was a part of the ceremony as originally illustrated.]]

I will draw this discussion to an end because there is the lovely meditation to come on what “GIVEN” means. To close I will quote from Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges – [[In some manuscripts, the word “broken” is omitted, but the majority of manuscripts retain it, and its omission renders the sentence rather harsh. Thus, then, the words of the institution [of the communion], as recorded by St Paul, are as follows: ‘This is My body, which is [being broken] for you; this do in remembrance of Me, i.e. to serve as a memorial of Me, or to preserve My memory. Let us next take Luke’s account of it, derived either from St Paul or from the same source as his. ‘This is My body, which is given for you; this do in remembrance of Me.’ Matthew and Mark simply give the words, ‘Take, eat: this is My body.’]]

PART B. WHAT BLESSINGS HAVE FLOWED FROM “GIVEN FOR US”?

This is directly what the Lord said: HIS BODY WAS GIVEN [FOR US]. The disciples probably did not recall those words at the crucifixion and if they did, they did not know the meaning of them as they saw the Lord dying, savagely taken from them. Their despondency was immense; dreams shattered and the future just annihilated.