This Is my Body, Which Is Broken For You

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. in...: or, for a remembrance - 1 Corinthians 11:24

    The sufferings of our Lord in his flesh are not a matter of insignificance. The pain and agony he suffered in his body stirs the compassion of all those that love Him. It would be heartless not to be touched with the feelings of his infirmities, as by them he is touched with ours. We all justly merit suffering because all we are in the flesh is sin. But not Jesus. His suffering was the reward of his people’s sin, not His. Every pain inflicted upon our Redeemer was ours. He willingly made them His. Indeed there could be no efficacy in our suffering, but thanks be unto God there is in His. The inward travail of his soul for us is incomprehensible and infinitely meritorious. However, his suffering and death as a man is as vital, and inseparable in his justifying work in redemption. The full price must be paid.

    The word broken is used to relate all of his physical sufferings, which progressively intensified and finally culminated in his vicarious death. In order for his sufferings and death to be efficacious to all his loved ones, the Bread of life must be broken. He brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you. He willingly brake the bread and gave it to whom he would, symbolically showing us he was suffering for his particular people making us partakers thereof. The word broken also means given. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you (Lk 22:19).

    Every piercing, scourging, and anguish inflicted upon his sinless body was predestinated by Almighty God and executed in time accordingly, by the hands of you and me. As he represented us in his broken body, those that pierced him represented us as well. We might well say, “We are guilty of his death,” and “He is guilty of our salvation.” However, in his accomplishment, I must declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Rom 3:26).