Jesus’ Body Broken For You
I just came home from one of the best writers’ conferences I’ve ever attended (Florida Christian Writers Conference). At the conclusion of the busy week, we had communion together. Our leader held the bread aloft and said the familiar words, “This is Jesus’ body, broken for you.” Except what I heard was, “broken like you.” My thoughts suddenly bounced around my brain like marbles rolling around on the kitchen floor.
Broken like you? I had to think it through.
Broken For You
I had no problem understanding that Jesus sacrificed his body as payment for my sins. He was commissioned to be the Lamb of God–a worthy offering for a holy God who was without spot or blemish. Accomplishing this meant Jesus had to maintain his perfection throughout all thirty-three years of his life. He could not allow himself even the smallest leeway in obedience. No matter what personal desires or goals might float across his thoughts or rise in his human heart, he remained faithful to lay everything he wanted aside in favor of his Father’s wishes.
Day after day, year after year, whatever his mood or circumstance, Jesus limited his words and actions to what his Father told him to say and do. He remained focused on his role as Messiah and sacrifice, whether he felt like it or not. Whether he was tired or well-rested. Whether the immediate results of his obedience included the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat. He stayed true to his calling when his spirits were up or down every moment of every day for the entirety of his life.
This is what it meant for his body to be broken for you or for me. That kind of absolute commitment boggles the mind. But if he had failed in any way, he could not present himself as the perfect sacrifice we (the imperfect people he loved) needed.
Broken Like You
So much for my original understanding of the broken bread. But when I heard “broken like you,” I realized the equally stunning thing Jesus did when he lived as a man. In addition to coming to earth to save us, he came to be like us. To experience what we feel as broken human beings.
After squeezing himself into the skin of a human, God Almighty fenced himself into the experiences and abilities of a human. Then he showed how our limitations could be transformed into potential with the in-dwelling presence of his Holy Spirit. As he did that, he came into a complete understanding of what we are. He knows the pain we feel. He understands the cost of obedience. He is well acquainted with the indignities of serving under hypocritical or incompetent leadership. And he’s fully aware of how difficult it can be to walk in love and faith and grace with people who neither share those qualities nor accept them when given. Fully in tune with the state of humanity, he is acquainted with both the price and the promise of faith.
In all these ways, Jesus’ body was not only broken for us, it was broken like ours.
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Thank you for these thoughts, Terry. At times the Lord helps us get beyond a well-worn thought with only a word and then seach out that thought to bring fresh meaning. You follwed that path well. Thank you.
Thanks, Joyce. So glad this blessed you.
So good, Terry! He is the only One that really knows and understands us.
So glad you enjoyed this, Bobi.
Very insightful. I am always amazed at what He did for us and know my mind is too limited to fully understand. But I get enough of a glimpse to keep me in utter awe. Thank you for this.
So glad this blessed you, Jane. Thanks!