“When Jesus broke the bread and said ‘This is my body,’ he surely was not saying that in giving it, he was distributing his flesh.”...

“When Jesus broke the bread and said ‘This is my body,’ he surely was not saying that in giving it, he was distributing his flesh.” (Clowney, p. 289) What was he saying and what does the action of eating and drinking mean?

Jesus’ broken body and shed blood are a New Testament fulfillment of the promise given to the Israelites in Egypt, when they were given the promise of salvation through the Passover Lamb. Jesus was telling his disciples that he was about to become their Passover Lamb and that the hour had finally arrived for him to begin his journey towards the completed work on the cross. He was showing them a picture, an illustration of a reality they were about to experience and he was preparing them to witness God’s judgment. Just as Moses prepared God’s covenant people by giving them instructions for the coming judgment and a way towards salvation, so Christ was preparing his disciples and even us now for a still future judgment to come.

Here again we have the gospel given to us in a very particular way. It is proclaiming a single act of judgment poured out once and for all on Jesus Christ and in his words of institution, “do this remembrance of me” (1 Corinthians 11:24) an ongoing process of salvation or sanctification that is to be done all our lives. That is what eating and drinking means to the saved sinner, that Jesus Christ is actively sanctifying us and providing nourishment for our soul. He is promising us a continual communion with him in the body of Christ, in the covenant relationship he has established and he is pointing us towards the ultimate wedding feast we are to enjoy with him in glory.