My Body, My Blood

And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, after he had eaten, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do you, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.  (1 Cointhians 11:24-25. KJ2000)


Picture in your mind a tall suspension bridge.  There is a tower on the near side, a tower on the far side and a graceful span between.  In a sense, the Lord's Supper is a picture of the bridge between God and man which is Jesus Christ.

The near side—his body

Note that the tells us that his body is "for you" - the old King James says, "broken for you" - the word applies to breaking of bread for a shared meal.  Is there anything so common, so earthy, as bread?  If you had to pick a symbol of Christ's earthly, human nature, you could hardly do better.

It is also a symbol of our unity in the church.  You are what you eat, they told us in college (not very comforting for those who ate in the dorm), and therefore we are one in this spiritual meal.  There is only one bridge;  this is the near side.

The far side—the cup

The cup is the new covenant.  New?  Covenant?  Perhaps we should begin with the old covenant.  This is the law, given to Moses, which was implemented with the blood of sacrificial animals.  Moses didn't dream that up, for a covenant is something that God proclaims to man—take it or leave it.  The Israelites had no choice about the terms;  they weren't the Ten Suggestions.  So if there is to be a new covenant, it must also come from God.  So in that sense the cup represents the far side of the bridge—the side that touches God.  It is a picture, in a way, of the divine nature of Jesus Christ.

The bridge—Jesus

Between the towers there must be a span;  that span is Jesus, the Christ.  Can we extend our picture just a bit further?  If you want to go from the human side to the Godly side, you must cross the bridge.  You must walk in Christ.

In this life, he is the only span.  God may be approached only by the holy, and to become holy you must walk in Christ. 

When this life ends, he is the only way to the Father.  You may wish it otherwise, but the great gulf is fixed, and there is only one way over it.  If you want to get home, home to eternal life and joy, you must walk the bridge named Jesus Christ.  He is the way, the truth, the life—the bridge.