All my life, doubtlessly thousands of times, I’ve participated in a communion service where I was told to remember Jesus’ broken body. And we should do exactly that.
But I’ve never been told that his “broken body” is not just his physical body. It is also us. We are the body of Christ, and just as his physical body was broken for our sins, so we — as the body of Christ — should be broken.
(Psa 51:16-17 ESV) 16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
(Luk 18:10-14 ESV) 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
When we take this bread and drink this cup — symbolic of the brokenness suffered by our Savior for our sake, we eat brokenness and we commit to brokenness.
What does that mean? For us modern Americans, it means many things, but I think it especially means we give our radical individuality. It’s not about me. It’s not about meeting my needs. It’s not about me picking what best serves me and my family. Rather, it’s about submitting to our brothers and sisters —
(Eph 5:18-21 ESV) 8 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, … 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
We submit to one another by giving up our wants and our preferences for the sake of the wants and preferences of others.
And in this, there is true freedom. “Freedom” isn’t getting to do anything we want. Pagans can do that! Freedom is wanting God to restore us to what we were always meant to be. Freedom is escaping the world’s false image of who and what we are supposed to be and being restored to the very image of God. And we were always meant to be like Jesus — who was broken for others.
As we break this bread, let us remember that because Jesus was broken, so must we be broken.
We are saved into community. Yes, we’re also saved into forgiveness of sins and into a right relationship with Jesus. And more. But this is not either-or. Among the many things we are saved into is community.
On Navigating the OneInJesus Site
Index. Over in the left column, there’s a caption called Pages. Underneath are links to five items. Those with a + sign to the left will expand when clicked on. Once expanded, each underlined link will take you to a page with the indicated information. Clicking on a – (minus) sign will collapse the list into a shorter list.
One of the links is called Index. There are gobs of links under that, one for each series posted here from the beginning of the blog. The links will ultimately take you to a listing of posts under each series caption. Continue reading →