Given

My mother has this thing. A hobby horse, soap box, a campaign she is battling. She told me about it a year ago and it sounded familiar, like she had told me before. I agreed with her but didn’t have the same ferocity of spirit attached to the cause. But lately it has been growing in me. Not just because it is a wrong that needs correcting but because the wrong is blocking out a truth that is starting to impact me as I ponder it. And I wonder if you too have had this block, this detour that has in a subtle little way led you around a truth that could bring joy in this time of home isolation.

So complete this sentence, ‘this is my body, ____________. What came to mind? ‘Broken for you’? I have to admit it comes automatically to my mind. And since it’s been pointed out to me, well I’m noticing that others say it too, from memory, like they’ve heard it over and over.  And I’ve been watching a lot of online church during the lockdown and I’ve heard it several times. 

But we know that Jesus didn’t have any broken bones through his torture and cruxifixction experience. It was a fulfilment of prophecy that not one bone was broken. But we have a wider usage of the word broken. We often use it to mean emotional collapse. He was a broken man or She broke down at the news. We even talk about spiritual growth as being broken and then God restores us. I’m not arguing against any of those statements; I was broken by a cancer diagnosis. It’s just that we miss the point. 

The word is given. This is my body, given for you. That’s what Jesus says.  You might be reaching for your bible right now not really believing me. I did the same thing. And then I saw it in Luke. And then the other verses start crashing into the consciousness, ‘for God so loved the world that he gave…’ ‘the gift of God is eternal life….’ ‘he gave gifts’ 

Evidently upon further investigation the phrase ‘broken for you’ snuck into our tradition through the KJV translation. And there was some carry over in thinking that the verb for breaking the bread also applied to Jesus’ body. But you’ll not see it in the newer translations that take more manuscripts into account and have a more extensive look at the greek.

I just want to celebrate that Jesus gave his body for us. That he walked into the suffering. That he willingly laid down his life as our sacrifice to make payment for our sin. 

So then next time you're prompted to remember Jesus through the bread and the wine, read from Luke. and remember the giving nature of our heavenly Father who gave his son for us. And it would make my mother smile.

Luke 22:19

And He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”


*written 29 April 2020 during the pandemic lockdown regulations