December 13, 2005

The Breaking of the Bread

Category: Theology - Liturgical :: Permalink

In discussing the breaking of the bread in the Lord’s Supper and its relation to Jesus, James Jordan makes the following observations:

Jesus is formed as The Loaf at His baptism, the climax of human development up to this point in history. Then He is broken. Though no bone of His personal body was broken, we see the breaking of the bread in the fact that as Jesus died the veil of the Temple was rent (Matthew 27:50-51). The removal of the veil means that there is now full access to God, but the veil might simply have fallen. Its being ripped in half signifies the first half of the curse of the covenant, which is to be ripped in half and devoured by the birds and beasts (Genesis 15). Ripping bread in half has the same meaning. Both rippings speak of Jesus’ taking the curse on Himself for us — its first part, because He was not left to be eaten by birds. He died, but was not destroyed. His death is like that of believers, not like that of the wicked, who both die and are “destroyed” in hell. 

Perhaps more importantly, Jesus’ “body” was the body-politic of Himself and His disciples, which was build up starting after His baptism. Their abandonment of Him in the garden of Gethsemane was the rending of this body, the breaking of the loaf (From Bread to Wine, p. 17).

Posted by John Barach @ 4:38 pm | Discuss (0)

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