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Mark 14:22

²²And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body."

Jesus and His disciples were celebrating the traditional Passover Seder. The atmosphere had turned ominous after Jesus had predicted the coming betrayal and Judas had left. The meal recalled the deliverance of Israel from Egypt that God wrought through His servant Moses. A Passover lamb was slain by each family or group to remember that the angel of death had passed over the homes marked with the blood of the lamb.

Suddenly, the symbolism changed from one deliverance to another. When Jesus said the unleavened bread He was breaking was His body, a whole new meaning was given to the Seder meal. Now we call it Communion. We take the broken bread that represents the body of Jesus broken for us, to remind us that the angel of death cannot claim our souls for judgment. We are delivered from the bondage of the law of sin and death (Acts 13:39; Romans 8:2). That is a much greater deliverance than from physical taskmasters.

Just as the body of the lamb was broken and the blood marked the doorposts of each home, so Jesus was broken so the doorposts of our hearts might be marked with His saving blood. Just as the lamb was consumed by each family, so our families need to partake of Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Even today the Jews celebrate the Seder meal with three pieces of unleavened bread. The middle one is broken, but they know not why. Of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, only the middle One was broken that we might know life.

Remember: Jesus gives the broken bread to you and says, "Take; this is my body." When you read and meditate on the Word and let the Spirit apply it to your life, you are partaking of Christ.