The Lord’s Supper | Sunday February 22, 2026
Each time we take the Lord’s Supper we study it and focus on what we are about to remember and participate in. God’s Word is living and active and as we approach these amazing truths He has something fresh for us. At the Lord’s Supper we are called to remember Jesus and focus on who He is and what He accomplished. Jesus sharing the Lord’s Supper with His disciples is recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22 and
1 Corinthians 11. In these accounts are so many amazing details that draw us to Jesus.
Luke 22:14-20 ESV
(14) And when the hour came, He reclined at table, and the apostles with Him.
(15) And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
(16) For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
(17) And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves.
(18) For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
(19) And He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
(20) And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
When Jesus takes the cup He passes it around for the disciples to divide so each one can have a part of it. The bread is not as easily shared though, it has to be broken in order to be distributed to each one at the table. Jesus makes the point that the bread is His body given, bestowed, granted to us. This small detail of the bread being broken is repeated in all the other accounts. Jesus is giving His body to us, and it had to be broken in order for this to be accomplished. This breaking though is not purely physical, scripture is very clear that none of Jesus’ bones could be broken on the cross. As the soldiers broke the legs of the thieves on the other crosses to expediate death, they treated Jesus differently.
John 19:33-36 ESV
(33) But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
(34) But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.
(35) He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.
(36) For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.”
In the Old Testament the sacrificial animals had to be perfect with no broken bones. For Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice He had to fulfill the same qualifications. The soldiers confirmed death by piercing His side. This kept His bones from being broken, the word is literally shattered. John says this was to fulfill Psalm 34. This Psalm helps us understand the kind of brokenness Jesus did experience in His body and the brokenness He did not experience.
Psalm 34:17-22 ESV
(17) When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
(18) The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
(19) Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
(20) He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.
(21) Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
(22) The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
In this Psalm David makes prophetic statements that are fulfilled in Jesus. None of Jesus’ bones were broken on the cross but His heart was. The same Hebrew word is used in verses 18 and 20, the only difference is the object breaking. Jesus experienced true broken heartedness as He suffered on the cross. He was abandoned and had to become sin. God promises to be near to righteous Jesus and promises to deliver Him in His brokenness. When we are broken hearted, we have no strength or ability to rely on ourselves. True brokenness means to be so beaten down by life and suffering that we can only rely on God. Jesus experienced this on the cross. In a full obedience and brokenness, He kept entrusting Himself to God the Father.
1 Peter 2:23-24 ESV
(23) When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.
(24) He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.
Instead of defending Himself for relying on His own power Jesus was willing to entrust, hand Himself over to God. In His body, He bore or sins which means to offer up as a sacrifice. He accepted a full brokenness of heart so that our sins could be paid for. This brokenness made the offering of His blood acceptable.
Psalm 51:17 ESV
(17) The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Every offering, outside of Jesus, that has ever been given for sin has always fallen short of paying the price. We could not follow any ritual closely enough to deal with anyone else’s sin let alone our own. This is what makes the bread, the broken body of Jesus so amazing. He had a broken and contrite heart in front of God and fully relied on Him. He had to become sin, and was spiritually separated from God the Father. He had to trust that the Father would accept the payment of the blood. If the Father is unjust in that moment then Jesus is left in sin. In His brokenness He trusted. Just as David declared in Psalm 51, God did not despise the broken contrite heart of Jesus. Jesus could not offer the blood if it did not come from His broken obedient body.
Hebrews 10:5-7; 10 ESV
(5) Consequently, when Christ came into the world, He said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for Me;
(6) in burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no pleasure.
(7) Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book.’”(10) And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
This was not something that Jesus could give without taking on full humanity. His body was prepared for Him. He lived a perfect life of obedience, and was fully righteous. He came to do the Fathers will. Without this prepared body then He has no blood to offer. We are made righteous, fully sanctified because of His perfect obedience. Just as He broke the bread of the Lord’s Supper so He could share it. He had to become broken hearted in order for us to partake of Him.
1 Corinthians 10:15-17 ESV
(15) I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
(16) The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
(17) Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
As we partake in the Lord’s Supper, we are to realize that there is one cup that is shared and one bread that has been broken. This is not talking about the specific method of how we take communion. We are recognizing that as believers we have koinonia, fellowship, intimacy with Jesus’ body and blood. He broke His body so that we could become apart of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV
(27) Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Referring to the church as the body of Christ can seem cliché and we can miss what a tremendous truth it is. Jesus broke the bread and shared it with His disciples. He was willing to break His body and share with us His perfect righteousness. When we are saved, we are brought into a full intimate fellowship with the perfect broken body of Jesus. This is what we are called to remember today. His broken body that was given for us.
Often we try and hide our brokenness. We are so prone to rely on ourselves and what we can do. The world speaks of brokenness as something that gets in the way or stops us. Instead the Word presents brokenness as the very thing that draws us to a reliance on trusting in God. We can trust Jesus with our brokenness because He knows what it is like.
Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV
(14) Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
(15) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
(16) Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
We should take such comfort in the fact that Jesus has fully experienced what it is to be a weak human. He knows the sting of the betrayal of a friend. He knows what it is to struggle to trust in God’s will for His life. He knows what exhaustion and weakness feels like. He can completely sympathize with us because He walked in a weak frail body and relied on God for each step. He can teach us how to trust because He had to trust. We can draw near with confidence to His grace, because He knows the help we need.
Psalm 147:3-5 ESV
(3) He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
(4) He determines the number of the stars; He gives to all of them their names.
(5) Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure.
It is really hard for us to hold the truths of verse 3 and 4 in tension with each other. God is all powerful and determines how many stars there are. Astronomers keep finding new galaxies and stars and He named them all. This same God promises to heal the brokenhearted. To be present and caring to us in our hurts. He is abundant in power and ever present to bind our wounds. Jesus combines these truths in such an amazing way. Full deity and full humanity perfectly united. His power is displayed in His willingness to be broken for us.
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
(21) For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus was willing to become sin and give us His righteousness. He brought the perfect offering of His blood and it was accepted because of the righteous broken contrite heart it came from. He was willing to be broken for us. So that we could partake and have fellowship in His body. This is our amazing savior that we are called to remember. This is our gracious savior that we can draw close to in our own brokenness. He was willing to fully experience the brokenness sin causes so that we would not have to for all eternity. Through Him we can have new life, and healing.
We believe in Open communion- If you are a believer here today you are welcome to take communion with us. All believers are a part of the body of Christ. Jesus had one body that He was willing to break so that we could all partake. We should not limit the fellowship that He secured.
If you are not a believer, meaning you have never trusted in Jesus for your salvation, this is not for you. You are not a part of the body of Christ yet. Please believe in Him. You can do that right where you are by trusting who He is and what He has done for you on the cross.
We are going to have a time of reflection
Take this time to confess any sins God convicts you of. We have been given Jesus perfect righteousness secured in His body. As we sin, we are not undoing His righteousness. Yet we are breaking our fellowship with Him. This is why we need to confess our sins and walk fresh with Him. We also need to be careful to not let Godly conviction lead to self-condemnation.
No one is worthy of Him we are accepted because of the body and the blood of Jesus. Take time to mediate on the brokenness that Jesus was willing to accept so that we could be restored to Him.
After the time of reflection, I will lead us as will all partake of the elements together.
(The crackers are gluten free)
1 Corinthians 11:23-24 ESV
(23) For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread,
(24) and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, “This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.”
The Bread Represents the Body- It speaks of who Jesus Is-
Fully God, Fully man
Perfectly Obedient to the father
Broken for us
Pray-
Eat the Bread
1 Corinthians 11:25-26 ESV
(25) In the same way also He took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
The Cup represents the Blood- His blood paid the penalty for our sin
Pray-
Drink the Cup
1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV
(26) For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
Isaiah 61:1-2 ESV
(1) The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
(2) to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;