Health And Wholeness Through The Holy Communion (3 page)

To do that, we must first know what the bread represents. Jesus established that the bread, which is His body, is for our healing. How do we know that? When He spoke to the Syro-Phoenician woman regarding her daughter’s healing, He called healing “
the children’s bread”.

Mark 7:26–28

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The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
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But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
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And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”

Notice that when she asked Jesus to cast the demon out of her daughter, He said that it was not good to give the
“children’s bread
” to the “
little dogs”.
What does “bread” refer to? It refers to the healing that she was asking for. And what do “dogs” refer to? They refer to non-Jews or Gentiles like herself.

So Jesus was actually saying that healing was only for God’s covenant people and not for Gentiles who were not included in the covenant then.

Having explained what Jesus meant, I should also go on to explain why I refer to bread as healing and not deliverance. Well, that is because the Bible treats disease and demon possession as the same thing since they both originate from the devil.

Acts 10:38 says that Jesus went about doing good and
“… healing all who were oppressed by the devil”.
Notice that disease is due to the devil’s oppression. Thus, disease and demon possession are both the results of oppression by the devil and we need God’s healing for these problems.

From this incident, it becomes clear that Jesus sees healing as the children’s bread. The woman put her faith in that little crumb, and that act released power to drive the devil out of her daughter.

So the bread, even a small crumb, which is His body, is for our healing since we are now God’s children and fully entitled to the healing bread.

What It Means To Discern The Body

In fact, I believe that when Jesus said, “
Take, eat; this is My body”
(Matthew 26:26), the disciples did not need any explanation like the one I just gave.

They knew that He wanted to impart to them His life, health and wholeness. These men were with Him every day and not once did they see Him sick. Not once did they see Him come down with a flu, fever or stomachache. He never had to say to them, “Can one of you preach the Sermon on the Mount for me? I don’t feel up to it today.” The Lord was never sick.

More than that, He was vibrant, full of life and full of health. When those who were without hands and feet were brought to Him, they were made perfectly whole. The body parts they needed were imparted to them from the heavenly store when they touched Him.

Jesus’ body was so filled with life that even His clothes were soaked with His health.

And His body was so filled with life that even His clothes were soaked with His health. The Bible says that a woman with an issue of blood for 12 years came to Him knowing that He was her only hope. (Mark 5:25–34)

She had spent all her money and suffered many things from many physicians. And what was the result? She was no better, but instead, became worse! Yet, with just one touch of the hem of His garment, she was immediately healed of the affliction.

If the hem of His garment could be soaked with His health, can you imagine His body?

No wonder Luke said, “And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.” (Luke 6:19) When
a doctor, and Luke was a doctor, says this, you know that it is for real.

There was no need to tell the disciples that when He said,
“Take, eat; this is My body”,
He was imparting His life, health and wholeness to their bodies. They knew better than anyone else that taking the bread meant ingesting His health into their mortal bodies.

The Matzah Is An Object Lesson Of What Jesus’ Body Symbolises

The matzah (a flat bread eaten during the Passover) is a good object lesson of what Jesus’ body symbolises. The Mishnah or Jewish oral laws gave instructions on the preparation of this bread. These instructions should be of great interest to us.

According to these laws, the bread was to be unleavened, baked, pierced with holes and striped. Till today, the Jewish rabbis do not know why the bread has to be prepared this way. But blessed are your eyes for they see the grace of God.

No leaven was used because leaven in the Bible represents sin, and Jesus is the perfect, sinless Son of God. That is why He is able to take our sins upon Himself.

His body was burnt because the full fury of God’s wrath against our sins fell on Him. This fire was supposed to fall on us and our families, but it fell on Jesus instead.

His side was pierced and He bore those merciless stripes on His back so that our bodies might be made whole.

As you partake of His broken body, know that His body was broken so that yours can be whole.

So when you come to the Lord’s Table, make sure that you discern His body. When you partake, believe that Jesus took bread and broke it because His body was going to be broken.

And as you partake of His broken body, know that His body was broken so that yours can be whole. When you partake in this spirit of faith, something happens to your body. You become strong, healthy and you will live long.

The Lord’s Supper Brings The Double Cure

By now, it should be clear that the blood and the body have two different applications. This is consistent throughout the Bible.

The prophet Isaiah said,
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…”
(Isaiah 53:4, NKJV) The Young’s Literal Translation or YLT Bible provides a more accurate translation for the words “griefs” and “sorrows”, stating that
“Surely our sicknesses He hath borne, and our pains
—
He hath carried them…”

Similarly, in the Gospel of Matthew, this verse was interpreted as
“He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses”.
(Matthew 8:17)

In the Greek, “infirmities” or
astheneia
means bodily weaknesses. So we can see very clearly that Isaiah was saying that the Messiah would take upon His own body, our bodily weaknesses, sicknesses and pains. In other words, Jesus bore
not just our sins,
but also
our bodily weaknesses, sicknesses and pains.
This is what some hymn writers of old called the “double cure”.

This double cure is evident in the Passover. The Lord’s Supper was first celebrated on the same day as the Passover because it is the true Passover.

Luke 22:15–20

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Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
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for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled
in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves;
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for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
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And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in
remembrance of Me.”
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Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

The Old Testament is the shadow, the New Testament is the real substance. Jesus is the true, perfect, unblemished, holy Lamb of God. So the Passover is a type of the Lord’s Supper.

During the first Passover, they killed the lamb and put the blood on the doorposts. This caused the destroyer to pass over their families because God said,
“And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you…”
(Exodus 12:13)

The blood was for the people’s forgiveness. The blood covered the people’s sins and appeased the righteous requirements of God.

But what did they do inside the house?

Exodus 12:8

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Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

If the body of a “shadow lamb” could bring such supernatural results, how much more the body of the true “substance lamb”, our Lord Jesus Christ!