SABBATH THOUGHT 2026-04-04—BREAKING BREAD
May God bless you on His Sabbath day!
The Bible prophesies that Jesus Christ would not have any bones broken[1]:
PSALM 34:19-20 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. 20 He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken [H7665 = shabar = to burst].
This prophecy was one of several that were proof of the identity of the Passover Lamb who died for the sins of the world. Breaking the legs of those who were crucified was apparently a common method of killing them and the Jews requested it be done so that they could remove those men from the crosses before the beginning of the high day, the first Day of Unleavened Bread, at sundown:
JOHN 19:31-33 Therefore, because it [the Passover] was the Preparation Day [for the first Day of Unleavened Bread], that the bodies should not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath [the first Day of Unleavened Bread] was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken [G2608 = katagnumi = rend, crack], and that they might be taken away. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke [G2608 = katagnumi = rend, crack] the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with Him. 33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break [G2608 = katagnumi = rend, crack] His legs.
Jesus died before they could break His legs; thus, fulfilling prophecy. When Jesus talked about the Passover unleavened bread, He “broke” it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body”[2] or “This is My body which is given for you.”[3] But Paul added this:
1 CORINTHIANS 11:23-24 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke [G2608 = katagnumi = rend, crack] it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken [G2608 = katagnumi = rend, crack] for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Jesus said that the act of breaking the unleavened bread was a symbol of His body being broken but He obviously did not mean His bones. If breaking bread does not refer to broken bones, what is the meaning behind the simple and yet deeply profound act of breaking bread? As a symbol of the body of Jesus, it obviously represents what was done to His BODY:
ISAIAH 53:3-7, 10-12 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of [anguish] and acquainted with [sickness]. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our [anguish]; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was [crushed] [H1792 = daka’ = bruise, crush] for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. … 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to [crush] [H1792 = daka’ = bruise, crush] Him; He [laid sickness on Him]. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. 11 He shall see the [suffering] of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
The KJV uses the utterly insufficient word bruised but Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be CRUSHED. He was attempting to describe, not just the excruciating pain in Jesus’ body, but the unimaginable mental and emotional torments. Anguish is extreme mental or physical pain as a result of one’s own suffering or in response to what others endure. Jesus not only bore His own anguish, but “He … carried our [anguish]” (v. 4). Paul knew what it meant to feel anguish for others:
2 CORINTHIANS 11:28-29 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my [Paul’s] deep concern for all the ekkelsia. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
So, breaking the unleavened bread is symbolic of the physical, mental, and emotional sufferings of Jesus Christ rather than an indication of broken bones. Although “breaking bread” has come to mean enjoying a meal with close friends, the genesis of the phrase was when Jesus and the apostles shared together the last moments of the life of a Man who knew He was about to die to save the lives of His friends. The apostles struggled to understand it that night; later, they realized the full impact of that suffering and the deeper meaning of breaking bread:
1 CORINTHIANS 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
Breaking and eating the Passover unleavened bread is not simply a remembrance of the suffering of Jesus Christ but a communion—an intimate fellowship of SHARING in His sufferings[4]:
PHILIPPIANS 3:10 that I [Paul] may know Him [Jesus Christ] and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
The torment and anguish of His Son were so great a sacrifice that God calls His children INTO that intimate fellowship with His Son:
1 CORINTHIANS 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Communion with others is deepest among those who have similar experiences, which is why those who are in a fellowship with Jesus Christ are appointed to endure tribulations of their own[5]:
1 THESSALONIANS 3:3-4 that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. 4 For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know.
ACTS 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.”
God has also made it clear that He has a relationship only with those who are deeply grateful for, and moved by, the torments His Son endured:
ISAIAH 57:15 For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite [H1793 = dakka’ = crushed, contrite] and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite [H1792 = daka’ = bruise, crush] ones.
Contrite is an attitude of remorse or regret, especially toward Jesus Christ who was crushed for our iniquities. Contrite is, I think, very appropriate but it is translated from the same word that Isaiah used to describe the crushing anguish and torments Jesus Christ endured. A relationship with God requires a deeply contrite—or crushed—empathy for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The unleavened bread of Passover is a remembrance of the crushing physical, mental, and emotional torments of Jesus Christ but breaking it into pieces so that each person can eat of it is a fellowship with God the Father, His Son, and each other. This fellowship can only be likened to the fellowship of the sufferings of soldiers. In a similar way, the fellowship of Jesus Christ’s sufferings extends to everyone of the ekklesia:
2 CORINTHIANS 8:1-4 Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the ekklesia of Macedonia: 2 that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. 3 For I [Paul] bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, 4 imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:25-27 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
The body of Christ is a fellowship—a sharing—of the sacrifice and death of Jesus as well as sharing the sufferings of each of the saints:
1 CORINTHIANS 10:16-17 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 17 For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.
While Passover is an annual observance, being joined into the death of Jesus Christ through baptism[6] is the beginning of an eternal relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ. It is through His sacrifice that the leaven of malice and wickedness is purged at baptism and a person becomes unleavened:
1 CORINTHIANS 5:7-8 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The spiritual transition from being leavened to being unleavened occurs at baptism and eating the unleavened bread at Passover is a remembrance of the sacrifice that made it possible. There is no biblical command to remove leaven and leavened bread before Passover day but, as I discussed in the Sabbath Thought 2026-03-21 – Passover is a Day of Unleavened Bread?, I personally choose to remove leaven and leavened bread before Passover because that day for me is no longer a remembrance of a transition from being leavened to being unleavened but a CONTINUATION of being unleavened. I want to begin the Passover with the breaking of unleavened bread and continue being unleavened into the Days of Unleavened Bread. To me, possessing leaven or eating leavened bread on Passover would be like Lot’s wife and I have no desire to turn back[7]—“a little leaven leavens the whole lump.”[8] Paul said that those who are baptized “truly are unleavened” and staying that way is struggle enough.
Breaking and eating unleavened bread on Passover is a deep, special, intimate, and eternal fellowship in SUFFERINGS with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the body of Christ—the ekklesia. The unleavened bread is broken and eaten, not just in remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus Christ, but also so that each member of that fellowship might share a piece of the symbol of His sufferings! Never forget that, on Passover, we are “breaking bread” with the risen Savior and sharing again the last moments of the life of a Man who died to save the lives of His friends.
May God’s grace and peace be upon you!
Steven Greene
https://sabbathreflections.org