Yet that night in the upper room He took bread and deliberately broke it. In the event, He offered Himself to God whole, but to us He gives Himself broken. He did it knowingly — they saw Him do it; He broke Himself for us. The broken body is given to us; the body is ours. We are His body, His broken yet mysteriously whole body. 'Take', He says; 'eat'; He insists that we make it ours. 'This is my body', and Luke adds, 'which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me'. O sacred Covenant!
Whenever we take the elements of the communion, we must enter afresh by understanding into the Communion. The body, though broken, is still wholly given with thankfulness on Jesus' part; blessed and broken as it is we must take it; more, we must eat it, we must do it — in remembrance of Him. He wants us to do exactly that; He does not want us to try and remember Him. How can we remember a person we have not seen? We can only recall what others have said of Him. But if we love Him we will do this, for by repeating His action we commemorate what He did. This is the remembrance: He wants the Church to receive the gift of the body. It was only broken for us to eat it. It did not need to be broken for God to eat it — He took it unbroken. God eats God whole, man eats God broken, and feeding on the fragments finds a whole God.
Be the first to react on this!
G.W. North (1913 - 2003)
G. W. North was born in London England in 1913. As a young man he became aware that the Lord was calling him into the work of the ministry. At timely stages the Lord placed folk in his path who were able to direct him into the truth of heart purity and a more expansive understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He held pastorates in Kent and Bradford. By the late 1960s, following a significant period of ministry in Liverpool, he began a more itinerant ministry. This led him to many parts of the world, and occupied him until well into his eighties. His powerful preaching and the unique sense of the Lord's presence, which seemed to brood over his meetings, were always intensely challenging.The true secret of his remarkable ministry stemmed from his personal communion with the Lord Jesus. To him, 'entering the holiest' was not merely a theological concept; it was a distinct spiritual reality - and the central feature of his spiritual life. It was here, in the place of worship, that his revelatory ministry found its source. He preached from understanding and conviction. He was never the echo of another, nor did he take on board the ebb and flow of various contemporary emphases. He was not a man of 'books'; he soaked himself in Scripture and allowed it to saturate his heart and mind. Truly, this is a man who has lifted up a standard for the people. Mr North went to be with the Lord on 29th April 2003, shortly after his ninetieth birthday.