"holy communion" is interesting to me mainly because it was by revelation, Jesus instituted this memorial to remember his death, before his suffering and death. But in like Matthew 26:26 "this is my body" can not be literal. We do not literally eat Jesus Christ's body. I suppose centuries of argumentation could have been avoided if people had recognized a very simple figure of speech called metaphor. However, there is in depth teaching involving the blood and the body that go back to Moses time. God said to Moses that he should tell the people to do two things: 1, take the blood of the lamb and sprinkle it on the lintel and the side posts of the door and 2, eat the flesh. The blood and the flesh were equally important, equall significant, so far as the Word of God and people of Israel were concerned. Note something else, when the Lord passed over Egypt and the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, God protected the homes of the children of Israel because of the blood they sprinkled on the lintel and side posts. Only the blood protected them. If any Hebrew father had said, "Oh the Word which Moses is speaking is non-sense; I don't believe in that kind of stuff. It's foolish to kill a lamb and sprinkle the blood on our door and lintel, and then think the destroyer will not come. I will not do it." If the father had actually believed this, the eldest son of that family would have died along with the firstborn of the unbelieving Egyptians. What was the purpose of the command, "...eat the flesh...? God told them to eat the flesh of the lamb so that their physical needs would be met. They ate physical health to themselves. The destroyer passed over without harming the obedient believers, and the next morning everyone was whole in every way. Just as the blood of the lamb was the covering for the sins of the Israel, so the blood of Jesus Christ was shed for sin. The body of Christ was offered for the consequences of sin, that is, sickness, disease and want, just as the eating of the flesh was the healing for the physical needs of the children of Israel.