Thomas, since we are the Body of Christ, what you believe is being advocated here would seem to have at least two fairly significant implications: Instead of consuming communion wafers and wine/grape juice, we should be (1) cannabalizing each other, and/or (2) cannabalizing ourselves. That is, if we stick with a literal view.
No, because the Body of Christ is constituted by those who are in communion with Him, He is its head, and we its members.
We subsist because of Him, not because of ourselves, or each other.
But nor am I proposing cannibalism ... which would actually reduce the Eucharist to a mere magical ritual ... I think the point of the chapter is far more than that, but immediately it's about acceptance, and not simply acceptance but metanoia, a change of heart, and the point remains valid, we have to accept Christ on His terms, and not ours.
Reformation theology reduces baptism to a mere sign ... a rite of passage ... Orthodox doctrine insists the Holy Spirit is active and present in and on the person baptised (according to the degree they allow). Ever since then, the liberal trajectory has been to rationalise and reduce Christianity to effectively little more than ethical humanism. It is stripped of its Mystery.
The Eucharist is no mere sign, a metaphor for something inward and indeterminate, but a real thing, transmission of being at the level of one's nature, not one's individuality.
Eucharistic Theology is a deep and profound subject, and I'm not really willing to discuss it in open forum.
John 15:5:
"for without me you can do nothing."
This, to me, is what it all boils down to. We don't want to admit that, We are prepared to give Christ anything, except ourselves ... and that's the only thing He wants, so He can give it back anew, and glorified.
Thomas