What is the biblical basis that Christ is NOT physically present in communion?

I would say the answer is simple. Just hear Jesus' words.

And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19, KJV)

The bread being said to be his "body" was obviously a symbol, because it was not his body they were eating, but bread: and he had not died yet. But more importantly, he says "this do in remembrance of me."

If Jesus were actually physically present, the "in remembrance" would be moot. There would be no need to remember him--he would actually be there!

The very first time this event was instituted by Jesus Christ himself, he unarguably WAS physically present! He personally invited his disciples to participate in eating bread that he broke with his own hands, and to drink from a cup of wine that he passed around. My question is, "Was he also physically present in the bread and the wine that night?"

The intriguing point about this first occurrence of what we now call "communion" is that partaking of the elements was done before Christ's body was 'broken' and before his blood was shed. Christ was physically present in his own body. So, could he also be physically present in the bread and wine prior to dying? Did he not need to die first, and no longer be physically present on Earth, before the question of how he might then be present in bread and wine could even arise? As none of the disciples reported a physical presence of Christ in communion, after they'd witnessed Christ returning to heaven, the onus is on those who say he thereafter did become physically present in the communion elements to give biblical proof of that.

What is given are differing interpretations of the meaning of Jesus' words about future communion events. What never seems to be given is explanation of why Jesus was physically present at the first ever communion, before he died and (therefore) before he could 'switch' to any other way of being present in the elements.

If he was not physically present in the elements at the first communion (because he had not yet died) then he could not literally mean that his body was the bread, and his blood was the wine that evening. Thereafter, none of the disciples testify to Christ being physically present in the bread and wine of later communion events.

It seems clear that Jesus was speaking of a symbolic representation with regard to physical elements of bread and wine. When the disciples partook of that particular bread and wine that night, they would know that the physical Jesus was standing, speaking, in front of them, so that the bread and wine he then passed around had to have a symbolic, spiritual meaning. When the resurrected Jesus broke bread with the disciples he'd spoken with on the road to Emmaus, it was the way he did that which made them realise Jesus was physically present in the room. Then he vanished from their sight. No mention of wine. You may be sure their interest was not in the literal bread he had prayed over, and broken. They rushed back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples that they had met with the risen Lord (Luke 24:13-36).

The next time they communed over bread and wine, they would know that Jesus had died, had been resurrected, and had returned to heaven, so the elements would 'speak' to them of those events, and that is what they would remember. They would also know that Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit, in his place, and that he was present, in them, by the indwelling Holy Spirit in every believer. Their communion with their living Lord was dependent on that.

Paul wrote of Jews and Gentiles being brought to God by the blood of Christ, who abolished in his flesh the enmity. "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father", growing into a [spiritual] temple, "in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." (Ephesians 2:13-22) He goes on to speak of Christians being "strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith... to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19)

There is no need of any ritual performance of ingesting bread and wine that must be believed to be physically transformed into Christ's literal body and blood to know that experience. It is belief in the physical death of Christ, his resurrection, and present activity as our great High Priest that matters. To all such believers is given the indwelling Spirit, and that is their constant, 24/7 communion with Christ, the simple sacrament reminding them of this, every time they partake, in remembrance of him.