COMMON BREAD AND WINE I

Common bread and common wine were used at the meal called the Last Supper. The meal started as a Passover meal and ended in the institution of the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament. The common bread of Passover was unleavened bread and the common wine was the daily wine of the Jews. The Last Supper becomes the Lord’s Supper and what was common becomes very uncommon in meaning and practice.

Jews consume unleavened breads such as matzo during Passover as commanded in Exodus 12:17-18.
“Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation. The bread you eat must be made without yeast.”  According to the Torah, the newly emancipated Israelites had to leave Egypt in such a hurry that they could not so much as spare time for their breads to rise, as such, bread which cannot rise is eaten as a reminder.

In making kosher bread it must be made in 18 minutes from start to finish using only kosher flour and water. Natural fermentation begins following that 18-minute time frame when flour and water are mixed. To avoid the natural fermentation, and therefore making the bread unleavened, it must be made and finished baking before 18 minutes.

I wonder if Jesus was making reference to his impending death that was on a ‘hurry up’ schedule when he said, “As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take it, for this is my body.” (Gospel of Mark 14:22) The Common Bread is common no more.

“This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Jesus