Exodus 23:18
"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning."
Communion?
When we take communion it is representative of drinking the blood of Christ and eating the body of Christ.
My dad actually asked me a question about this a couple months ago when we were talking about the bread in the communion at Asbury. It is a delicious loaf of bread. A delicious yeasty loaf of bread.
My dad's question was why does it have leavening in it? My response... um I don't know.
I had never had communion with that kind of bread until I went to a Methodist church, and I never have looked behind their reasoning for doing it that way. That was pretty much the end of my thought process on it until I read this verse.
Why does the bread at Asbury have yeast, and should it not? Is this verse even applicable?
Opinions by people on Facebook:
ReplyDelete#1:
Well this may be a dumb answer but did you read the verses around this particular verse? To me, communion is based on what Jesus did at the last supper. This verse is about something else. A sacrifice to God kind of. communion is the physical way of taking Jesus into our bodies..... that sounds weird.... It is hard to put into words... Now I sound dumb. Ah!
What I'm trying to say is that Neither communion nor it's traditions are based on this verse... In my opinion. sorry to but into your bible stuff.
#2:
In answer to your question posted regarding the whole issue of unleavened/leavened bread. It was established during the Passover just before the Exodus as to why unleavened bread is partaken, so you'll need to go a few chapters earlier in t...he book of Exodus. Then if you will remember, the time during which Jesus was crucified was the Passover season. The Last Supper would have used unleavened bread. Therefore, by all reasoning from a Biblical standpoint of the example set forth by the Jewish people who made the Exodus and then by Jesus during the Last Supper, communion would use unleavened bread or matza. I just did a whole little puppet show about Passover for the K5 Sunday school classes at OMPC which details in little kid terms what each of the elements of the Passover are and why. Which reminds me I have to find that e-mail address and send it over to someone who can help me with the unleavened bread topic for 12/05.