Communion — A Meditation

One of the changes that we made since establishing Waco Reformed Church was to move from unleavened bread, to leavened bread in communion. We did this partly because of the parable of the leaven found in Matthew 13:33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.”

This is a kingdom parable, showing that the kingdom will continue to grow until it is all leavened.

We chose to use leavened bread because not only does communion point back to Christ’s death, and helps us proclaim His death until He comes, but it also points to His coming, showing that He will not come until the kingdom has fully grown and covered the earth.

But this is not the only reason we use leavened bread. It also points to the Feast of Weeks found in the Old Testament.

Leviticus 23:15-22, the Feast of Weeks.

In Leviticus 23, we have the Passover, followed by the feast of firstfruits, and that is followed by the Feast of Weeks, which begin on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after the feast of the firstfruits began. Given that this is the day the Spirit was poured out on the people, it has become a special day for Christianity.

The point here is that it was during the feast of weeks that the church celebrated their first communion after the LORD’s ascension. They did not have unleavened bread, but leavened bread as was prescribed in Leviticus 23:17.

You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.

So while the LORD’s supper was instituted during the Passover, it is not strictly tied to the Passover. We often think of communion as a replacement for the Passover, therefore, it must have a one-to-one correlation. But this not quite correct. Communion replaces all the feast days, and represents all the feast days. It is the fulfillment of all that the feast days represent.

The disciples, on the day of Pentecost, had no problem observing the LORD’s supper using leavened bread, for it was all the bread that was available.

Unleavened bread was not available to them, because you had to remove the leaven from your homes for 7 day prior to the feast.

They used leavened bread, which we are told in Leviticus: They are the firstfruits to the LORD.

Let us join in together at Christ’s table, and enjoy the firstfruits to the LORD.