What would Jesus eat?

What would Jesus eat if he celebrated the Lord's Supper?  If we're trying to be like Jesus are we held to the little things like what he ate and wore?  Thankfully I'll not answer all those but there is a book by Ed Dobson entitled "The Year of Living Like Jesus" in which Dobson (a former pastor from Grand Rapids) tries to literally live as Jesus would.  Interesting book and a quick read.

I ask because I have the honor of making the bread for communion a friend's wedding in which they will celebrate communion so I have been thinking about communion bread.  The first Lord's Supper happened during the Passover (Matt 26:17-29).  What kind of bread would Jesus and his disciples have eaten?  Due to the celebration of Passover (also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread-Lev 23:4-11, 14) and the commands to rid the house of yeast the "bread" would have been more like a cracker.  This is also called Matzah and is still used today in Hebrew homes.  The very first Passover included the command to bake bread without yeast because they didn't have time for it to rise (a loaf of bread can take 2-3 hours to rise if it has yeast in it).  The people were to eat in haste so they could leave their former land of slavery quickly.

In the Old and New Testaments yeast (leaven) symbolized sin.  In the Beth Moore study on the Psalms of Ascents she draws attention to a book called The Feasts of the Lord which explains, "In Hebrew, leaven is known as chametz, which literally means 'sour'.  Leaven (usually yeast or baking powder) is used to produce fermentation."  The book goes on to say that "ancient rabbis also believed that leaven represents the evil impulses of the heart."  Beth points out that the fermentation implied a process of corruption but this feast lets God deal with sin as the focus is on removing sin (yeast) from our home and life (Ex 12:19).

Another interesting picture that Beth showed us in the Bible study is from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.  It says (as best they can tell) the leaven consisted of fermented dough that was kept over from a previous baking and then "hid" in the flour and kneaded into the new batch of dough.  Compare this with 1 Cor 5:7-8 "Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth."  Beth said when you hold something back and you may think it is hidden well it will come to light.  You may think you have dealt with sin because it is not nearly as bad as it used to be but it is still hidden hypocrisy.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the symbol of the bread.  Jesus is the unleavened bread.  There was no corruption or decay that marred his body (Acts 2:31) and his body was not broken but was pierced (John 19:34) and striped.  Matzah bread prior to baking is pierced so the air can escape, while it is baking it forms dark spots on it that look like stripes. 

Jesus is also the fulfillment of many other passover symbols that we don't have time to talk about here (lamb, blood covered door, the wine etc.).  It amazes me how Jesus saved me from my slavery of sin.  How many times do I linger in it. . .the Israelites weren't going to wait around they were anxious to leave their slavery.  Jesus wants me to examine my house and life and get rid of the sin that so easily entangles me.  Is there sin that needs to be confessed over and over and over.  Yes.  I need to find it out and stop keeping, hiding and holding onto it.  Let it go!

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/passover.html is an interesting site with many more comparisons.