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The Significance of The Lord's Supper and Unleavened Bread
Jesus instituted the supper which we now call the Lord's Supper while He was observing the Passover with His disciples. The Passover is a feast time designed so that the young ones of a family would ask this question "what is meant by all this?" (Exodus 12:26)
It is only befitting that Jesus, who was every inch a Jew ("I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it"...Matthew 5:17-19) would use this special observance to teach His disciples and us, through the bread; "This is my body which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me: (Luke 22:19), and through the cup "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood" (Luke 22:20).
Thus, Psalm 116:13-15 was fulfilled through Jesus "I shall lift up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones".
As the bread is taken it is not only Jesus' hanging on the cross that we are to think of. We are to remember that Jesus came to us so that we could see what God is like. When we look upon the life of Jesus, we see the heart and character of the Father.
We see what was most important to Him, ("seek first the kingdom of God..." Matthew 6:33-34), how He responded to those who hurt Him, or wanted to argue with Him, how He didn't worry about His reputation or what people though of Him, how He minded His own business. ("I do only the will of the Father...") and even how He treated Judas who betrayed Him. It is time to ponder over those words He said 7 times throughout the Gospels, "If anyone wished to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whosoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it."
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The Significance of the Bread and Its Preparation
Bread is the principle food of the East. From birth one is taught that bread has a mystic sacred meaning. The attitude toward bread is inherently religious. From the sowing of the seed to the breaking of each loaf of bread, everything about it is done in the name of God. They sense the importance of Jesus teaching us to pray "give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). When Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life" He was speaking to people who understood and appreciated the value of bread.
Because of this belief in the sacredness of bread, it is never cut, but broken. To hold bread and cut it with a knife is thought to be wicked, as though life itself was being cut. Jesus broke bread when He instituted the Lord's Supper. "And while they were eating, Jesus took some bread and after a blessing He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said "Take, eat; this is My body"(Matthew 26:26, Mark 14:22). Figuratively, he was demonstrating to them He is life itself.
Bread was made in Jesus' day either of barley or wheat. The distinction between the two was determined by the economic class of the family making it. The poorer classes used barley bread, the wealthier classes used wheat bread. The boy who gave his five barley loaves to Jesus to fee the multitude was apparently from a poorer class, but the crowd was pleased anyway by his humble contribution because it made possible a great miracle.
In the Holy Land, bread is baked in one of three forms. First is a small loaf, similar to a  biscuit, like what the boy contributed to Jesus. Second is a larger loaf, about the weight of our loaves of bread, but round in shape. Third are flat loaves which resemble a thin crust pizza without the cheese and toppings. This type of bread takes the place of knife, fork, or spoon, and is broken up and used to dip into food sauces. It is this shape of bread that is made without leaven and used for the Passover, our model for the Lord's Supper.
The preparation of the bread for Passover is very important. Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin said, "what narrower minds look upon as a picayune concern with trifling kitchen matters is really an example of how Judaism elevates the mere physical satisfaction of one's appetite into a spiritual act by its emphasis on the Ever present God and our duty to serve Him at all times."
In addition of reflecting upon who Jesus is, the purpose of the Lord's Supper is for us to reflect upon our lives and determine what is not clean or holy. The priests were instructed "Moreover...teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the clean and unclean." (Ezekiel 44:13) (Unfortunately, this was not done and Jesus' harshest words were to the Pharisees who had perverted and twisted this commandment.)
The bread baked for Passover - or the Lord's Supper - was baked in an oven that had been cleansed and scoured, then heated to the highest level for half an hour. This symbolizes that God is a Holy Fire to purify us and burn out all the dross, all the unclean. "Rise up! Consecrate the people and say 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, God of Israel, has said, There are things under the ban in your midst...You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.'" (Joshua 7:13)
Consecration means to set apart things from a common to a sacred use including the dedication of a person to the service and worship of God. Thus, the cleaning of the oven is a picture of cleansing our lives for God's use.
The unleavened bread or matzah, is made only of water and flour - no oil, fat, seasoning, or dairy product is to be used. The flour used for our purposes will be unbleached "white" flour. Be careful that the flour has not had any prior contact with any water or leavening agent (including salt, which is a leavening agent). The entire baking process from the time that the flour and water are mixed into dough until it comes out of the oven must not exceed eighteen minutes. The reason for such haste is that the fermentation process begins after 18 minutes of the flour coming into contact with water! This reminds us of how quickly we can become defiled by the world or our own impure thinking! Jesus often cautioned about leaven. Paul said to the Corinthians, "Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (I Corinthians 5:6-8)
Before preparing the bread, read this section very carefully to familiarize yourself with what must be done. REMEMBER - the whole process from dough to finish must not exceed 18 minutes!
This recipe will make two loaves. Preheat a clean oven to 425o. Have two pans(cookie sheet, pizza pan, or baking stone) ready. DO NOT OIL OR SPRAY SURFACE WITH ANY NON-STICK SPRAY! Lightly sprinkle flour over surface of pans. Take a large mixing bowl and measure 2 cups of UNBLEACHED PLAIN FLOUR. Add 1 cup of WARM WATER, and stir quickly to mix. Lift dough from the bowl. It will be very sticky. Put extra FLOUR in bowl, perhaps a cup or so, and put dough on top of flour. Knead the dough for about 1 minute, incorporating the flour into the dough. It will begin to feel soft. You may not use all the added flour, or you may need to add more. It will depend on the humidity of the air. Form dough into a smooth ball, tucking the sides under, and pinching together on the underside. REMEMBER - WORK QUICKLY! Divide dough into two balls. Roll each one out very thin in a circle (about 10-12 inch diameter) on lightly floured pan or, if using pan with 1/2" sides, roll out onto floured surface first then transfer to cooking pan. The dough will be very thin, like a cracker or dumpling. Place one pan on the top rack and the other on the bottom rack in oven and bake 15-17 minutes. Halfway through (about 7 minutes) swap the pans, putting the top pan on the bottom rack and the bottom pan on the top rack. This will prevent burning the one that has been on the bottom rack. The bread will be very light brown in places. Take out of oven and off of pan and place on cooling rack or clean towel. If you only need one loaf, divide recipe in half.
Remember, this is a time to include children and teens and explain the significance of what you are doing, thus fulfilling Exodus 12:26. Explain that this is a time to identify any uncleanness so that we may bring it before the Lord for purification. We are to do this in remembrance of Jesus, that we may continually be aware of responding to life's difficulties and our relationship to others as Jesus did. He is our example. We are to live among the world, but not to look like the world or act like the world, therefore fulfilling God's perfect will for us, that we might be conformed to the image of Christ.
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