This Sunday in our Lenten series on the Feasts of Israel we are looking at the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Our Scripture readings are: Exodus 12:14-20 and 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
*** Just a reminder that the background passage for our series is Leviticus 23 so you may also want to read Leviticus 23:4-8 which references the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread and the command for the Israelites to keep these feasts each year.
Other passages to read: Romans 6-8, Colossians.
A couple months ago I went into the cupboard with a craving for toast with peanut butter on it. However, as I opened up the bread bag I saw that there was a little bit of mould on the end of the loaf. Now, I was hungry … it had been a long day, it was late at night, and I just wanted a little bit of toast before bed.
So, I began debating in my mind … how bad can it be? There was no mould on the other pieces of bread. I threw out the mouldy piece, smelled the bag of bread, scoured the freezer for more bread or bagels (there was none), and in the end … threw out the mouldy bread and went to bed.
Mould doesn’t work that way. It doesn’t just affect the slice of bread that it is on, rather, it works itself through the whole loaf. Even if it cannot be seen, the mould is there … it can be smelled and tasted.
Sin is like that. That’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread reminded the Israelites of. Before the Passover meal the Israelites were to completely remove all yeast from their houses (yeast, or leaven of any sort, symbolized the decay of sin to the Israelites). And for one week they were to eat unleavened bread, to keep themselves away from it, to deny themselves. It was God’s way of showing them the seriousness of their sin, and how just a little sin (even the tiniest bit) can work throughout their lives and their community. Living as God’s freed people meant ridding themselves of the decay of sin.
Now, it’s important to note that the Israelites regularly ate leavened bread and so during this feast the imagery of the unleavened bread was a constant reminder of how a little sin goes a long way. It was a wakeup call for them because they knew how little yeast (or leaven) was needed to make a loaf rise.
We know that power of sin. A lie grows from a little tale to gain a life of its own. We trick ourselves into believing what the world tells us about love, sex, money, and success. It all starts out small, but it can grow and grow and it even takes hold of the church.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread, as Christians, points us to Jesus. We don’t symbolically remove yeast from our houses anymore, rather, we look to the cross and the grave where Jesus physically removed our sin from us. But, in line with the feast, a response is required from us. As Christians, our salvation through Jesus Christ requires us to respond to God’s grace. We do this ( the Holy Spirit's power) by making every effort to not harbour sin in our lives and hearts and churches anymore.
God’s gift of salvation (our freedom from sin) calls us to live disciplined and grateful lives for what God has done for us where we freely confess our sins to God and each other in the assurance of our forgiveness through Jesus.