Exodus 12:14-24
14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a solemn assembly, and on the seventh day a solemn assembly; no work shall be done on those days; only what everyone must eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt: you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual ordinance. 18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread. 19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike down the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. 24 You shall observe this rite as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children.
Matthew 26:17-19, 26-28
17 On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
26 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Recap:
At the beginning of this series, we were reminded that God has a plan even if we don’t see it.
We realized that God calls us into His plan for us and that He is with us even when we can’t feel him.
Last week we explored the fact that God is powerful enough to bring that plan to pass.
This week we will be looking at the moment in time when things changed for the Israelites. It is the moment when they confront the Passover and discover God’s protection. But more than that, it is the moment when their transformation into people of God begins. Our word today is transformation.
Many years ago, I had a favorite contemporary science fiction author. His name was Isaac Asimov. I read most of his fiction books, and a number of his nonfiction ones.
What was interesting was that over his lifetime he created a number of different series of novels. You may have read some from his Foundation Series, His space exploration series, his early robot stories, or his Elijah Baily and Daneel the Robot series. As he grew older, he began to take his newer novels and try tried to create a consistent story thread that tied all of them together. He died before the project was complete.
Here in Exodus, we have something similar happening. There is a text that was written. And there is a text that has been incorporated.
We have the story of the original Passover, including the lamb and the blood. But we also have the story of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, which is intended to remember this event and carry it through the lives of the people.
About Leavening:
We know that the Feast of the Unleavened Bread was established in Deuteronomy 16 – and that the purpose of the unleavened bread was to remind the people that the night when they left Egypt, it was in haste and they had no time to prepare the bread.
But we find a trace of the instructions listed here, before they ever left Egypt. Like Asimov, there are portions of this story which appear to have been inserted in locations where they make sense only when they are defined later in Scripture. This is one of them.
Over the years, Unleavened bread has played a greater role than the sacrifice in this celebration, especially since the destruction of the temple nearly 2000 years ago. When I went online to check into current Passover practices, I found the following interesting facts –
In Israel, practicing Jews who do not wish to destroy the items that are leavened and yet want to ensure their home is Kosher for Passover, sell their leavened items to a Christian, who holds them and sells them back at the end of Passover.
Orthodox Grocery stores are not permitted to sell leavened items in Israel during Passover, so they have sheets that cover the shelves during this time.
Hospitals often post notices warning visitors to be cautious in bringing leavened items into the hospital, and employees are admonished to be sure to clean out the refrigerator of any leavened items before the beginning of Passover.
Of course, most interesting to me was that while Girl Scout Cookies are Kosher in general, they are not Kosher for Passover. Those purchasing them are reminded by their rabbi to have them delivered after Passover to ensure that they do not accidentally bring leavening into their home. As someone who has often given up Chocolate for Lent, I truly appreciate having someone else hold those cookies.
Obviously, the lamb is a prediction of the death of Jesus on the cross to bring salvation to us. But how do we relate to the leaven instructions in our post resurrection world?
First of all, as we look at the departure of the Israelites, we see them headed into a new relationship with God.
As they leave, they need to leave behind those things that will hold them back. They were leaving behind the gods of the Egyptians. They were leaving behind their slavery. They were leaving behind the way of life they had always known. The yeast is a symbol of this leaving behind. It is a symbol that they have been transformed.
As we look at the cross of Jesus, we too see a moment when our life was transformed. The old needed to be left behind, and the new embraced.
At the time when the Holy Spirit fell, we find all of the disciples forever changed. These scared fishermen become the founders of our faith, ensuring that the disciples of Jesus will continue.
What did they leave behind? When they knew that death was not the end, they left fear behind and embraced faith. There was nothing anyone could do to them that would lead them to anything except glory.
We find Paul turned around in the same way. Once he encountered the risen Christ, he turned from persecuting Christians to being a missionary to the unsaved. If ever there was someone who was transformed, it was Paul.
What do we leave behind?
If we honestly believe that Jesus is risen from the dead – if we truly believe his promise that he goes to prepare a way for us – if we choose to live as disciples of Jesus Christ, then we leave our fears, our misconceptions, anything that would hold us back.
Like the disciples we are transformed.
Second, leavening is more than yeast. It is that which permeates and raises. We can’t escape yeast. Yeast is in the air around us. If you have ever made starter for sourdough bread, you know that if you take flour, water, and salt and leave it on the counter, it will begin to ferment. In fact, most items will quickly spoil or ferment if left exposed to the air.
So, yeast, per se, is not an issue, it is the fermentation it causes that is an issue.
In the same way, we are surrounded by the world and cannot escape it. It calls, it tempts, it entices. Just like the yeast in the air, it is pervasive.
But it isn’t the world that is the problem, it is what happens when we let ourselves encounter the world and we let those things ferment in our lives. When we draw them in, we become just like the world.
God has a plan even when we can’t see it.
We are called and God is with us even when we can’t feel it.
God is powerful enough to complete his plan.
As we walk in God’s plan, we can be transformed.
Are you willing to let God change you? Are you willing to become an after-resurrection Christian? Or are you happy with the way things have always been?
Let us pray -
