SCRIPTURE: Exodus 12
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
(Read my reflection from 2008)
Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.” [Exodus 12: 19-20]
Let me state the obvious: the yeast is a symbol, there is nothing wrong with yeast itself.
Here it refers to their haste in leaving Egypt – there was no time to wait for the dough to rise.
But in time the yeast became a symbol of subtle and pervasive effect of sin, affecting all the dough.
Unleavened bread was a reminder of God’s grace to them and the need for pure (leaven-free) lives.
Jesus uses yeast in both positive and negative ways.
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” [Matthew 13:33]
How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. [Matthew 16:11-12]
We are not required as followers of Jesus to follow these old testament restrictions against leaven.
But the symbolism still has value for us.
Jesus shared communion with the first disciples using the unleavened bread of the Passover – associating His death as God’s firstborn Son as a parallel of the firstborn deaths in Egypt.
It can be a symbol of small but significant impact of God’s grace in our lives.
It can also be a symbol of the subtle yet destructive power of sin in our lives.
God has rescued us from the Pharoah of sin; He has offered His own first-born son in our place, that we might be passed over in judgment.
We are forgiven, rescued, set free from the subtle, destructive power of sin.
Like these old testament believers, we need to celebrate and remember God’s amazing grace!
Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. [1 Corinthians 5:6-8]
Paul is not calling for a return to old testament restrictions, but a sincere devotion to the Lord for His amazing grace and goodness in our lives.
Not with homes purified from leaven, but with hearts purified from sin.
PRAYER:
Lord, Your grace is subtle, yet significant. At the same time, sin is subtle, yet destructive. Help me to leaven my heart and life with the right kind of yeast!