When the Lord gave Moses the commands for the Passover feast
and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, He included this commandment - "For
seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is
leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether
he is a sojourner or a native of the land." - Exodus 12.19
It is a serious penalty to be cut off from the congregation,
especially when you consider that it is applies only to owning some yeast and
only owning it on a few days out the
year. That isn't the only prohibition on
yeast though. The bread that was sacrificed on the altar in certain rituals
also could contain no leaven. What does
God have against leaven and what in the world does it have to do with Lent?
There are many answers to the question of why leaven is
prohibited, the Jewish sages and rabbis have proposed a great many reasons and
I want to give you a couple of them and one suggestion of my own as we consider
what Lent means and how we keep a holy Lent.
According to Scripture, the eating of unleavened bread
commemorates the original Exodus from Egypt. Since there wasn't enough time for
the dough to rise when the Jews fled, the LORD memorialized the event with the
commandment to eat only unleavened bread for seven days: "Seven days you
shall eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the
land of Egypt in haste -- that all the days of your life you may remember the
day when you came out of the land of Egypt" (Deut. 16:3).
One of the greatest rabbinic teachers, Moses Maimonides, aka
the Rambam (12th century rabbi in Morocco and Egypt), suggested that
yeast was forbidden as a burnt sacrifice because it was the sacrifice of the
common man to the pagan gods of the era.
A true sacrifice in God’s estimation, was that which was rejected by the
false gods.
Other suggestions have included that leaven is considered a
corrupting influence, a hidden uncleanness that manipulates purer elements.
Like the influence of a lump of leaven in a batch of dough,
"spiritual" leaven functions as an evil impulse within us that
corrupts and "sours" our soul.
This "yeast in the soul" is essentially pride that manifests
itself in idolatrous desires and lusts.
Some teachers have linked yeast with what the Jewish people
call the yetzer hara or the evil inclination within us that tempts us to follow
"too much the devices and desires of our own hearts" as the
confession in our Daily Office of Morning Prayer says. They see leaven as a symbol of death and
decay. The "rise of dough" is
only possible by means of the natural processes of decay. In other words, were
it not for the curse of death (i.e., the Fall of Adam and Eve), there could be
no leavened bread. When the leaven is purged from Jewish homes, they are sanctifying
themselves by removing corrupting influences from their lives.
As you can see, there are many and varied thoughts on why
leaven is forbidden in the home during the Passover feast. I would suggest one more idea and that has to
do with the reality that yeasts are indigenous species. There are different yeasts in different
cultures as they are airborne.
Therefore, the yeast of Egypt would be different from the yeast of the
Land of Israel. If you want to make San
Francisco sourdough bread you need to start with a leaven that comes from San
Francisco. All yeasts are not created
equally. We need to search out our lives
for the influence of foreign leaven and ensure it does not affect us going
forward. The Israelites were forbidden
leaven in that first Passover they kept in Egypt which also ensured that the
leaven of Egypt didn't go with them into the Land.
Leaven is a little thing but a living thing, nothing more
than tiny microbes which corrupt the dough and change the flour into something
remarkably different and the particular leaven used changes the flavor and
properties of the dough. The fact that
it is a living thing is important also because so long as it lives it continues
to corrupt and decay. The only solution
to the "problem" of leaven is to get rid of it, to starve it of
something to eat.
Paul wrote, " You know the saying, “A little leaven
makes the whole batch of dough rise.” You must remove the old leaven of sin so
that you will be entirely pure. Then you will be like a new batch of dough with
no leaven, as indeed I know that you actually are. For our Passover Festival is
ready, now that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us
celebrate our Passover, then, not with bread having the old leaven of sin and
wickedness, but with the bread that has no leaven, the bread of purity and
truth." [1 Cor. 5.6-9]
Lent is a time when we are called to more than giving up
something in order to lose weight or purify our digestive system. It is a time of searching for leaven in our
lives, what is corrupting us and keeping us from following Jesus with our whole
hearts. Sometimes that leaven is the
leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, self-righteousness or unbelief, and
sometimes we have to recognize we have allowed foreign leaven into our lives,
our beliefs, attitudes and dreams are those of Egypt and not of God. The Sermon on the Mount that we have been
preaching through on Sundays is a good reminder of where foreign leaven has
come into our lives and we are called to rid that and hear afresh the Lord's
teachings on who we are called to be.
Lent is our call to not only search out that old leaven but
to rid our lives of it and all its influence.
Searching the home for leaven is a most diligent process and we are
called to a forty day period of self-examination to prepare ourselves to
rejoice at Easter that Christ is risen.
He is to be our new leaven through the power of the indwelling
Spirit. Lent is a time of preparation
and expectation, just as Passover is for the Jews. We always need grace but the ministry of John
the Baptist was a work of preparing a people to meet their king as those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Lent is for those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
With these thoughts I bid you consider how best to purge
your lives of the old leaven to make room for the joy of Easter. I bid you to search and destroy that old
leaven but also to seek out the leaven of Christ and incorporate that leaven
more fully into your lives.
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