On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD’s Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast.
Leviticus 23:6
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast–as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
Passover was last Saturday. For the week afterward is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which ends today. The key ingredient to this week is to not eat anything with yeast in it. Have you ever tried this? Too much of the food I normally buy includes some form of yeast (what is yeast extract anyways?). I’m guessing it’s been nearly impossible to buy any fluffy breads in the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem this week.
What is the significance of this festival? The Bible uses yeast as an image of sin. Just as a little yeast permeates an entire batch of dough, so a little sin can permeate our entire lives. What do I allow into myself seems that doesn’t seem like a big deal, but is actually hurting me? By restricting what I eat, it should act as a reminder for these other parts of my life.
When celebrating a Passover meal, one of the sections has us take note of the matzah (unleavened bread). It is pierced and striped, which reminds us of how Jesus was pierced on the cross and scourged by the whip. Just as matzah is without yeast, so Jesus was without sin.
What leavening in your life do you need to clean out?