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| Matzah on the Menu |
For the next seven days, matzah will be on my menu. Simply made of flour, water, salt, and olive oil, and given no time to rise, matzah is similar to the consistency of a cracker. This unleavened bread of haste is considered to be the bread of affliction and the sustenance of slaves, but I don't feel poor or cheated in limiting my bread intake to this meager, humble fare. No, quite the opposite. I am looking forward to creatively consuming matzah in meaningful meals for seven days.....my "unleavened seven."
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| Seven days unleaven.....signifies significant symbolism! |
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| This year, I'm gonna make matzah! |
Although the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which follows Passover, is a rather new tradition for me, this celebration has been observed for nearly 3,000 years.....ever since it was declared by the LORD to be a perpetual regulation among His people. As one who has been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel by faith in Yeshua Messiah, this appointed time of the LORD has become a meaningful memorial for me as well. My Messiah is the Unleavened Bread upon which I partake. His body, broken for me, bore bruises, piercings, and stripes, just as the matzah. Likewise, the unleavened, yeastless matzah symbolizes the purity of Yeshua, our Bread of Life, who lived a life devoid of sin. Furthermore, just as matzah sustains preservation with a long shelf life, so too, the body of our Master did not see decay, even in death.
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| Messiah did some holy housekeeping! |
In obedience to God's instructions, we remove the leaven from our homes and we keep leaven-free for seven days. Biblically, the number seven represents perfection and completion. On a spiritual level, God is calling us to do some "holy housekeeping." He's calling us to get the sin out of our lives so that we can be a pure and holy people, set apart for service to Him. In the words of our Master, we are called to "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" Matthew 4:19. We need to continually turn from going our own way and turn back to God's ways and His kingdom. Yeshua instructs us to follow him by keeping his commandments John 14:15 that we may be as unleavened dough 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.
From the standpoint of not wanting to waste, getting the leaven out of my home was not easy for me. I had tried to plan ahead. I had attempted to not buy more bread than what we would consume before the Festival of Unleavened Bread began. But when I searched through my cupboards, fridge, and freezer, I was surprised to find more products than I had expected. As my pile of leavened products grew, my heart sank further. Hating waste, I wondered, "What am I going to do?"
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| Getting out the leaven was meaningful to me. |
I chose to give away most of what I would not keep rather than toss my products out to the trash. But my dilemma got me to thinking. Sin is not something to hang on to. It is detrimental and contagious. Sin, when we recognize it in our lives, is something that we should make haste to turn from.....to repent of.....to rid from our lives. We should want to remove every last crumb of sin and depravity. We should not want to savor even one little morsel.....because even a little bit of sin corrupts. Will it cost us something to rid our lives of sin? You bet. But it's OK. It's worth it. The rewards of "wasting" our lives on God are priceless and eternal.
At the time of the first Passover, the meager matzah, made in haste and eaten in haste, was part of a pre-get-away meal. It was eaten along with bitter herbs and a whole roasted lamb or a young goat. It was eaten wearing traveling clothes and feet fitted with walking shoes. Why the hurry? Because God, by His mighty arm, was getting his people out.....out from Egypt.....out from Pharaoh's captivity.....out from idolatry.....and out from slavery! This begs the question.....when God calls me out of my bondage, am I ready to go? Am I ready to risk the unknown future? Will I trust and obey and follow Him into freedom? How about you? If He whispers, will you heed His voice?The freedom, to which we are called, is a freedom to serve a new master. Matzah represents our Master, Yeshua, the Suffering Servant, but I believe it is also a picture of those who follow Messiah. If the sinless Son of God, Yeshua, was belittled, persecuted and condemned as he walked in the ways of His Father, should not those who are called to walk the walk he walked, expect the same? Yeshua's words warned us that following him would be difficult. "Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you" John 15:20. "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first" John 15:18.
Also, taking a piece of matzah, he made the b’rakhah (blessing), broke it, gave it to them and said, “This is my body, which is being given for you; do this in memory of me.”
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| Matzah......a symbol of Yeshua, the Suffering Servant |
Don't you
know the saying, "It takes only a little hametz (yeast) to leaven a whole batch of dough?" Get rid of the old hametz (yeast), so that you can be a
new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach (Passover) lamb, the Messiah, has
been sacrificed. So let us celebrate the Seder (Festival) not with leftover hametz (yeast),
the hametz (yeast) of wickedness and
evil, but with the unleavened matzah (bread) of purity and truth." I Corinthians 5:6-8
