Unleavened Bread

"Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:6b-8)

As Israel fled their enslavement in the land of Egypt they did not have time to prepare all they would need for their journey. One of the things that had to be skipped was adding the yeast to the dough of their bread because they would not have had time to let the bread rise before baking it. In Jewish tradition, this imagery of removing the leaven from the bread during the Passover meal has remained and the symbolism attached to it during Jesus’ day and ours is that the yeast or leaven represents the sin and evil inside us. Therefore, in this passage, we are encouraged not only to remove what is corrupt in us, but to live a life that reflects that absence.

In the church, this imagery of the unleavened bread is also reflected in our Eucharist. This Sunday, as you gather at your church to celebrate the sacrifice of Christ and his resurrection, I hope you will reflect on this passage and all the symbolism that adorns this service. As we meditate on these things and celebrate the risen lord, may we do so with more than just our regular pomp and circumstance, but also with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth in our heart.