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The Feast of Unleavened Bread By Gary Petty Millions of people celebrate Easter in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus never observed Easter, but there are a series of special days He celebrated while on earth. These days included the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. What relevance do these days have for Christians today?
or most of us bread is an unheralded side dish of our everyday diet. In much of the Western world meals are centered around meat, pasta or casseroles; and unless we are eating a sandwich, bread is an afterthought. That wasn't true of the Middle Eastern cultures of biblical times. In ancient Israel eating meals was a communal affair. Family and friends gathered to eat a meal while reclining on a floor mat. Each person would tear a piece of bread from a small loaf or thin round chunk, and use it as a spoon to scoop food from the various dishes offered at meal time. This is why the Bible speaks of people eating a meal as "breaking bread." During Roman times couches and a low table replaced the mats, but the meal was eaten in basically the same manner. The leavening process Bread was made from different grains including wheat, barley, millet or even beans and lentils. Loaves were prepared by mixing flour with water and kneading it in troughs or bowls made of leather, wood or cloth. Depending upon where a family lived or how wealthy they were, bread was baked on hot sand or flat stones over a fire; on a griddle; or in an oven made of bronze, iron or more commonly clay. The leavening process is fascinating. A leavening agent, which causes gas bubbles to form, is introduced into a batch of dough. This leavening agent permeates every part of the dough until the entire batch is leavened. A small amount of leavening can change a large amount of dough. Since bread was made daily, the easiest way to leaven it was to save a lump of leavened dough from the previous day. This lump would be added to the dough and left to stand until the leavening process had permeated the entire batch. The Feast of Unleavened Bread Every spring ancient Israel observed a religious festival called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. We find in the Old Testament that the Israelites were commanded by God not to eat leavened bread during this seven-day period (Exodus 13:3-10; Leviticus 23:4-8).
Paul was reminding Timothy to remember what he had been taught as a child from the Old Testament. In this context it is not difficult to understand why the early New Testament Church observed the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Paul understood the leavening process and applied it to the human condition. In verse 2 he told the Corinthians that they were "puffed up." Remember, leavening fills dough with air bubbles. We even refer to someone who is preoccupied with self-importance as being "filled with hot air." Now notice verse 8: "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." What feast is Paul speaking of? Symbolic uses of leavening
On another occasion a group of Jewish religious leaders approached Jesus and asked Him to perform a sign to prove that He was sent from God. They referred to the time God provided ancient Israel with food called manna. In the Old Testament bread was a synonym for food, they simply referred to it here as "bread" (John 6:25-35). "Eat My body, drink My blood" With this in mind, Jesus' comments should have more meaning: "Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.' Then they said to Him, 'Lord, give us this bread always.' And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.'" (John 6:32-35). Jesus made the remarkable statement that He is the "bread of life." He said if you eat of this bread you shall live forever (verse 50-51,58). The apostle Paul also linked the Passover observance with the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jesus Christ was offered as the New Testament Passover sacrifice, and He called Himself the bread of life. What religious days should Christians observe? Where did the Western world get their present religious calendar? The New Testament Church didn't observe Easter. Even the name Easter comes from an ancient pagan goddess. The Easter bunny and colored eggs have origins in fertility rites of antiquity and have nothing to do with the death and resurrection of Jesus the Son of God. Why is it that so many in the Christian community ignore, or many times have no knowledge of, the Holy Days outlined in the Old Testament, observed by Jesus and the apostles and kept by the New Testament Christian Church?
What did Jesus mean by these statements? Did He really intend that a person eat His body and drink His blood in order to receive eternal life? This statement offended many people, yet Jesus did not attempt to explain Himself until the evening He was arrested and taken to trial. Jesus explains Himself
The New Testament claims that Jesus is the Passover Lamb of God. Why do so few Christians actually observe the Passover and the accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread? Why have so many abandoned the annual religious observances of the Scriptures and replaced them with holidays whose origins are in dark non-biblical antiquity? To answer these important questions, request your free copy of God's Holy Day Plan--The Promise of Hope for All Mankind. Copyright 2002 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved. |
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Keywords: unleavened bread breaking bread leavening body and blood Passover
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