Removing the Leaven

Removing the Leaven
Words of Faith 3-21-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Mark 14
[12] On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
[13] So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. [14] Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' [15] He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there."
[16] The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.

In the time of Jesus, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which immediately followed Passover, had been extended to include both. It is enormously significant that this is the time that the Lord Jesus, in the will of the Father, chose to die.
The preparation for the Feast included removing all the leaven from the house. Leaven was a symbol of the old life and of sin because leaven so quickly works through a batch of bread. The only way to break the continuity of sin is a complete removal of sin. Customs were developed to aid in this careful observance. In the Jewish neighborhoods of England, little boys would collect the leaven house to house and burn it. In other communities, the leaven was gathered and entrusted to a Gentile friend for later use.
Removing every speck of yeast from the home was a radical action that symbolized the action required in our lives. Obviously, religious rituals and customs can grow stale and empty of meaning. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was intended to bring a person to powerful self-examination. We would do well to do the same, looking carefully, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, for the specks of sin that can so easily work their way through our lives and families.
The Passover recalls the plague of the firstborn by which God freed the Israelites from the bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. The Pesach lamb was sacrificed in the Temple to recall the blood that was placed on the doorpost of each house as a sign to God that He would protect the house from the angel of death or the "destroyer."
Jesus was soon to be the final Pesach lamb, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5:17)! The old leaven is cleared out and has no more power over us. The new has come.
This is the feast for which Jesus was preparing. He was attending to every detail. Find a man carrying a jar of water-- a very unusual sight because women typically carried jars of water. Follow him and ask where the room is for the Teacher and disciples. Make the preparations. A New Covenant is about to begin.
Nothing that Jesus did was by chance. Every preparation has power. Every detail speaks of His dominion. And He did it all for you. Don't forget.

Lord, I give thanks to You for attending to the details, making the preparations, and completing Your mission. Keep my eyes upon You. Cleanse me of the old leaven of sin. Give me New Life today in You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2024
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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