Easter Sunday, April 4
1 Corinthians 5:6b-8. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
| What does
leaven do to the bread? Well, you put it in the dough, set it in a warm place,
and it begins to rise. When it gets to a certain height, it is put into the hot
oven. Why? To stop the leavening process. If the bread did not get into the
oven, that leavening process would go on and the bread would rise higher and
higher. Finally the whole loaf would be corrupt and rotten. Now that is exactly
what happens if we hold unconfessed sin in our heart. It will take over and
destroy our effectiveness. “A little leaven will go a long way,” so it must be
cleared out by asking God for forgiveness and not continuing in sin. Because Christ was sacrificed as the Pascal Lamb, His power is given to us to cleanse and purify ourselves and so make life a festival. The Christian life ought to be a continual feast as our minds feed upon Christ by contemplation, with lowly submission, subjecting thoughts, purposes, desires to His will, making it our own and staying cleansed. What a wonderful way to be. - Jennifer Braun, Executive Assistant, President's Office |
