15“'Seven days shall you eat matzah; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Yisra'el. 16In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. 17You shall observe the feast of matzah; for in this same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall you observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. 18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat matzah, until the twenty first day of the month at evening. 19Seven days shall there be no yeast found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Yisra'el, whether he be a foreigner, or one who is born in the land. 20You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat matzah.'”Exodus 12:15-20 (World English Bible)
Lent is drawing to an end and we are approaching Easter and Passover. I would like to comment on several pre-Passover customs at this time. As many of you know, Passover will begin the evening of the 12th of April, which is the 14th of Nissan according to the Hebrew Calendar. A week before Passover, spring cleaning begins, and all the good plates, silver ware etc. are cleaned up and prepared for the feast. The 14th of Nissan, the entire family goes about the house looking for leaven, traditionally with a candle, a brush and a dust tray. (We ourselves use a flashlight). To encourage the children, whoever finds the most leaven is given a reward. (Pieces of leavened bread a strategically hidden before hand). For the eight days of the holiday there is not bread to be found in the house (and indeed in remembrance our communion bread will be unleavened for celebrations of the Eucharist these eight days).
Leaven is symbolic of evil. Indeed, even Jesus told his Talmidim (disciples) to be careful of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, referring to false teaching and example. When we become Christians, it is time to part ourselves from all evil. The preparation for Passover reminds us to remove all evil from our lives and our homes. The preparation for Passover for those who celebrate it, is a good time to seek anything evil and remove it from our homes. This could be books, magazines, movies, etc. As we look for the leaven in the house, I also look to see if there is anything that would detract from my Christian witness, and remove it and burn it with the leaven. I also take part of the day and analyse my style of life, my thoughts, and habits, and when I find things that are not befitting Jesus, I write them down, and on Good Friday give them to Jesus by nailing them to a cross which we have for that purpose (they are later burned). Our minds and thoughts must be subject to Christ.
Naturally, while we can remove evil things from our houses, it is much harder to remove evil from our minds. This is done by doing it symbolically, and by developing different habits of thought. If you have some habit, which leads to sin, impure thoughts, etc., then you much get rid of that habit. Some habits are more difficult to deal with, and must be given to the Lord to deal with.
Do not take the attitude that God must convict you of a sin before you must deal with it. I have certain friends who smoke (as we all know smoking is bad for the body, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the New Testament tells us we should not damage the Temple of the Holy Spirit). These people knew smoking was bad for them, that the money they spent on cigarettes would have been better used buying food for their kids, but would not quit because God had not convicted them. If something is obviously a sin (by being found in the Bible), then God doesn’t need to convict. We must accept his word and follow it. There are some things that God must convict us of, either through our ignorance or lack of thought, and he will, but if the Bible sets a standard, we must abide by it, or we are in danger of hardening our own hearts as did Pharaoh and make ourselves incapable of hearing his word, or his conviction. There are many in the world today who pick and choose what we need to do, instead of accepting God’s word. We risk our destruction. There are many examples of people in the Bible (I am thinking of Saul) who lost their relationship with God by disobeying his clear word.
On another train of thought, all firstborn Jews, on the 14 of Nissan fast until the Passover Seder. The reason for this is to remember the first born of Egypt who died for our freedom. Likewise at the Seder, when remembering the plagues which befell Egypt, we remove some wine from the cup so it will not be full, in remembrance of how the Egyptians suffered. Let us remember then, as we clean the sin from our lives with the power of Jesus, that we must have compassion even upon our enemies whom we must feed when hungry and clothe when naked.
Shalom and blessings in the Name of Yeshua
+Mar Michael Abportus
mjthan@quik.com
Lent is drawing to an end and we are approaching Easter and Passover. I would like to comment on several pre-Passover customs at this time. As many of you know, Passover will begin the evening of the 12th of April, which is the 14th of Nissan according to the Hebrew Calendar. A week before Passover, spring cleaning begins, and all the good plates, silver ware etc. are cleaned up and prepared for the feast. The 14th of Nissan, the entire family goes about the house looking for leaven, traditionally with a candle, a brush and a dust tray. (We ourselves use a flashlight). To encourage the children, whoever finds the most leaven is given a reward. (Pieces of leavened bread a strategically hidden before hand). For the eight days of the holiday there is not bread to be found in the house (and indeed in remembrance our communion bread will be unleavened for celebrations of the Eucharist these eight days).
Leaven is symbolic of evil. Indeed, even Jesus told his Talmidim (disciples) to be careful of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, referring to false teaching and example. When we become Christians, it is time to part ourselves from all evil. The preparation for Passover reminds us to remove all evil from our lives and our homes. The preparation for Passover for those who celebrate it, is a good time to seek anything evil and remove it from our homes. This could be books, magazines, movies, etc. As we look for the leaven in the house, I also look to see if there is anything that would detract from my Christian witness, and remove it and burn it with the leaven. I also take part of the day and analyse my style of life, my thoughts, and habits, and when I find things that are not befitting Jesus, I write them down, and on Good Friday give them to Jesus by nailing them to a cross which we have for that purpose (they are later burned). Our minds and thoughts must be subject to Christ.
Naturally, while we can remove evil things from our houses, it is much harder to remove evil from our minds. This is done by doing it symbolically, and by developing different habits of thought. If you have some habit, which leads to sin, impure thoughts, etc., then you much get rid of that habit. Some habits are more difficult to deal with, and must be given to the Lord to deal with.
Do not take the attitude that God must convict you of a sin before you must deal with it. I have certain friends who smoke (as we all know smoking is bad for the body, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and the New Testament tells us we should not damage the Temple of the Holy Spirit). These people knew smoking was bad for them, that the money they spent on cigarettes would have been better used buying food for their kids, but would not quit because God had not convicted them. If something is obviously a sin (by being found in the Bible), then God doesn’t need to convict. We must accept his word and follow it. There are some things that God must convict us of, either through our ignorance or lack of thought, and he will, but if the Bible sets a standard, we must abide by it, or we are in danger of hardening our own hearts as did Pharaoh and make ourselves incapable of hearing his word, or his conviction. There are many in the world today who pick and choose what we need to do, instead of accepting God’s word. We risk our destruction. There are many examples of people in the Bible (I am thinking of Saul) who lost their relationship with God by disobeying his clear word.
On another train of thought, all firstborn Jews, on the 14 of Nissan fast until the Passover Seder. The reason for this is to remember the first born of Egypt who died for our freedom. Likewise at the Seder, when remembering the plagues which befell Egypt, we remove some wine from the cup so it will not be full, in remembrance of how the Egyptians suffered. Let us remember then, as we clean the sin from our lives with the power of Jesus, that we must have compassion even upon our enemies whom we must feed when hungry and clothe when naked.
Shalom and blessings in the Name of Yeshua
+Mar Michael Abportus
mjthan@quik.com
posted by The Synod of Saint Timothy at 20:23
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