The Old Leaven
I’ll admit, it has always kind of confused me. I’m talking about the imagery used in the Passover Meal and for Christians today in the Lord’s Supper (communion), of leaven representing evil. They used unleavened bread for both to say something significant and bad has been removed. For Israel it was being physically removed from Egypt, and for Christians it is having our sins removed through Christ. But I love bread! So, what confused me is the fact that leaven allows the bread to rise and adds flavor; that seemed like a good thing, not a bad thing, so why was removing it needed for this symbolism?
As Lois Tverberg says in her book Listening to the Language of the Bible, “Understanding ancient bread-making will give us insight.” She provides some detail that goes beyond the simple fact that leaven helps the bread rise and gives it flavor, and this detail provides context to help us see what the imagery was supposed to communicate. Imagery lost on most of us in modern times.
You see, if flour gets moist, after a few days it will acquire a sour taste and bubble as yeasts from the air grow in it. So far, so good. What we don’t often realize is that this is a process of decay. If this fermented dough rises and is baked, the bubbles and acid in it add flavor to the bread, and this is what we normally experience. But, if we don’t bake it, and allow the decaying process to continue, it will rot!
This is the image we must keep in mind when thinking of how bread is used in the Passover, and today for the Christian in the Lord’s Supper. In modern times few of us deal with yeast, we just buy bread at the store. But putting yeast in an airtight container in a cool spot helps maintain its freshness. In ancient times they would move a piece of fermented dough each day to a new batch to help the bread rise, otherwise if left too long it would spoil and rot. Sin unattended will create decay in our life. It will spoil. It will sour our personality and puff us up with pride. If not dealt with properly, eventually it will kill us!
That’s what slavery in Egypt could do to the Israelites, and what slavery to sin can do to us today.
When Jesus at the last supper said, “This is my body, given for you” (John 22:19) it was represented by the unleavened bread, in other words it represented Jesus without sin. So, when we take communion, it is not OK to just use normal leavened bread, because that does not provide the image it is supposed to represent. Leavened bread would contain the rotting yeast, and that cannot represent Jesus. It is supposed to show us an unadulterated provision that removes sin. Even in the Old Testament, if a person brought a grain offering, it was supposed to be without leaven for this reason (Lev. 2:11).
Paul will elaborate on this principle when he writes to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of bread? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:6-8).
Symbols are important, they speak to us. Thus, with the unleavened bread we take during communion. Let us not just do it out of habit but realize the significance of what it communicates!
Cross Point: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). He is the unleavened living bread, without spot or blemish, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.
As Lois Tverberg says in her book Listening to the Language of the Bible, “Understanding ancient bread-making will give us insight.” She provides some detail that goes beyond the simple fact that leaven helps the bread rise and gives it flavor, and this detail provides context to help us see what the imagery was supposed to communicate. Imagery lost on most of us in modern times.
You see, if flour gets moist, after a few days it will acquire a sour taste and bubble as yeasts from the air grow in it. So far, so good. What we don’t often realize is that this is a process of decay. If this fermented dough rises and is baked, the bubbles and acid in it add flavor to the bread, and this is what we normally experience. But, if we don’t bake it, and allow the decaying process to continue, it will rot!
This is the image we must keep in mind when thinking of how bread is used in the Passover, and today for the Christian in the Lord’s Supper. In modern times few of us deal with yeast, we just buy bread at the store. But putting yeast in an airtight container in a cool spot helps maintain its freshness. In ancient times they would move a piece of fermented dough each day to a new batch to help the bread rise, otherwise if left too long it would spoil and rot. Sin unattended will create decay in our life. It will spoil. It will sour our personality and puff us up with pride. If not dealt with properly, eventually it will kill us!
That’s what slavery in Egypt could do to the Israelites, and what slavery to sin can do to us today.
When Jesus at the last supper said, “This is my body, given for you” (John 22:19) it was represented by the unleavened bread, in other words it represented Jesus without sin. So, when we take communion, it is not OK to just use normal leavened bread, because that does not provide the image it is supposed to represent. Leavened bread would contain the rotting yeast, and that cannot represent Jesus. It is supposed to show us an unadulterated provision that removes sin. Even in the Old Testament, if a person brought a grain offering, it was supposed to be without leaven for this reason (Lev. 2:11).
Paul will elaborate on this principle when he writes to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of bread? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Cor. 5:6-8).
Symbols are important, they speak to us. Thus, with the unleavened bread we take during communion. Let us not just do it out of habit but realize the significance of what it communicates!
Cross Point: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” (John 6:51). He is the unleavened living bread, without spot or blemish, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.