When I woke up this morning, the word ‘yeast’ was on my mind. Jews observe the tradition of not using leaven or yeast from the first to the seventh day of Passover, in remembrance of the haste, the night the Israelites left Egypt. Jews used to rely on a sourdough starter or a small amount of old dough placed into the new dough. The fermentation of the old dough would create a rising action in the new dough and work its way through it. Today when I bake buns or bread, I need only a small amount of yeast to make the mound of flour and water double. So what does yeast have to do with a legacy reimaged?
Unleavened bread becomes a tradition only after the exodus of Israelites. It not only symbolizes their haste to leave, but the leaving of the old life of slavery behind. No more old dough. Then there was a season of complaining and a longing to go back to the old path and style of living in Egypt. God introduced Manna, new bread for the Israelites to eat. There was no keeping it for the next day. It would become rotten. The only exception was they could gather extra the day before the Sabbath. Deuteronomy 8:3 makes a declaration that no person can live on bread alone but on words that come from God. Those words will satisfy the hunger that exists in each person. So, what does yeast have to do with a legacy reimaged?
A time to make haste
A time to make new
A time to let go
A time to embrace
A time to absorb
A time to receive
A time to enfold
A time to wait
A time to allow His Word to grow.
Perhaps in leaving our old ways of doing things, our former way of responding to things, our patterns of viewing circumstances with broken lenses, is like the Israelites using unleavened bread to remember that slavery was over. The old life is no longer a valid entity that brought nourishment to people with a new identity. They were a people called out of Egypt into relationship with Yahweh. Just like the people of Israel, when we embrace Jesus’ sacrifice of His broken body for our healing and his blood shed for our forgiveness, we set out on a journey of discovery of who loved us enough to die for us just so we could experience the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As we fellowship with God, we walk in the light. As we feed on His word, it reshapes our ways of thinking. As we put into action what God invites us to do, our future’s impacted.
Mt 13:33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of lour until it worked all through the dough.” Don’t despair if it seems like you have been walking the road of faith for a long time. Transformation is occurring. The rising action of the kingdom of heaven has the power to permeate every facet of your life.
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