Object lessons are the best kind. Not just for children, but for me. Some of my favorites objects from nature that have deep spiritual meaning to me are an iceberg, pearl, roots of a tree and the moon. I confess I have a really simple mind and I am a visual person in general. I learn best from seeing with my own eyes and better yet experiencing it in some tangible way. Don't give me auditory directions on how to get from A to B, draw me a map please! What is true in the natural is often true in the spiritual it seems. Paul even alludes to this truth in 1 Corinthians 15:44 when he compares the natural and spiritual, the natural coming first. I am convinced one of the purposes of creation is to make Yahweh visibly manifest. The heavens and the earth are full of His glory and I can see and understand spiritually from what I see naturally.
Reflecting on Pesach (Passover) and each of His Sabbaths or festivals, I am again grateful for powerful truths driven home in this way. It is the experience of touching, tasting, hearing, seeing and smelling that brings so much of these spiritual truths to life beyond just reading them in a book. Which brings to mind the experience of Pesach and one particular command. Have you ever tried to get the yeast or any leavening agent completely out of your home? Well, this is the second year that I have attempted this and I am amazed at how bad I am at it! Yeast, or leaven, is representative of sin. Yeshua was unleavened and without sin. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread we are to eat unleavened bread and clean our homes of all leaven. As we went through the house this year, I was more careful of checking labels and amazed at the hidden leaven in things....soup base, vitamins, dog food. Yikes. Unreal. It's not just a matter of just tossing the bread into the garage.
Is this legalism? Taking the Word of Elohim and obeying it? No, I say it is entering into the full experience of Pesach with the understanding that Yahweh, because His ways and commands are so much higher than mine are, knows there are deep spiritual truths to be mined when we obey His Word and seek to follow Him in these celebrations. Yahweh says this about this feast in Exodus 12:14, 19 "This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the L-RD; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses." Many try to redefine the word "forever". I consider this a command, not just a suggestion. Until you have experienced something, you often cannot fully understand it. Could that be one of the reasons Adonai commanded us to DO certain things in celebration of these feasts?
Here are just a few brief observations from this year's celebration. Getting rid of the leaven reminds me to look seriously at my own life and the hidden sins that may be lurking within unbeknownst to me. It teaches me to take action, to do something and not just be passive. It beckons me to do some soul searching and praying asking the Ruach to reveal hidden sins, as I am powerless and blind sometimes to my own sin. This tradition also reminds me and makes me more grateful for Yeshua's sacrifice on the tree when He saved me from sin and death, particularly the bondage to sin. It reminds me of how pervasive sin is all around me. A friend said you can even find yeast in the dust in your house! So, really, it is impossible to humanly get this leaven completely out of your home! But the practice of trying makes you remember that it is not humanly possible for any human to be sinless and how desperately we need a Saviour. Only Yeshua's blood makes me righteous before a holy G-d. All my righteousness is like filthy rags! Do I really understand the sacrifice, the bride price that was paid, for me? His love is amazing. Yet, I still am to take sin seriously, and even more so because of what He has done, not as a means to salvation but in a working out of my salvation. The working out of my salvation to me means that I will show forth the fruit of that salvation in my heart attitudes, words and actions as I seek to obey Him in all things.
There is a wonderful tradition in getting out the leaven that involves the Father or Mother of the house lighting a candle (your Word is a light to my path) and searching through the home for leaven (previously hidden for this purpose). The children go around with the parents and search for the leaven. When they find it, the Father takes a white feather (Ruach HaKodesh) and gently sweeps the leaven onto a wooden spoon (tree that Yeshua and all our sin was put on) and wraps it in a white linen cloth (burial shroud) and takes it outside to be burned. So many of these traditions are meant for the children, to teach them spiritual truths and the story of our redemption past and present. They are beautiful, meaningful and powerful object lessons! It is one important way we can teach these things to our children, by keeping these Feasts and Sabbaths.
There was a humorous little "incident" that happened at our Seder this year. Leah at some point said to me, way to calmly, "I think there's a fire in your oven." Oh. Really. As I ran to see, not surprised because I was aware that my double recipe of gratin potatoes had drizzled cream on the bottom of the oven, I opened the oven and yep, sure enough...fire! A few members of my household, who shall remain nameless to protect their privacy, began to freak out at which I was reminded where my baking soda was for putting out these little oven fires....in the garage with the rest of the leaven! The realization of which made me exclaim this truth a bit forcefully with great exuberance! I really don't typically like just watching a fire burn in my oven, I want to DO something to put it out. Lots of smoke, open windows and lots of laughter! It was funny because I happened to have a bit of actual lamb in that oven, and it was traditionally to be roasted over the fire, so we joked about that one. Oh my. I love creating memories in my kitchen and there are plenty to be had! But I digress.....
Each time I celebrate one of His Shabbats (Sabbaths) or Feasts, I am grateful that He teaches me and causes me to remember these spiritual truths that are so essential to my faith, yet ones I can sadly take for granted. Yahweh has promises and blessings for those who keep His commands. Isaiah 56:6-7 is a scripture regarding gentiles grafted in (foreigners), "And the foreigners who join themselves to the L-RD, to minister to him, to love the name of the L-RD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer."
We had a joyful corporate Pesach celebration which was a wonderful taste of this. Blowing of shofars, dancing, flag waving, praising, singing, praying and enjoying fellowship around the Seder table. Thank you Adonai for your appointed times of celebration!
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