Bad Bread

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 5:8 – “Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (NRSVue)

We are on the other side of Easter. We have commemorated the resurrection of our Lord and celebrated the coming of spring. This also comes with breaking our Lenten fasts. For me, this meant enjoying some Easter candy. In fact, I may have indulged a bit too much on licorice jellybeans.

In the time of Jesus, however, Easter was not yet a ritualized holiday and Lent was not a time to fast from meat or jellybeans. Rather, the earliest Christians still celebrated the week-long festival of Passover. Part of Passover is to get rid of all the yeast in the house. This is in memory of the Hebrews who fled Egypt without having the time to let their dough rise. And this is why Jews eat cracker-like matzoh during Passover. But once Passover is over, they can return to making their bread with yeast. Their fast is over.

But when it comes time to use yeast again, you have to make sure it is new, living yeast. I remember that when my wife was pregnant, she needed to avoid iodized salt, so we had to make our own bread. This was an experiment, since, despite our having the name Baker, neither of us knew what we were doing. And some of those loaves came out bad. One thing I remember was the bread being really dense. It also tasted like yeast, which to my palate was extremely unappetizing. It turns out that this is what happens if you use old or dead yeast. You get bad tasting bread.

In the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses the metaphor of yeast to describe how Christians should like after “Passover” is over, that is after Jesus’ resurrection. To him, this meant that they could not return to their old ways, like boasting about their faith. They had to try new things and become new people. Paul says that the old yeast represented the ways of malice and evil, but they could become like pure matzoh and live lives of sincerity and truth.

Now that Lent is behind us, are we going back to the old ways? Are we eating too many jellybeans? Are we going back to boasting about how righteous we are or treating others with malice. Are we going to become dense and flavorless bread? Too many Christians see their faith in a risen Savior to allow them to do these things. But Jesus did not rise so that we could just go back to the way things were. Jesus inspires us to be sincere and truthful in all we do.

As you look back on your Lenten journey and your walk through Easter, think about how you have changed. Think about what you learned and how you can apply it to your life now. Try a new and true way of living, and your life will rise to new and tastier heights.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, guide me to show your truth in love through my faith. Amen.