“Get Rid Of The Old Yeast Of Malice And Wickedness!”

“Get Rid Of The Old Yeast Of Malice And Wickedness!”(I Cor.5:7-8).
In commemorating the Exodus, the Israelites were to eat bread without yeast for seven days. The seventh day was the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread(bread without yeast). On the day before the 14th day of the first month each house had to be swept thoroughly to ensure that there was no particle of yeast anywhere in the house. From the evening of the 14th until the evening of the 21st day no yeast was to be found in any of their houses. “And whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel…”(Ex.12:17-20).
The celebration of the Passover Feast continued with the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Bread with yeast during this festive period came to be a symbol of sinful contamination.
Paul compares the believer’s life after the Feast of the Passover to be a life of Unleavened Bread. And he commands, “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.”
Both malice and wickedness are umbrella words for multitudes of vices/sins. While malice “is the desire to harm someone,” wickedness is “the quality of being evil or morally wrong.”
The death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ rejuvenates us as we have become “new creations” in Christ. Malice and wickedness should not cross our thoughts. Can we therefore each make a conscious decision to move away from malice and wickedness!
Prayer: Holy Spirit help us to live rejuvenated lives, free from malice and wickedness; now that Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.