Matsot (2)
Fleeing all that alienated us from God,
in order to receive His new Life
André H. Roosma
19 April 2014
In the previous article
on matsot we saw that they were unleavened breads, originally
looking much like tortillas, roti, wraps, etc. An essential aspect
of them was that the usual sourdough starter (a small
lump of yesterday’s dough, full of lactic and acetic acid bacteria
and yeasts) was left out. As a result, the dough did not rise and
the compact and very nourishing matsot could be prepared really fast.
The sourdough starter symbolized the decay and iniquity of Egypt.
The rising of the bread was a symbol of Egypt’s haughtiness.
Leaving behind the decay, iniquity and haughtiness of Egypt was a most
essential aspect of the Festival of Matsot, symbolized by putting
away all the old sourdough. In the articles on Pesach, we looked mainly at God’s part of the matter: how He
redeemed the Israelites from Egypt. In the teaching on the matsot, we
see the human part of the deal. After all: how can we rejoice in and embrace
the new Life God gives, when we do not want to leave the old behind?
We encounter this aspect also in what the apostle Paul wrote to the Church
in Corinth, where several people did not take the new Life with God very
serious:
6 Your boasting is not
good. You know that a little sourdough makes the whole batch of dough
ferment, don’t you?
7 Get rid of the old sourdough so that you may be
a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from fermentation.
For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed.
8 So let us keep celebrating the festival,
neither with old sourdough nor with sourdough that is evil and wicked,
but with unfermented bread that is both sincere and true.
9 I wrote to you in my letter to stop
associating with people who are sexually immoral;
10 not at all meaning the people of this world
who are immoral, greedy, robbers, or idol worshippers.
In that case you would have to leave this world.
11 But now I am writing to you to stop
associating with any so-called brother if he is sexually immoral, greedy,
an idol worshipper, a slanderer, a drunk, or a robber.
You must even stop eating with someone like that.
1 Corinthians 5: 6-11
In our days, in which ‘all must be possible’, from pre-marital
sex to homosexual ‘intercourse’, dirty flirting, etc., even
in church, and where greed flourishes in business, this message is quite
confronting!
Similarly, Jesus (Yeshu‘ah) warned His followers for the sourdough starter or
leaven of religious ‘moral policemen’ – many of the
religious Jewish leaders of His time, as they, too, spoiled the child-like
dependent Life God intended for us to live with Him:
6 And Jesus said unto
them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees. Mattit-yahu (Matthew) 16: 6
In Luke 12: 1, Jesus explains that this leaven, this sourdough, this
decay of the Pharisees was their hypocrisy. Their walk was not the same
as their talk, and their heart was still somewhere else. With an air of
spirituality, they were still chasing their own selfish objectives with an
unequalled haughtiness. Their hearts were not yielded to God. As James
later affirmed (3:17), the wisdom that comes
from God is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, willing to yield,
full of compassion and good deeds, and without even a trace of
partiality or hypocrisy.
What I said above, lines up very well with the New Testament teaching
of the cross and the resurrection. These two facts also talk about
dying with Christ to our old life that left God at a distance, leaving it
behind for good, in order to arise with Him into a new life, lived in close
communion with and subjection to Him and to the guidance of His Holy Spirit
(see e.g. Romans 5–8).
Remarkable is how Jesus (Yeshu‘ah) re-symbolized the matsot and the
wine of the Pesach supper. He compared the pure and simple,
unfermented dough of the matsot to Himself, and the breaking and
sharing of them to how He shared His life by giving His own in our place
and by rising from the death such that we might rise to a new Life with Him
as well. When we see we need Him, we must also acknowledge our need to
leave behind all that alienated us from Him and His ways. His blood was
shed for our sin, in order that we might find forgiveness and restoration
into Life. Dying with Him to our self-chosen life, we can truly receive
the unfathomable gift of His abundant Life (cf. Ephesians 1–3).
This makes it even more relevant what the apostle Paul said above in
verse 8 about celebrating the festival, namely the Festival of Matsot
& Pesach; of Good Friday and Jesus’ resurrection
after three days; of dying to the old and embracing God’s grace-full
gift of New Life with Him, by truly embracing Jesus and all that He did:
8 So let us keep
celebrating the festival, neither with old sourdough nor with sourdough
that is evil and wicked, but with unfermented bread that is both sincere
and true.
Hallelu YaH !
Note
We see here that the First Testament gave us a
wonderful sketch or preview on what the New Testament offers us in Jesus.
Completely as Paul notes in his letter to the Church in Colossae:
16 Let nobody judge you in matters of food and drink or with respect
to a festival, a new moon, or Sabbath days. 17 These are a sketch [or: foreshadowing] of
the things to come, but the reality [or: the
substance, the body] belongs to the Messiah. Colossians 2: 16-17 (most literal translation)
On Pesach God offered to Israel an opening to
new life as His people and His priests towards to other peoples. That looked
ahead to the
opening in the veil that was torn in two when Jesus’ body was
broken at the cross, opening the way for us to new Life as His children,
in daily fellowship with God. The other side of that was putting away the
old sourdough, the old comfort and at the same time the iniquity and the
estrangement and alienation towards God, with respect to which we may
willingly die with Christ, such that we can also truly and fully receive
that new Life with Him. All praise be to Him Who set us free and Who
conquered death and all corruption: Yeshu‘ah, God’s precious Son, Who came down in human form to
redeem us and restore us into full and vibrant fellowship with Him!
Please use the reactions page.
Previous article: ‘Matsot
– Fast, nourishing food for a long journey on foot’.
See also the series on Pesach: (1) God separates His own,
has them escape death, and pulls them away from Egypt, (2) God opens the way
to life, (3)
Yeshu‘ah fulfills
Pesach.
|
