The Passover Feast was a busy time in Jerusalem during the 1st Century. Josephus in his histories estimated that more than 250,000 lambs were slain in the Temple on Passover to provide lambs for more than 1 million people each year. Have you ever wondered where all these lambs came from? You’re correct, Bethlehem. The shepherds that watched and raised these flocks outside of Bethlehem were also trained in identifying perfect lambs for sacrifice and swaddling them at birth. It is no coincidence our Passover Lamb was born in Bethlehem.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
In addition to Passover, the Jewish people were commanded by God in Exodus 12 to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast begins on 15 Nisan (after sundown 14 Nisan) and lasts for seven days. During this time only unleavened bread is to be eaten. This feast remembers God’s command to the Hebrew people to bake and take only unleavened bread in their hasty journey from Egypt. In addition, the first and last day of this feast are commanded to be holy assemblies, like a weekly Sabbath, when work is not permitted and are preceded by a Day of Preparation. During the Day of Preparation all the cooking, cleaning, and other work needed to run a household for a day without working must be completed before sundown that starts the Sabbath.
To keep the month of Nisan in the springtime the Jewish lunisolar calendar adjusts every few years by adding an extra month and sometimes adding extra days to a month. This causes 15 Nisan to fall on any given day of the week, not just on the sixth day, the weekly Sabbath. In the week Jesus was crucified, there were two Days of Preparation and two Sabbaths, one of each for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and one of each for the weekly Sabbath. Identifying each avoids what can seem to be contradictions in accounts between the Gospel writers.
Jesus Cleanses the Temple
In preparation for the Feast of Unleavened Bread all Jewish households are cleansed of leaven. Leaven, though allowed in Jewish households at other times of the year, is equated with uncleanness so for the feast they eat only unleavened bread. To ensure all leaven is eradicated the whole household is deep cleaned and the leaven is destroyed. Over the centuries Rabbinical Judaism has created many loopholes to protect their leaven for future use. One method involves selling your leaven to a goyim (gentile) and then buying it back after the feast is completed since it is “officially” not theirs during the feast. As much as this may make us chuckle, it really is sobering to think about how we often make deals with God appearing to comply with the letter of the law while ignoring the spirit of His law (See Matthew 5:17-48).
On first day of the week, 11 Nisan, Jesus leaves Bethany and approaches Jerusalem. Read John 12:12-19. This is His triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the King of Israel. After His triumphal entry Jesus cleanses the Temple, “driving out those who were buying and selling there. He also overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.” This symbolic cleansing removed the “leaven” from His Father’s house preparing all Israel for the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
What to do with our leaven?
In some placesthe Bible equates “leaven” with sin and unrighteousness. Paul does this in 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
As believers removing “leaven” (sin) from our life should be a daily event. Though we may do this regularly, “leaven” still seems to find its way into our corners and cupboards. What “leaven” has accumulated in your life over the past year? Now is a great time to do a deep cleaning by prayerfully asking the Lord to show all your “leaven” to you. Don’t be tempted to play games with your “leaven” as demonstrated in the example above. Once you see “leaven”, remove it, confess it to Him and be cleansed of your unrighteousness.
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
1 John 1:19