Main Theme

Rescue and repentance.

Today’s Truth

Jesus is the Lamb who rescues us, and His grace teaches us what cannot come with us.

Scripture Reading

This week’s Scripture reading comes from Exodus 12:1 to 14, Exodus 13:3 to 10, Leviticus 23:4 to 8, Luke 22:14 to 20, and 1 Corinthians 5:6 to 8.

Supporting Scripture

We will also look at John 1:29, John 6:35, 1 Peter 1:18 to 19, 1 Corinthians 10:13, James 4:7, and Acts 3:19.

Intro

Before we jump into Passover, I want to zoom out for just a minute. If you’ve never studied the Feasts of the Lord, they can sound intimidating. Maybe you’ve wondered, Why should Christians care about Jewish feasts? Aren’t those just Old Testament laws? That’s exactly what I used to think. But then I started reading Leviticus with fresh eyes, and I realized these weren’t random holidays God gave Israel to keep them busy. They were appointments. In fact, in Leviticus 23, God says:

“The Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the Israelites and tell them: These are my appointed times, the times of the Lord that you will proclaim as sacred assemblies.’” (Leviticus 23:1,2)

I love that phrase, appointed times. These weren’t Israel’s feasts. They were the Lord’s.

Every year, God’s people would stop what they were doing and rehearse the story of redemption. They didn’t know it yet, but every feast was preparing them to recognize Jesus when He came. That’s why we’re studying them.

Not because we’re trying to become more Jewish. Not because we’re putting ourselves back under the Law. We’re studying them because they reveal the heart of God and they help us see Jesus more clearly.

Today we’re looking at the very first feast, Passover, followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And once you see how these two fit together, I don’t think you’ll ever read the cross the same way again.

Passover: The Blood That Saves

Passover begins in Exodus 12, when God’s people were still in Egypt. They had been enslaved for generations. They were weary, oppressed, burdened, and crying out for deliverance. They knew what it was to live under the weight of bondage. They knew what it was to wake up under the rule of a kingdom that was never meant to be their home.

And God heard them.

That sentence alone is worth sitting with. God heard the cries of His people. He saw their suffering. He remembered His covenant. He came near to deliver.

Through Moses, God told Pharaoh to let His people go. But Pharaoh’s heart was hard, and plague after plague came upon Egypt. Then came the final plague, the death of the firstborn. But God made a way of mercy for His people. Each household was to take a lamb without defect. The lamb would be sacrificed, and its blood would be placed on the doorframes of the home. When judgment came through Egypt, the homes covered by the blood of the lamb would be passed over.

That is where we get the word Passover.

It was rescue by the blood of a lamb.

They were saved because God made a way, and the way was blood.

That may sound heavy to our modern ears, but Scripture never treats sin lightly. Sin brings death. Judgment is real. Slavery is real. The need for rescue is real. Passover tells us that God does not ignore sin, and He does not abandon His people in bondage.

He provides the lamb.

That is why John 1:29 matters so much. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the spotless One, the sinless One, the sacrificed One. He is the One whose blood covers us, the One who stands between us and judgment, and the One who brings us out of slavery and into belonging.

Passover was not just about getting Israel out of Egypt. It was pointing forward to the greater rescue Jesus would accomplish at the cross.

And this matters for us because every woman sitting at this table knows what it feels like to need rescue. Maybe our bondage does not look like Egypt, brickmaking, Pharaoh, or chains. But we know what it is to feel stuck. We know what it is to feel ruled by fear, anxiety, control, bitterness, approval, shame, striving, or old patterns that seem to follow us no matter how badly we want to be free.

Passover reminds us that rescue begins with God.

Before Israel walked out of Egypt, God made a way. Before they had a wilderness plan, God provided the lamb. Before they ever knew how to live as free people, God covered them by the blood.

That is the beginning of the Christian life too.

We do not rescue ourselves. We are rescued by Christ.

Unleavened Bread: The Life That Follows

Right after Passover came the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Leviticus 23:6 to 8 tells us that for seven days, God’s people were commanded to eat bread without leaven.

At first, that can sound like a strange detail. Why bread? Why no leaven? Why would God care so much about what was rising in their kitchens?

And this is where my sourdough-loving friends may appreciate the picture.

I recently learned that a sourdough starter can live for a really long time. Not just a few weeks. Not just a few months. Generations. In one of the episodes from The Deep Well with Erin Davis, she mentioned a sourdough starter that dated back to the 1800s, and I could not stop thinking about that.

A little living culture, fed and preserved, working its way through batch after batch.

I do not even like sourdough. But my daughter does, and she has been experimenting with making her first starter. So suddenly, I have been watching the process up close. You feed it. You wait. You watch it bubble. You tend it. And over time, that small amount of starter has the ability to work through the whole batch.

That is where the Feast of Unleavened Bread becomes so vivid.

When Israel left Egypt, they had to leave quickly. There was no time to wait for dough to rise. Exodus 12 tells us they took their dough before yeast was added because they were being driven out of Egypt and could not delay. Unleavened bread became part of the story because their rescue was urgent. They were leaving bondage, and they were not supposed to settle back in.

God was moving His people out of slavery and into covenant life with Him.

Over time, leaven also became a picture in Scripture. A little leaven spreads. It does not need much to work through the whole batch. That is why Paul uses this picture in 1 Corinthians 5:6 to 8 and connects it directly to Jesus, our Passover Lamb.

That means Passover and Unleavened Bread belong together. Christ has been sacrificed. Now clean out the old leaven. The blood saves us, and grace begins teaching us how to live free.

God did not bring Israel out of Egypt so they could carry Egypt with them forever. He brought them out so they could belong to Him. And Jesus does not save us so we can keep feeding the old leaven. He saves us, covers us, cleanses us, and teaches us how to walk in sincerity and truth.

Grace does not only lead us out.

Grace teaches us what cannot come with us.

Jesus, the Lamb and the Bread

There is another layer here that is so beautiful. During Passover and Unleavened Bread, the bread itself carried meaning. UnleaveneFd bread was bread without leaven. Bread without the symbol of corruption. Bread that pointed to purity.

And when Jesus sat with His disciples at the Last Supper, He took bread and said, “This is My body.” He was holding unleavened bread. Bread without leaven. Bread that pointed to sinlessness. Bread that would be broken. And suddenly the symbol became personal.

Jesus is the sinless One. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Jesus is the Lamb who was sacrificed. Jesus is the One whose body was broken for us. The feast was never random. It was rehearsing redemption before the people fully understood what redemption would cost.

And now, on this side of the cross, we get to look back and see what God was showing all along. The Lamb would be slain. The blood would cover. The bread would be broken. The people would be rescued. And the rescued people would be called to walk differently.

That is where this moves from history into discipleship.

Passover and Unleavened Bread together remind us that the blood comes first and the cleaning comes after. We do not remove leaven to earn rescue. We remove it because rescue has already come. We do not repent so God will love us. We repent because in Christ, we already are loved, covered, forgiven, and called into freedom.

That order matters. If we get it backward, repentance becomes fear, striving, and shame. But when we see it in the order Scripture gives us, repentance becomes a response to grace.

The Lamb has been sacrificed.

Now we are invited to stop feeding what once held us captive.

The Leaven We Normalize

This is where the feast gets personal. We can talk about leaven in ancient Israel and keep it at a safe distance. We can underline the verses. We can admire the connections. We can say, “Wow, that is beautiful,” and mean it. But then the Holy Spirit brings the teaching right into our kitchen.

Most of the time, the leaven in our lives does not look horrible at first. It looks like a sharp tone when everyone is moving too slowly. It looks like a critical thought we keep rehearsing until it becomes the way we see a person. It looks like bitterness we keep feeding because, honestly, it feels justified. It looks like sarcasm we excuse because we are tired. It looks like control we rename as responsibility. It looks like fear we call wisdom. It looks like gossip we call processing. It looks like resentment we tuck away because we do not have time to deal with one more thing.

At first, it feels small. Normal. Understandable.

But a little leaven spreads. One sharp answer can become a pattern. One critical thought can become a lens. One hidden resentment can become the atmosphere of a room. One small compromise can become something we protect instead of confess.

That is how leaven works. Gradually. Quietly. Until it has touched more than we thought it would.

And this is where the Feast of Unleavened Bread becomes such a mercy. God is kind enough to show us what we have allowed to remain. He is kind enough to put His finger on what is spreading. He is kind enough to say, “Daughter, that cannot come with you.”

Because He is holy, and because He is freeing us.

This is such a needed word for us as women because so much of what shapes a home does not look obvious. It begins slowly and quietly. A tone. A thought. A habit. A secret scroll. A comparison. A schedule with no room for stillness. A friendship that keeps stirring discontent. A pattern of venting that never turns into prayer. A constant need to manage everyone and everything because we are afraid of what might happen if we let go.

Before long, the thing we thought was small begins to rise. It rises in our words, our parenting, our marriage, our bodies, the way we walk into the room, the way our children experience us, and the way we see God.

That is why grace tells the truth.

Not to crush us.

To free us.

Repentance Is Freedom

The removing of leaven was physical, but the invitation was spiritual. God was teaching His people to pay attention to what had been allowed to remain.

And that is such a word for us.

A little sin, left fed and familiar, can shape a home, a marriage, motherhood, friendship, ministry, and the way we see God, ourselves, and the people around us. But repentance interrupts what leaven wants to keep spreading.

Sometimes repentance looks like apologizing without defending yourself. Sometimes it looks like going back to your child and saying, “The way I spoke to you was wrong.” Sometimes it looks like changing the conversation when gossip starts feeling like connection. Sometimes it looks like admitting that what you called being prepared has really become control. Sometimes it looks like asking the Lord to soften a place in your heart that has grown hard from disappointment.

Repentance is the moment we stop feeding what Christ died to free us from. It is coming into agreement with God about what is true and trusting that His way leads to life.

And then, with grace, we clean house.

We do not clean out the old leaven to earn the blood. The blood has already been given. We do not repent to become loved. We already are. We clean out the old leaven because Christ our Passover has been sacrificed, and the life He gives is too holy, too free, and too beautiful to keep filling it with what once held us captive.

This is not about perfection. This is about freedom.

For Real Life

Scripture does not tell us to manage sin gently or decorate it with better language. First Corinthians 10:13 reminds us that God provides a way of escape in temptation. James 4:7 tells us to submit to God and resist the devil. Acts 3:19 connects repentance with refreshing from the presence of the Lord.

That means we are not powerless when temptation rises. God is faithful, and in His faithfulness, He provides a way out. Sometimes obedience looks like leaving the room, closing the app, ending the conversation, putting the phone down, changing the rhythm, removing access to what keeps feeding the old pattern, or telling the truth before sin has more time to spread.

And for us, this matters in the most ordinary places. It matters at the kitchen counter. It matters in the car line. It matters when everyone needs something at the same time. It matters when you are overstimulated and under-prayed. It matters when the group text is getting messy. It matters when your child’s attitude pulls on your last nerve. It matters when your husband asks one more question and you want to answer with a tone sharp enough to cut glass. It matters when your calendar is full but your soul is empty.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminds us that God cares about what is rising in the house. He cares about what is spreading in our hearts. He cares about what we keep feeding.

And He is kind enough to call us out of it.

So maybe this week, the invitation is simple. Ask the Lord what leaven you have been allowing to remain. Maybe it is in your words, your thought life, what you watch, what you read, what you scroll, or what you keep returning to when you are tired. Maybe it is in the schedule you keep, the resentment you rehearse, the control you keep calling responsibility, or the fear you have allowed to lead the room.

Whatever it is, bring it into the light.

The blood of Jesus is enough to cover you, and the grace of Jesus is kind enough to change you.

He did not lead you out so you could keep living chained to what held you captive.

He leads us out.

Then, in His kindness, He teaches us what cannot come with us.

Reflection Questions

When you hear the word rescue, what comes to mind from the Passover story?

Why do you think it matters that Unleavened Bread comes right after Passover?

Where do you see a little leaven spreading most easily in everyday life?

What is the difference between shame and repentance?

What might the Lord be asking you to stop feeding in this season?

Prayer Prompt

Lord, thank You for being the God who rescues. Thank You for Jesus, our Passover Lamb, whose blood covers us and brings us out of slavery. Search our hearts this week. Show us what we have allowed to remain. Show us what we have renamed, protected, justified, or fed. Give us courage to repent without shame, to resist what spreads death, and to walk in the freedom Christ died to give us. Teach us to leave Egypt without carrying Egypt with us. Amen.

This Week’s Grace Practice

This week, do a simple Leaven Check. Ask the Lord to show you one area where something small may be spreading more than you realized. Look at your words, media, schedule, thought life, and home atmosphere. Then choose one act of repentance.

Apologize if you need to apologize. Remove what needs to be removed. Change the rhythm. Confess it to the Lord. Ask for help. Take the way of escape.

Grace does not shame you into hiding. Grace invites you into freedom.