Changi Chapel

Passover is one of three pilgrimage festivals during which all the men of Israel were to come up to Jerusalem. Celebrated on the days 14-21 of the Hebrew month of Nisan  (this year, April 18-26), Passover is an eight-day holiday.

It begins with a special meal called the “seder” (meaning order) on the eve of the first day of Passover. The meal often takes four to six hours. During the seder, the story of God delivering the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt (Exodus 7-14) is told in detail with song, symbolic foods, and liturgy.

The Scripture says that during this holiday no leaven is to be eaten. For eight days, no bread is eaten or anything else with a leavening agent in it. In the days leading up to Passover, the nation has spring cleaning on a scale most of us have never heard of. Every crumb of leaven must be found and removed from the home.

For example, every item of clothing is taken out of the closets, pockets turned inside out, and everything washed. Pots and pans are taken to communal centers where they are boiled in large vats to ensure no leaven remains. On the last day before Passover begins, the last vestiges of bread or other leavened products are gathered up and ceremoniously burned.

This holiday is rich in significance for both Christians and Jews. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul tells us that leaven is symbolic of sin. Oh, that we were as diligent about removing sin from our lives as the Jewish people are about removing every crumb of leaven from their homes!

Our celebration of Resurrection Day (Easter) commemorates the resurrection of Jesus, which happened during Passover.

This Passover* are we willing to remove every leaven of sin from our life?

*Pesach in Hebrew