There is so much hope and promise associated with spring. As a person ages, winter seems to last longer. Virtually everyone is yearning and pining for the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
Oh to see the first crocus and daffodil shoots emerge from the ground, and hear the first sound of a robin’s chirp and then make a sighting! Oh how lovely are those crocus, daffodil and tulip blossoms! The first glimpse of an expanse of green grass is such a welcome sight even though we know we will soon have to cut it!
Each spring is like a brand new experience. Finally, the death grip of winter is shaken off and the landscape comes back to productive life. We anticipate the Passover, Night To Be Much Observed and Feast of Unleavened Bread in this same way. After the Feast of Tabernacles, the spring festival season seems so far away. Then, somehow the months elapse and the spring feast is nearly upon us. We find ourselves with much preparation to properly keep this very special multi-faceted occasion.
There are premises to clean of leavening and leavened products. There is a need to determine what to do for the Night To Be Much Observed and a need for menu planning, not just for the holy days but for the days in between. There is unleavened bread to buy and/or bake. It is an exciting and instructive time of year although somewhat tiring.
Repeatedly Leviticus 23 instructs us to ‘proclaim’ the festivals in their appointed seasons. And so we do – when we go to church, when we don’t show up for work and school, by what we eat, think and talk about all week. We re-acquire our taste for flat bread or matzos. We see the need and value of living an unleavened life, not just during the week of the spring feast, but all year round.
Even though this season is filled with so much hope and promise, it also has overtones of seriousness and gravity. Nowhere do the scriptures enjoin Christians to observe Christ’s birth, baptism, transfiguration, ascension or resurrection. All of these events are important but are not supposed to be celebrated or commemorated. The only event associated with Christ’s life that we have been specifically instructed to commemorate is His death. 1 Corinthians 11:26 instructs, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.”
There is the awesome promise of new life all around us in the spring of the year in the northern hemisphere. More important is the promise of eternal life in understanding and participating in God’s awesome plan of salvation as rehearsed each year when we keep the festivals commencing with the all-important Passover Service. May this year’s Feast of Unleavened Bread yield many transformative blessings for all of God’s people everywhere.
