Day 34: “The Leaven of Malice and Wickedness”

DAY 34

Faith in the Midst of a Pandemic

A series of daily reflections for people of faith

by Rev. Robert Bayley, Interim Pastor

Patuxent Presbyterian Church, California, Maryland

WEEK FIVE: FRIDAY 17 APRIL 2020

“The Leaven of Malice and Wickedness”

Almighty Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give us grace so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

- Prayer for Friday in Easter Week, The Book of Common Prayer

Malice and wickedness – strong words reflective of strong internal dynamics the potential for which resides in every human heart. Paul writes to the new believers at Corinth: “Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.” 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.

So there we have it – the Last Supper at Passover, Jesus the Passover Lamb, the unleavened bread of Passover, and yeast – a subtle insidious invisible ingredient that affects all that it touches. Yeast or leaven is symbolic of sin in the Bible, unobservable to the naked eye, but working within just the same, leaving no part of who we are untouched.

Jesus warns against the leaven or yeast of the Pharisees which was hypocrisy. And what is a hypocrite?  Someone who pretends to be something they have no intention of becoming.

During this pandemic, there is a heightened potential for the hidden ‘yeast’ of pretending but not really believing to come to the fore. All the ‘church externals’ are removed, and we are left alone with Jesus. What does He see in us? Who does He show us we really are? And who are we without the religious props?

Reflective question: Is there any leaven of sin hidden within your heart? Ask the Lord to show you.

Reflective scripture: Psalm 139:23-24

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Reflective hymn: “Search Me, O God” – J. Edwin Orr (1912-1987)

Search me, O God, and know my heart today;

Try me O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray.

See if there be some wicked way in me

Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.