Removing the Chametz

Chametz is derived from Hebrew and refers to leavened foods that are forbidden during the Jewish holiday of Passover.  Specifically, chametz refers to leavened bread or products containing it.  The Torah explains in Exodus 12:14-15 what the Israelites were commanded to do:

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14 ‘Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

Now, we are not Jews, we're Christians, but years ago, we began to celebrate the Biblical holidays from a Christian (Messianic) perspective as we realized that all of the Biblical holidays can be rich in revelation as most of the Old Testament points to Jesus, the Messiah.

So, the night before Passover, we perform a ceremony where we remove the leaven from the house, symbolizing removing sin from our midst.  Tricia takes pieces of bread (symbolizing sin) and hides them all over the house. We turn all the lights off and I lead the family by candlelight (symbolizing the Word of God) to find the leaven (sin).

We use a feather (symbolizing the Holy Spirit) to sweep the leavened bread into a wooden spoon (symbolizing the tree of crucifixion) and then put it into a paper bag (symbolizing the grave).  We then take the paper bag full of bread and burn it.  This represents the fact that due to the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, our sins have been paid for and are remembered no more.

Sweeping the bread into the wooden spoon with a feather

We then put the bread into the paper bag with the wooden spoon.

Putting the bread into the paper bag

We go all throughout the house repeating the process until we've rid the entire house of leaven.

Found another one!

Then we take the bag of bread outside and burn it in our fire pit.

Burning the bag of leavened bread

We watch as the bread, symbolizing sin, is burned up and dealt with.

Leaven is removed and destroyed

Pretty soon there is nothing left but ashes.

Sins are dealt with - never to be remembered.

On the very next night, we celebrate the Passover from a Messianic perspective.  You can click here: The Passover to learn about how it's done and the meaning of this rich celebration.

Next Year in Jerusalem!