Friday, March 12, 2010

Lent 2010, Day 21

These are the feasts of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the LORD’s Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the LORD for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’” Leviticus 23:4-7
We all need reminders. God instituted the feast in the Old Testament to remind His people of their miraculous deliverance from slavery. In preparation for the feast, Jews thoroughly cleaned their houses to get rid of all dirt and leaven (symbols of sin) and the priests slayed perfect lambs to expiate the people's sin.

Because Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover, Christians adopted some of the Jewish customs as they celebrated the most important day for all people on Earth -- Easter. For centuries, Christians have done spring cleaning before Easter. Lent itself began as a period of spiritual spring cleaning to help people get rid of the cobwebs and dust bunnies in their souls to better appreciate their deliverance from the slavery of sin through Christ.

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