Title: Eat the Bread of Suffering
Contents
Eat the Bread of Suffering (Deuteronomy 16:1-8)
For seven days you shall eat with it unleaved bread, that is, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt hastilly, so that you will always remember the day you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life (Deuteronomy 16:3).
During the holidays, we eat delicious food. But God told the Israelites to eat tasteless bread on the feast day. For the people of Israel, the Passover is the day when their ancestors were set free from slavery in Egypt. Passover is the Feast of Liberation. And the name of the month was called Abib, which means a new month. They made the day they were liberated as New Year's Day. Since it is Liberation Day and Lunar New Year, it is common sense to enjoy the day while eating soft and delicious rice cakes. But on that day, they are told to eat unleaved bread. Unleaved bread is bread that does not contain any leavening agent. If no leavening agent is added, the bread will be hard and difficult to digest. Therefore, the name of this bread was called ‘Bread of Suffering’.
Why was he told to eat the rice cake of suffering for a week, not even one day on New Year's Day? The reason is that it is a good bread to remember. Although there is no taste in the mouth and digestion is slow in the stomach, the rice cake of hardship has an excellent effect on remembering something. Pain improves memory in a person. Painful memories never fade away.
What do you mean to remember? Remember when their ancestors were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years. It is to remember that God saved them by being gracious to them while they were slaves.
Although we do not keep the Passover, God has also given us the bread of suffering. All the suffering, pain, and tears we are experiencing now are the bread of suffering that God has given me. God, who told the Israelites to eat the bread of suffering, gives us pain and suffering, and tells us to eat it as it is the bread of suffering.
When suffering and adversity come, do not complain, do not complain, but eat the bread of suffering that the Lord has given you with thanksgiving. And through that suffering, we too have something to remember. It is to remember the suffering of Jesus, who came to set us free from our sins, suffered indescribable suffering and died on the cross. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover. Jesus is the Passover Lamb who set us free from our sins.
The cross detoxifies the poison of all suffering. When the pain is too strong, people despair and become frustrated. But even in the midst of suffering, if we remember the risen Jesus after overcoming the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, we can overcome.