30 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malabar Rite · Latin Rite · മലയാളം
“For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.” 1 Corinthians 5:7
Three days ago the Church kept Pesaha; today St Paul tells us what Pesaha now means. “For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Paul is writing to Corinth about a scandal the community had tolerated, and he uses the image every Jewish family knew: before Passover the house is searched and every bit of leaven is cleared out, because “a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.” The Passover lamb was sacrificed so that Israel might pass from slavery to freedom; Christ, the true Lamb, was sacrificed on the Cross so that we might pass from death to life. St John Chrysostom, commenting on these verses, said that for the Christian the whole of life is a festival, because the Lamb has been offered for us (in substance). We keep that festival above all at the altar, where the Lamb who was sacrificed and is now risen gives himself to us, truly present, Body and Blood, soul and divinity. Many St Thomas Christian homes ate unleavened Pesaha bread last Thursday; Paul asks us to become unleavened bread ourselves, people of sincerity and truth.
The Gospel continues the Easter light. “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.” On Good Friday the light of the world was hidden in the tomb; on Qyomtho it was set on the lampstand for all to see. No stone could keep it under the bed. Now the risen Lord puts his light in us, and he does not want it hidden by fear or by shame. Then Jesus adds a warning that is also a promise: “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.” Easter faith grows when it is given away. The one who shares the joy of the Resurrection receives more of it; the one who keeps it under the bed may find even what he has slipping away.
Hevoro week is a good time to clear out old yeast. Paul names it: malice and evil. In a family it may be an old resentment, a habit of sarcasm, a lie that has never been put right. Easter is the moment to throw it out, as a household clears the leaven before the feast. Practically: go to the Holy Qurbono today if you can, and receive the Lamb with a clean heart; this evening, let each person at home say one thing he or she is sorry for and one thing he or she is thankful for; and then set your Easter light on the lampstand by one visible act of goodness tomorrow, at work, in school or in the neighbourhood. Keep greeting one another with the Easter greeting all this week.
Theme: “For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.”
On Tuesday of Hevoro week: the Lamb we receive, the old yeast we clear out, and the lamp we set on the lampstand.
“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” Exodus 12:13
“Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
Apply: At your next Holy Qurbono, say silently before Communion: my paschal Lamb, I thank you.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10
“and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:24
Apply: Give up one resentment this week as your Easter offering.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Psalm 119:105
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
Apply: Do one visible act of goodness tomorrow for the glory of the risen Lord.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed and is risen; the whole Christian life is his festival.
Clear out the old yeast, and let the Easter light shine.
Take-home resolution: Keep the Easter festival this week with clean hearts at the altar and visible goodness in the world.
Dear friends, Christ is risen! Today St Paul says: for our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival (1 Corinthians 5:7–8). Easter is the true Pesaha. The Lamb was sacrificed on the Cross, and he is alive.
Before Passover, Jewish families clear every bit of leaven from the house. Paul says: clean out the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil. A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough (1 Corinthians 5:6). One unforgiven hurt can sour a whole family.
Jesus asks: is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed? (Mark 4:21). The tomb could not hide the Light. Now he has lit his light in us. We are not to hide it out of fear or shame.
And the measure you give will be the measure you get (Mark 4:24). Easter joy grows when it is shared. Let us receive the Lamb at the Holy Qurbono with clean hearts, give up one resentment, and let our light shine. Amen.
Children, Christ is risen! Jesus said: nobody lights a lamp and puts it under the bed. A lamp is for shining! Jesus has put his light in your heart. You can let it shine today by being kind to someone, by telling the truth, and by saying with a big smile: Christ is risen!
Lord Jesus Christ, our paschal Lamb, you were sacrificed for us and you are risen. Clear out of our hearts the old yeast of malice and evil, and make us unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. You give yourself to us at your altar; make our whole life a festival of thanksgiving. Let the light you have kindled in us shine on the lampstand, so that others may see it and come to you. Amen.
Paul gives the Church her Easter vocabulary: “our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed”, so “let us celebrate the festival”, and he says that this feast must be kept in daily life. The Gospel, from Mark, speaks of a lamp that is meant for the lampstand and of hidden things that are to come to light. Both fit this white week: what was done in the dark of the tomb is now to shine, and a clean life is the way it shines.
Setting.
Paul is dealing with a scandal at Corinth. A man is living with his father's wife, and Paul finds the community “arrogant” about it (5:1–2). Paul has told them to put him out, with the hope that “his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (5:5). Now he turns to the community, and he reaches for the Passover.
Every Jewish household knew this image and many still keep the custom: before the feast the house is cleared of leaven (Exodus 12:15). Paul is writing from Ephesus and plans to stay until Pentecost (16:8), so some scholars think that Passover was near, or at least on his mind.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened.” (5:7)
Paul uses the same pattern as Romans 6: become what you already are. The grace comes first, and then the command.
“For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed.” (5:7)
One of the earliest written statements that Christ's death is a Passover. It is given in passing, as something that the Corinthians already know. The Lord's death is treated as a sacrifice that sets people at liberty, just as the blood of the lamb marked the night of Israel's going out.
“Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (5:8)
Eilikrineia, “sincerity”, is the quality of something pure and unmixed. The feast is kept not only at the altar but also in honest dealing.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council quotes this verse: as often as the sacrifice of the Cross, by which “Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed”, is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out (Lumen Gentium 3; CCC 1364). St John Chrysostom, preaching on this passage, says that for Christians the whole of time is a festival because of the good things given to them, and that for this reason it must be kept in purity (in substance). So Pesaha is not over: each Holy Qurbono is the feast that Paul invites us to keep.
Setting.
Jesus is teaching from a boat beside the sea (4:1). He has told the parable of the sower and explained it to those around him (4:1–20). These sayings follow, and several of them also appear in other settings in Matthew and Luke (Matthew 5:15; 7:2; Luke 11:33), so it seems that Mark has gathered them here to go with the theme of hearing.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand?” (4:21)
The question is put in a way that expects the answer: no one would do such a thing. The answer is obvious, and that is the point.
“For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.” (4:22)
In Mark, Jesus often asks for silence about who he is, and he gives the reason in 9:9: until “after the Son of Man had risen from the dead”. So in Easter week this saying finds its time. The secret is out, and it is to be told.
“Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.” (4:24)
Matthew 7:2 uses this saying of judging others. Here Mark applies it to listening. Attention given to the word comes back with interest. God is not a strict accountant: “still more will be given”.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that Jesus' invitation to enter his Kingdom comes in the form of parables, and that one must do more than hear them, one must enter the mystery they speak of (CCC 546). The Second Vatican Council begins its teaching on the Church by saying that Christ is the light of the nations (Lumen Gentium 1), and the Catechism adds the Fathers' favourite image: the Church is like the moon, all its light reflected from the sun (CCC 748). The Church is the lampstand, not the lamp.
Paul speaks of unleavened bread. Why do we use leavened bread at the Holy Qurbono?
Paul's image here is about moral life. He is not giving a rule about bread for the altar. The Churches of the East and West have kept different customs: the Latin Church uses unleavened bread, while the Antiochene Syriac tradition has kept leavened bread. The Council of Florence said that the Body of Christ is truly confected in wheat bread, whether leavened or unleavened, and that priests should follow the custom of their own Church (Laetentur Caeli, 1439). Both customs are ancient, and both are honoured.