Getting in the Rhythm of Jesus

Concluding Sukkot - Jesus' Festival of Ingathering

Sukkot - the Festival of Ingathering


The Big Picture:
 
This Sunday we celebrate the conclusion of Sukkot, the Festival of Booths.  While it is most often referred to as the "Festival of Booths" in Scripture, the original name of this holiday (found in Exodus 23:14-17 ) was the Festival of Ingathering.  This name stems from the significant agricultural aspect to the celebration, described in Deuteronomy 16:13-16.
 


Deuteronomy 16:13-16:
"You shall keep the festival of booths for seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your wine press.  Rejoice during your festival, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as the Levites, the strangers, the orphans, and the widows resident in your towns.  Seven days you shall keep the festival to the LORD your God at the place that the LORD will choose; for the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all your undertakings, and you shall surely celebrate.  Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place that he will choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths." 
 
Each of the pilgrimage festivals (Unleavened Bread/Passover, Weeks/Pentecost, and Booths/Tabernacles) was linked to a specific aspect of the agrarian calendar. Unleavened Bread was associated with the harvest of barley; Weeks with the harvest of wheat; and Booths, or Ingathering, was the holiday that coincided with the final harvest.  This final harvest likely included a second wheat crop, along with grapes, figs, pomegranates, dates, and other fruits.
 
Religious festivals related to the local agricultural seasons were common to almost all ancient civilizations.  Yet while other civilizations and peoples attempted to bribe, placate or appease their deities to secure the harvest, the LORD ordained festivals instead to remind His people of their dependence on Him.  The Festival of Ingathering is a celebration of God's sovereignty, grace and provision in our lives.
 

Dust of the Rabbi: 
Getting Into the Rhythm of Jesus


For the ancient Hebrew, as for the modern farmers and herders of today, God's sovereignty and provision are essential aspects of one's livelihood.  No matter how familiar we become with the process, the creation and growth of new life - plants, animals, etc - upon which our life depends is a mysterious and miraculous event.  Even with today's science, complete control over the harvest, over life, eludes our grasp.  As Paul says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.  So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."  This recognition of God's ability to give life, or growth, is celebrated in this Festival of Ingathering.
 
Our modern lifestyle requires most of us to live significantly separate from the sources of our "daily bread."  Our service-based economy dramatically alters our perception of our world in a variety of ways.  We are isolated from creation, working in offices instead of fields.  We are separate from the conditions in which our food is produced, unaware of the "cost" of each meal.  And perhaps most importantly, we are able to maintain a false sense of entitlement and self-sufficiency over our own "produce."
 
It is easy for us to consider our financial resources to be something that we have earned, rather than the result of God's provision in our life.  Thinking in terms of a "harvest" might be helpful to modern American Christians.  As a lawyer, or a plumber, or a driver, we can imagine that hard work earned our money; as a farmer it is clear that no matter how hard one works, it takes God to bring life.  Jesus' challenge to the people is that He is the source - of water and of life - and of all good in our lives.
 

Extras: 

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The Festival of Ingathering, while not as theologically significant as Passover and Unleavened Bread, was the best attended of all the major festivals.  The other festivals took place during the agricultural year, and only the most devout or wealthy could afford to leave their fields and journey to Jerusalem; but Ingathering took place after the final harvest, and people were ready to rest and celebrate before the onset of winter.  For this reason, many major events in the life of the Jewish people occurred during the Festival of Booths; for example, King Solomon chose to dedicate the Temple during the Festival of Booths in 1 Kings 8:2.
 
When speaking of the pilgrimage holidays, the terms "festival" and "feast" are often used interchangeably.  For example, one can speak of the Festival of Ingathering or the Feast of Ingathering, the Festival of Unleavened Bread or the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  But when someone in ancient Israel spoke of "The Feast," they always meant the Feast of Ingathering.

Sukkot - Jesus' Festival of Tabernacles


The Big Picture:
 
The Festival of Tabernacles is a seven-day long event, with another celebration on the eighth day.  The name Sukkot comes from the plural of sukkah, meaning "booth" or "tabernacle" in Hebrew.  This Festival is partially described in Leviticus 23:33-43.
 


Leviticus 23:33-34, 41-43:
 
"The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to the people of Israel, saying: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, and lasting seven days, there shall be the festival of booths to the LORD.   ... You shall keep it as a festival to the LORD seven days in the year; you shall keep it in the seventh month as a statute forever throughout your generations.  You shall live in booths for seven days; all that are citizens in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."
 
The Festival of Tabernacles (also called the Festival of Booths) was one of three pilgrimage festivals for the Israelites, the other two being the Festival of Unleavened Bread (the days after Passover) and the Festival of Weeks, or Pentecost.  During these pilgrimage festivals, all male Jews were required to journey to Jerusalem in order to worship the LORD as one people.  You can read more about the pilgrimage festivals in Deuteronomy 16:13-17.
 
In this particular festival, the Jewish people built booths, temporary shelters, and ate and slept in those booths rather than in their homes.  Not only the pilgrims did this; all Jews were required to live in booths made for this occasion, even if they lived in Jerusalem, or were unable to travel for the festival. 
 
We will celebrate Sukkot from this Sunday, September 27 through next Sunday, October 4th, the actual dates of Sukkot this year.

Dust of the Rabbi:
Getting Into the Rhythm of Jesus
 


God ordained this festival to remind us of our heritage and history.  Today our congregation lives in one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations on earth, and most of our members live in warm, comfortable homes.  Yet we are not a people who were always firmly established; we were wandering exiles who lived in the wilderness in tents.  From the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who lived as nomads their entire lives, to the Israelites wandering the desert for 40 years after the exodus, we are a people who have experienced exile.  God calls us to remember our history especially in the safety of our present.  Consider what it would mean for you to truly be to be nomadic: to possess no land, no security, and no inheritance.  Is it not evident that we as American Christians particularly need the reminder of this experience?
 
Like Abraham and Moses, Jesus lived a nomadic lifestyle: sharing a common purse with the disciples, claiming no home of His own, constantly on the move from place to place.  In the Gospel of John, when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem for this pilgrimage festival, he says to the crowds: "the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its works are evil."  In the midst of this celebration of the Festival of Booths, Jesus reminds us that being separate from the world - as exiles, nomads, aliens - is a good thing.  
 
Many of today's Jews celebrate Sukkot by building a booth in their yard, and eating and/or sleeping there as a family for a week.  Even the slight shift from house to yard can radically transform the way we perceive our world and ourselves.  What would it mean for you to remember the experience of the exile?  How would your relationship with God change if you had less "security" in your day-to-day life?

Extras:


The Festival of Booths appears in many places throughout Scripture.  The Prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 14:16-19)  describes a day after the judgment of the LORD, where all nations, not just Israelites, will come to Jerusalem to together celebrate Sukkot in God's holy city.
  
Sukkot is also sometimes referred to as the Festival of Ingathering (for example, in Exodus 23:16).  This is because each of the pilgrimage festivals also have major agricultural significance in the life of the Hebrews.  More to follow on this next week! 

Yom Kippur - Jesus' Day of Atonement

The Big Picture:

Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, is the most sacred day of the Hebrew year.  We find a partial description of Yom Kippur in Leviticus 23:26-28.

Leviticus 23:26-28
"The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Now, the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you: you shall deny yourselves and present the LORD's offering by fire; and you shall do no work during that entire day; for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the LORD your God." 

The temple in Jerusalem was built with two central rooms: the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Inside the Most Holy Place was one object only - the Ark of the Covenant.  Only one person was ever allowed to enter the Most Holy Place - the high priest - and even he only entered the Most Holy Place once a year, on Yom Kippur, to make atonement for the sins of the people.  The high priest took the blood of a bull and a goat and sprinkled it on and before the mercy seat (the lid of the Ark).  Then he went outside and laid hands on a live goat (the scapegoat) and confessed over it all the sins of the people of Israel.  The scapegoat was then taken into the wilderness and set free, symbolically bearing away the sins of the people. You can read more about Yom Kippur in Leviticus 16. 
 
While we will celebrate Yom Kippur this coming Sunday, September 20, the actual date for Yom Kippur this year is Tuesday, September 22.

Dust of the Rabbi:
Getting Into the Rhythm of Jesus

Yom Kippur is an annual reminder of the very bedrock of our faith.  Sin causes separation from God, and must lead to death.  BUT, a substitute can be found for the forgiveness of sins, to die on our behalf and to carry our sins away from us.  In the Old Testament, and in Jesus' day, the sacrifice of goats on Yom Kippur was the visible reminder of this truth.  It was also a reminder of the insufficiency of the sacrifice: for it needed to be repeated every year (in addition to many other sacrifices for sin offered daily at the Temple).  But now, as the Book of Hebrews tells us, we have one sacrifice, Jesus the Lamb of God, who is sufficient for all time.

Atonement means at-one-ment with God.  We cannot be reconciled, or reunited, to God through our own efforts - our sin separates us from the Author of Life.  But we can receive at-one-ment with God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  What is the status of your relationship with God today?  Let this Sunday be an opportunity to repent and receive atonement for your sins through the blood of Christ, offered on our behalf before the very throne of God. 

Extras: 

At the moment of Jesus' death, the curtain that separated the Most Holy Place from the Holy Place was supernaturally torn into two parts (see Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45).  The atonement offered by Jesus was not only sufficient in that it required no repetition; it was also sufficient to completely remove the separation between ourselves and God.  Before the death of Jesus, only one person was permitted to enter into the presence of God and that only once a year; today, all who call upon Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are invited before the throne of God Almighty.

The Ark of the Covenant, located within the Most Holy Place, upon and before which the blood of the bull and goat was to be sprinkled during Yom Kippur, was lost after the Second Babylonian Exile in 586 B.C.  At that time, the Temple was looted and destroyed by the Babylonians, in fulfillment of God's promised judgment on the nation of Judah.  The Temple was rebuilt after the return from the exile, but the original Ark, which contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, was not recovered.  The Temple in Jesus' day was therefore missing the object it was designed to protect and honor.

Rosh Hashanah - Jesus' Festival of Trumpets

The Big Picture:  
 
Rosh Hashanah (literally "head of the year") is the Jewish New Year.  In biblical times, as today, Rosh Hashanah was a holy day for the people of Israel (including Jesus!).  Leviticus 23:23-25 provides one set of instructions for celebrating this holy day, also known as the Festival of Trumpets.  
 
Leviticus 23:23-25:
"The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: speak to the people of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of complete rest, a holy convocation commemorated with trumpet blasts.  You shall not work at your occupations; and you shall present the LORD's offering by fire."
 
Rosh Hashanah begins the Fall holiday season.  The Festival of Trumpets is followed by two major holidays in quick succession: Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement (nine days after Rosh Hashanah), and Sukkot, or the Festival of Booths, (beginning five days after Yom Kippur).
 
We will celebrate Rosh Hashanah on Sunday, Sept 13th, the actual date first date for the holiday this year.

Dust of the Rabbi:
Getting Into the Rhythm of Jesus

Rosh Hashanah is not only a celebration of the New Year; it is also a celebration of creation, a "birthday for the world."  The rhythm in the spiritual life begins with creation, where God chose to make the universe not in 1 day, but in 6 days and a rest.  God designed our world with days, months and seasons that give a pattern and process to our lives.  These are reminders of the new beginnings that God constantly offers us: morning follows evening, Sunday follows Saturday, spring follows winter.  As the New Year begins, we remember the One who made all things, and who continues to make all things new.  
 
As we enter into the annual rhythm of the Israelites, our year will begin to take on a pattern marked by the same observances that defined and shaped the life of Jesus.  At the beginning of this new Jewish year, what do you need Jesus to make new in your life?  What does it mean for you to follow Jesus through the Festival of Trumpets, knowing that He was present at the literal birthday of the world?

Extras:
 
You may have noticed from Leviticus that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, falls on the first day of the seventh month of the year!  Originally, this date was the beginning of the calendar year; however, in Exodus 12:2, the LORD instructs Moses and Aaron to reorganize the calendar of the Israelites because of the significance of the Passover and the Exodus.  God ordains that the month of Passover, named Nisan, would be for the Israelites the first month of the year.  The Israelites retained the Festival of Trumpets (also ordained by God) as the civil new year, and recognized the month of Passover as the start of the religious calendar.
 
The trumpet used for Rosh Hashanah is made from a ram's horn, and called a "shofar."  Shofars are used throughout the Old Testament, including in Exodus 19:16 when a blast of a trumpet (shofar) comes from God on Mt. Sinai.