Speaking Dangerously Under the Empire


Advent in the Empire


As we enter the season of Advent this Sunday, we begin a new sermon series, Advent in the Empire. We are reminded that Jesus, our Rabbi and Messiah, came to His people not during the victories of Joshua, nor the height of King David's reign, but during the Roman occupation. The people of Israel were no strangers to foreign empires; indeed, the experience of being conquered was more common to our ancestors than that of being the conquerors. These experiences shaped the history and identity of Jesus; from the massacre of children at his birth by King Herod (not a Jewish King) to Jesus' death at the hands of Pontius Pilate, the life and ministry of our Rabbi were forged in the shadow of imperial oppression.
 
During the Advent season, we will give some special focus on the Festival of Dedication, also known as Hanukkah. The celebration of Hanukkah has a special significance for us: it is a triumph of God's people over and against an imperial power. Yet more significantly, we see that in Hanukkah there is a foreshadowing of the work of Christ, who brings victory not only over worldly powers, but even over sin and death itself.



Dust of the Rabbi: Speaking Dangerously Under the Empire

Israel during Jesus' day was longing for the Messiah who would bring freedom from the Roman Empire.  Jesus' cousin and herald, John the Baptist (the "Elijah who is to come") demonstrated this longing for Messiah quite clearly. He also boldly spoke up to offer dangerous criticism of the Empire's behavior, members and leaders. As we learn from John's story (see Luke 3:1-20), speaking up against the Empire is dangerousbut an essential part of the Christian life. Hoping for the Messiah who will bring complete transformation, and demanding incremental transformation today, are two inseparable behaviors for those who live faithfully and speak truthfully/dangerously in the Empires of our time.
 
What are the imperial powers of today? How do modern political establishments attempt to coerce us into "the party line"?  What truth do we need to speak to the powerful, and what might be the consequences of those words?
 

Extras:  The Hanukkah Story
 

From the fall of Judah in 586 BC to the first celebration of Hanukkah, the Jews consistently lived under the rule of foreign empires. The Babylonian Empire, which led the Jews into the exile, was overthrown by the Persian Empire in 539 BC. The Jews were allowed to return to the land of Israel, but remained subjects of the Persian Empire.  When Alexander the Great overthrew Persia and entered Jerusalem in 332 BC, little changed for the Jewish people.  After Alexander's death, his kingdom was divided amongst his generals, and the general Seleucus began the Seleucid Empire, which included the land of Israel.  The people of God simply exchanged emperors yet again.
 
However, in 175 BC, a new emperor arose in the Seleucid Empire. This emperor took on the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes ("Epiphanes" meaning "Manifest" and being short for his self-proclaimed title, "Theos Epiphanes" or "God Manifest"). Antiochus IV not only called himself God Manifest, but he attempted to force the Jews to abandon their worship of the LORD and to adopt Greek customs and religions. The persecutions that he unleashed against the Jewish people were horrific.  Unlike any other previous time in their history, the Jews were threatened not because of who they were or what land they occupied, but specifically because they refused to reject the faith of their forefathers. Ultimately the persecutions and desecrations of their faith led the religious Jews into armed revolt. Their leaders were Mattathias the Hasmonean and his son Judah the Maccabee (from whom the rebel armies took the name, the Maccabees).
 
After three years of guerrilla fighting, the Maccabees reclaimed the temple in Jerusalem in 165 BC. During the preparation for rededicating the temple ("Hanukkah" means dedication), they found only enough ritual oil to light the temple lamp for one day. But miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days - the exact time necessary to prepare the sacred oil.  

More about Hanukkah to follow next week!

Study the Scriptures


The Big Picture:
Our final Covenant Reminder is "Study the Scriptures."  Nothing reminds us more clearly of God's covenant than our regular reading and studying of His Word.  Because the Bible is our record of God's relationship to with us, knowing and studying the Scriptures is critical to maintaining a Christ-centered life.
 
Jesus, our Rabbi, often spent time in the synagogues and the Temple studying and teaching on God's Word (for example, Luke 2:46-47, 4:16-21).  Like those who went before Him, Jesus grounded His teaching in the Torah, the Poetry and the Prophets.  Unlike those who preceded Him, Jesus also taught as though He had authority in Himself, not merely by extension of His understanding of Scripture (for example, Matthew 7:28-29).

Dust of the Rabbi:  Covenant Reminder - Study the Scriptures


In the Old Testament, God commands His people to remember and reflect on His word continually.  Even Torah (the Law) was not designed merely for obedience, but for also thoughtful contemplation.  This is true of all of Scripture; while it contains many commandments, the majority of the Bible is not law, but story and poetry.  Part of our work as followers of God, like Moses instructed the Israelites, is to write these stories on our hearts, homes, hands and children (see Deuteronomy 6:1-9).  
 
Jesus spends a great deal of time in the Gospels talking about specific passages of Scripture and frames His purpose on earth as to "fulfill" the law and the prophets (see Matthew 5:17-26).  This phrase, "to fulfill," may have many different meanings.  Jesus fulfills the Law by obeying it perfectly, by giving us a more complete understanding of its real purpose, and by correctly interpreting it.  This has less to do with "fulfilling" prophecies and everything to do with revealing God's purpose for our lives through His commandments.  
 
For us today, continually studying God's word is one of the most important covenant reminders. Our goal is learning who God is and how He calls us to live.  We must remember that Jesus authoritatively interprets the Word for us, and that He is always the lens through which we must read all of God's Holy Scripture.  Do you make daily time to read God's Word?  When you read, do you read in light of the One who has fulfilled it all?

Extras:

All books of Scripture are inspired by God, but all are not equal in significance in our reading of the Bible.  Both Testaments have a set of books that are the core, or foundation, upon which the rest of the Testament is built.  In the Old Testament, that foundation is the first five books, collectively called Torah or "the Law."  In Jesus' day, there were two major Jewish groups (we might call them denominations) who had differing opinions on the Hebrew Bible.  The Sadducees, the more powerful group who controlled the Temple, believed that only the Torah was rightfully called Scripture. The Pharisees, with whom both Jesus and modern Jews identify with theologically, believed that all of the Old Testament was inspired by God.  However, even the Pharisees would agree (as we would today) that the rest of the Old Testament is God's expansion upon the covenant and commandments laid out in the Torah.
 
In the same way, the core of the New Testament is obviously the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  They teach us the story of Jesus and the new covenant He made with us; the rest of the New Testament is a "fleshing out" of what we first find in the Gospels.
 
However, while both Testaments have what we might call "core" books, all the books of the Bible are inspired by the same divine Author, and therefore they all infallibly teach us who God is and how we are to obey Him.

Know Your Family History

Know Your Family History



Keeping Faith In-Between Times
 
God's covenant with us is the ground upon which our faith stands during the "in-between" times of our calendars and lives.  Our God provides many reminders of His covenant for us: in our adoption as daughters and sons through baptism, in the rhythm and rest that Sabbath provides, and also through our family history.  Reflecting on the lives of our ancestors reminds us that the same Triune God who faithfully guided the lives of our forebears will also keep us in His covenant-love.
 
Scripture spends a great deal of time on genealogies, because knowing our spiritual lineage is essential to understanding our relationship with God.  We can look back to our history and find great heroes (see Jesus' line in Matthew 1:1-17) and know that we can rise to the same heights as our ancestors; we can look back and find great sinners (Matthew 1:1-17 again) and know that we are capable of the same great evils as those who went before us.  Moreover, in Scripture we find that we can be held accountable for the sins of our distant relatives, and also that we receive blessings because of the faithfulness of those who went before us (see Exodus 20:4-6).

  
Dust of the Rabbi:  Covenant Reminder - Know Your Family History
 

Who do we come from?  Who are your parent's parents; where did they come from and what did they do?  In our modern world, we have often missed the distinction between learning history and family history.  As a result, we can speak volumes about major figures in Western Civilization, but (for many of us) only a few words about our own family histories.  Yet in Scripture there are clear connections between generations; knowing where we come from is part of knowing ourselves.
 
Now broaden that perspective and consider our Covenant Community family history.  If you have time, look on Sunday at the Charter Document outside the Old Sanctuary.  What does our history tell us about our future?
 
Now step back once more, and look at the history of our ancestors in Scripture.  If God's covenant is sufficient to bring adulterers and murderers like King David and the apostle Paul to Himself, how can we fail to be caught up in and overwhelmed by God's grace and promises?  And, as we see time and again in Scripture, when God confronts us with the evil of our present, we can invoke our ancestor's faithfulness to our credit (see Exodus 32:7-14).  Who are the family members in your life, in our church's life, and in the life of God's covenant people, whose faithfulness encourages you in your relationship with Christ?

Extras:
 
The concept of punishment for an ancestor's sins is a complex one in Scripture: earlier passages such as Exodus 20:4-6 and Numbers 14:18 suggest that descendants are punished for a predecessor's sins; but the prophets who come much later in Israel's history teach quite differently, namely that only "the soul who sins is the one who will die."  In Jeremiah 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18, this is made abundantly clear.  When Moses and the prophets are read together, they actually compliment one another.  God through Moses asserts that we will be punished in this life for the sins of our ancestors; God through the prophets asserts that we will not be punished in the next life for sins that we did not commit.  In other words, only my sins affect my relationship with God, but sins of my ancestors have repercussions that clearly echo beyond their own lives.  A child born with a chemical addiction received from his mother is not guilty of sin, yet he experiences the results of his mother's disobedience to God.
 
The radical individualism of our modern American culture is very much at odds with any understanding of family history.  Our false assumption of our own independence leads us to ignore both our responsibility for the actions of those who have gone before us, as well as the implications of our lives on those who follow us.

Exchange Money for Treasure

We are bombarded with requests for money.  Our bills have to be paid, the mortgage comes every month, our children's schools constantly want us to either buy or sell something, our alma maters want alumni gifts, and even our radio stations have pledge drives.  We buy popcorn for boy scouts and cookies for girl scouts and donate an extra dollar at the checkout line in the grocery store; we treat our friends to lunch and give money for homeless and hungry strangers on the street.  On top of all of that, we give to churches and charities.

Most of us live very generous lives, and after we've dealt with the non-negotiables like bills and mortgage, we are interested in using our gifts for God's work.  Our challenge isn't wanting to give money to good causes; our challenge is knowing which causes are good.   We need a filter to determine where our hard-earned money would be most effective for Christ.  We don't want to squander what we have on organizations with ineffective management, or unrealistic goals, or a lack of vision.  This desire is both appropriate and admirable.

But there are two places that we are challenged in our thinking about generosity.

Keeping Faith In-Between Times: Bring in the Full Tithe


The idea of the tithe appears in throughout the Bible.  It's the concept that God wants us to give 10% of our income to Him.  We get the first commandment to tithe in Leviticus 27:30-33.
 

"A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.  Whoever would redeem any of their tithe must a a fifth of the value to it.  Every tithe of the herd and flock - every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod - will be holy to the LORD.  No one may pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution.  If anyone does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed."  

In Numbers 18:20-24, God gives the tithes to the Levities and priests, so they can accomplish the work of God.  But there are two additional implications of the tithe that are helpful.  

First, the passage in Leviticus above says that the tithe is "holy to the LORD."  In other words, it belongs to God.  This is a shift in how we think about our generosity.  The first 10% of earnings in the Old Testament did not really belong to the Israelites.  That wasn't income that they could distribute as they chose; it was God's money BEFORE they gave it to him.  (See Malachi 3:8-12, where God describes keeping the tithe as stealing from Him).  This is why the Israelites had "tithes and additional offerings."  The additional offerings were from the 90% that belonged to them, and could be distributed as they saw fit.  This 90% could be used to feed the family or to feed the poor, to build a house or to build the house of God.  But the 10% wasn't their money to give.  It was already God's money, and a sign and reminder to the Israelites that all they had came from God as a gift.  

Second, the tithe is often connected to the idea of "first fruits," the first produce of a harvest.  The Israelites were encouraged to bring their first fruits to God; in other words, to give to God first, and their other concerns second.  Those "other concerns" included things like bills, mortgage, school, etc.  While we tend to reverse this trend, and give to God whatever is left after the non-negotiables, Jesus would have learned that giving to God was the first and most important non-negoitable in his financial life.

Extras:
 


There is considerable debate about the tithe in the Old Testament.  While the vast majority of references match with the Numbers 18 reading above in concluding that the tithe goes to the Temple and the priests/Levities, there are several passages in Deuteronomy that describe something different.

Deuteronomy 12:5-28 describes another use of the tithe - for a great annual celebratory meal in Jerusalem.  And Deuteronomy 26:12-15 describes a third use of the tithe, where 10% of all income is stored up over a 3 year period, and then distributed to the "Levite, the foreigner, the orphan and the widow."  

Because of these passages in Deuteronomy, some believe that the celebratory meal in Deuteronomy was only a portion of the tithe, eaten as worship, before the rest was given to the Temple.  There are others who believe that the Israelites actually gave 23.3% of their income annually, instead of 10%!  

Practice Holiness

Keeping Faith In-Between Times
 
Our spiritual history reveals that we are nothing if not a forgetful people.  We forgot our God's commands and made a golden calf to worship; we forgot Jesus' promised resurrection and fled when He was betrayed.  We need reminders of our relationship with God and of His covenant with us.  One of the most powerful reminders of God's covenant comes when we follow our Rabbi in the practice of holiness.
 
Being holy, meaning "set apart", was an essential aspect of the Old Covenant.  In fact, the purpose of the Old Covenant, other than preparing us for the Messiah, was to make our ancestors a holy people.  In Exodus 19:5-6, as God speaks through Moses to the people of Israel, He says, "Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.  Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation."  
 
The laws of the Old Covenant are many and various, regulating every aspect of the life of the people of Israel.  And yet, far from being a burden, these very laws were God's gift to His people; for it was through obedience to God's commandments that His people were to be set apart from the rest of the world.  Jesus, our Rabbi, perfectly kept the Law; but He also revealed that practicing holiness means being set apart for the purpose of entering in.  

Dust of the Rabbi:  Covenant Reminder - Practice Holiness
 

Many modern readers of the Old Testament divide the commandments in the Torah into two sections: moral laws and ritual laws.  However, the Bible itself makes no such distinction.  The purpose of both the moral commands and the "ritual" commands is the same - to make the people of Israel "holy" or set apart from the other people and nations of the world.  These commands were a constant reminder to the Jews (including Jesus) that every aspect of their lives was part of their covenant relationship with the Lord, from worship to sex to money to clothing to food to daily work.  We also need these reminders, for it is too easy for modern Christians to create a false separation between the "moral" and the "ritual."  
 
Jesus Himself kept both the moral and ritual laws, but often used the holiness laws to reveal that true holiness comes from a relationship with Him rather than obedience to rules.  This passage in Matthew 9:18-25  is an excellent example.  Both the story of the woman with a discharge (Leviticus 15:19-20, 25) and the story of the dead daughter (Numbers 19:11-13) are instances where, under the Torah, Jesus would have been "ritually unclean" (for touching a bleeding woman and a dead body).  Amazingly, instead of Jesus becoming unclean by touching them, they become clean by touching Him - even if it requires that they come back to life!  
 
Jesus does not remove God's authority over our lives; rather, He gives meaning and purpose to our holiness.  We practice holiness in our lives so that we can share it with those who need it most. In the Old Testament, uncleanness is a communicable disease.  In the New Testament, cleanness is catching.  Are you living the life of faith with enough holiness that you are infectious to those around you?

Extras:
 
Jesus does alter some of the Old Testament laws.  For example, in Mark 7:14-23 Jesus explicitly frees us from obeying the Old Covenant's laws about dietary restrictions.  However, this is not to suggest that what we eat does not relate to our life of faith!  For the Christian, holiness means not avoiding "unclean" animals, but rather considering what we eat, where it comes from, how it is produced/raised, what it's effect on the earth and on other people is, etc.  Consuming so much beef that rain forests must be clear cut (thereby damaging the air we breathe), using massive industrial farming that pushes small farmers out of business and utilizes dangerous chemicals, horrific mistreatment of livestock - are not these issues that we Christians should consider as part of our holiness each time we sit down to eat?  Perhaps the greatest tragedy of our freedom from the Law's commandments is the false distinction we imagine between the parts of our lives that are relevant to God and those that are irrelevant.  In Christ's kingdom, every aspect of our life is part of our relationship with God.

Celebrate Your Adoption

Keeping Faith In-Between Times  
 
Last Sunday we began a new section of our Dust of the Rabbi series, called Keeping Faith In-Between Times.  As we find ourselves in-between the major holiday seasons, we cannot help but ask the question, "How do we remain focused and faithful in the 'ordinary' times?"  Following our Rabbi's example, we find that the answer comes in the concept of covenant - the sacred promises of God (and our response) which together put us in a unique relationship with our Lord.  And yet it can be exceedingly difficult to remember God's promises in the midst of our hectic lives.  Thankfully, God has provided us with several "Covenant Reminders" which regularly draw us back to Himself.  The first of these "Covenant Reminders" is our adoption into God's family.
 
In the Old Testament (testament means covenant), adoption into God's covenant family was celebrated by circumcision (see Genesis 17:1-8).  In the New Testament, adoption into God's covenant family is celebrated by baptism (see Matthew 3:13-17).  Both are a "sign and seal" of God's claim on our lives and of our participation in His promises.  For Jesus our Rabbi, as for us today, to be in covenant with God is to be in the family of the Father.

Dust of the Rabbi:
Covenant Reminder - Celebrate Your Adoption

God constantly provides physical reminders of spiritual realities so that we might remember His covenant with us.  Circumcision and baptism are such reminders - what St. Augustine calls "visible signs of an invisible grace."  Circumcision and baptism are also reoccurring remembrances - one is visible daily, while the other is reflected each time we use water to wash ourselves.  These signs serve to bring us back to the agency of God in our lives.
 
It is highly significant that Jesus was both circumcised and baptized.  Although Jesus is the only Son of God who is begotten, not adopted, He chose to experience both the Old and New Covenants' rites of adoption.  Even our Rabbi needed the regular reminder of God's promises.  We too need that sign and seal in our lives.  
 
Have you been baptized?  Do you remember your baptism?  How often do you remember and celebrate that you are baptized during each day?  Each time you take a shower, wash your face, or even wash your hands, remember that God is using that simple action to remind you of your adoption.

Extras
 
When we baptize adults or children, we confer upon them a new family name.  Each person baptized (or their parent) is asked, "What is your Christian name?"  Their response includes their first and middle names, but not their last name.  In baptism, that last name is changed.  The words we speak at every baptism are "[First Name] [Middle Name] Child-of-the-Covenant, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."  Our new family name is Child of the Covenant.
 
The first major debate in the early church concerned the issue of circumcision.  One group of believers held that to be a Christian, one must first become a Jew (including circumcision for men).  Another group of believers asserted that Gentiles (non-Jews) could become Christians without first becoming Jewish.  Both positions had extremely strong arguments, and finally the early church was forced to call a special meeting of church leaders, called a "Council," in Jerusalem.  All the most influential early Christian leaders were present at the Council of Jerusalem: James the half-brother of Jesus, Paul, Peter, and many of the other remaining apostles.  The Council was ultimately swayed by Paul, Peter and James, and decided that neither becoming a Jew, nor circumcision, is necessary to become a true disciple of Jesus.  To read this debate yourself, see Acts 15.

Remembering God's Covenant

Remember God's Covenant


Keeping Faith In-Between Times

It's been a busy Fall at CCPC!  Over the last five weeks, we've been Getting in the Rhythm of Jesus by celebrating three major Hebrew Holidays mandated by God through Moses and celebrated by Jesus: Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (the Festival of Booths).  Now we enter into a stretch of the Jewish calendar year that is simply "ordinary time."
 
In the midst of the holiday season, it is much easier to keep our lives focused on God.  But how do we maintain that closeness with God during the ordinary time, the "in-between" time that lacks the special reminders and celebrations of the holidays?  This is the focus of our next section of our Dust of the Rabbi series: Keeping Faith In-Between Times.  


Dust of the Rabbi: 
Remember God's Covenant


For Jesus, as for all our Jewish ancestors, keeping faith primarily meant remembering the covenant made between God and His people Israel.  In Scripture, a covenant is an agreement between two parties (one of whom is usually God) that includes a promise of future behavior.  Some covenants in Scripture are unilateral promises from one party to another.  The first covenant in Scripture is of this type: God covenants with Noah, and all living creatures, never to again send a flood to destroy all flesh.  God makes a similar covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12, promising that He, the LORD, would make Abraham into a great nation.
 
The other type of covenant in Scripture is the conditional covenant, where one party's obligation to fulfill a promise is conditional on the other's behavior.  God's covenant with the nation of Israel, mediated by Moses, is such a covenant.  God states that "if you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully ... I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people."  "But if you will not obey me, and do not observe all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and abhor my ordinances, so that you will not observe all my commandments, and you break my covenant, ... I will set my face against you."  (Read all of Leviticus 26 for context).
 
For a faithful Jew in biblical times, as for Jesus, keeping faith in-between times meant remembering the covenant that God made with His people, and following and obeying the laws He set before them.  These laws and commandments were not seen as a burden; instead, they were the tangible reminders that God chose Israel, from amongst all the nations and peoples, for this extraordinary honor. 

Extras

Read this Sunday's OT passage, Exodus 24:1-18, and then read Matthew 26:20-30.  Notice the parallels between the institution of the Old Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.  Both invoke the language of covenant, both are established in blood that is transmitted to the people, both are connected to meals where God is supernaturally present and visible, and both are made with communities rather than individuals.  And yet the New Covenant is markedly more powerful than the Old, for God is not merely present but incarnate, and the blood offered is not that of animals but that of the God-Man Himself.  Even in the most important event of the Old Testament, we can clearly see yet another instance of the Old Covenant foreshadowing Jesus' ministry.
 
 Our bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament.  The word "Testament" is a synonym for "Covenant."  Our Bible is divided into those books that primarily refer to the establishment of the Old Covenant with Israel through Moses, and those books that refer to the New Covenant with the church through 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.