14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a
feast to me. 15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I
commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed
time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear
before me empty-handed. 16 You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the
firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast
of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the
fruit of your labor. 17 Three
times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. (Exodus 23:14-17)
The Hebrew nation was camped at the foot
of Mount Sinai when Moses came down off the mountain and delivered God’s law to
them. Included in that law were
directions for their three national religious festivals, the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (including Passover), the Feast of Harvest (also known as the
Feast of Weeks or Pentecost), and the Feast of Ingathering (Feast of Booths or
Tabernacles). This is not meant to be a
theological study of the major feasts of Israel. Rather, as I reflected on this portion of the
Law I was struck with several realizations that apply to my life and the
church.
God commanded the people to “keep a feast to me.” God was meant to be the focal point of
their festivals. He was the reason for
them. Each of the festivals was a
reminder of what God had done for his people.
Unleavened Bread and Passover reminded them of the fact that God had
brought them out of bondage in Egypt.
The Feast of Weeks was to remind them that God gave them his law, that
they as a people lived according to God’s good pleasure and according to his
will. The Feast of Tabernacles not only
was a recollection of the time they lived in booths or tents in the wilderness,
but that it was God who finally brought them into the Land of Promise. It was a picture of the completion of God’s
deliverance and pointed to the fulfillment of all his promises. Three times a year the people stopped their
routines and celebrated the works of their God with festivals. The feasts were all about God.
In
the last part of verse 15 God says, “None shall appear before me empty-handed.” Part of the
celebration was bringing an offering to God.
Surely this helped the people remember that this was not just a
party. They were keeping a feast to God! When they prepared for the feast they also
prepared an offering to bring so they could not forget the significance of
their celebrations.
The third thing that caught my attention
is the fact that the people of God were meant to celebrate these feasts
corporately. It is true that there was a
definite family aspect to Passover, but God says “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God.” All
the men of Israel came together to present their offerings to God. They were not merely individual followers of
Jehovah; they were the family of God who were created by their God and called
to live together as the people of
their God!
So what?
It occurred to me that the church has two major holy days (holidays?) on
our calendar, Christmas and Easter. More
liturgical denominations celebrate more holy days, but let’s just think of
these two that we all share. Both of
them point to what God has done for his people.
Christmas, of course, reminds us of the incarnation; God sent his Son to
live among us as a man. Easter is
similar in some ways to Unleavened Bread and Passover in that we celebrate Holy
Week; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and then Resurrection Day. Jesus gave his life as a propitiation for our
sins and on the third day rose victorious from the grave. God is meant to be the focal point of our celebrations.
Here is the “so what…” Is God really the central person in these
holy days as we observe them? Do we make
certain that he is the “reason for the seasons?” While we spend amazing amounts of money on
gifts and feasts that we share with one another, do we appear empty handed
before God? And finally, are we really
intentional in recalling the corporate aspect of our celebrations? Or is this just another example of how our
faith has become private and individual in nature? If we celebrate, should we not celebrate together, as the people of God for whom
these days are so significant? Is there
something we should consider changing?
Just wondering…
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