Sacred
Seasons
Deuteronomy 16: 1-17
The Great Covenant
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . Max
A Forsythe
Introduction:
Earlier this week, our American culture began the great holiday cycle of
celebration that fills a little over a month of the whole year.
The annual holidaze cycle begins with a festifall of consumption that
taxes the transportation industry unlike any other annual pilgrimage and ends
with an economic display of spending that either makes or breaks all manner of
businesses. All too sadly, the
small shoppes and stores outside of the malls either make their annual budget in
the last half-quarter of the year or subside to annual tax deductible losses
that only make it possible to survive the lean season of the first quarter of
the new year, until the business climate begins its annual cycle all over again
in the spring. Well do we
understand the significance and importance of the lemming like ritual that
supports the greatest consumer economy ever established in the history of the
world! This fall, a new focus of patriotism is added to the usual
reasons for spending our way to economic prosperity!
Of course, our North American
material focus is not without similarities in other parts of the world.
In Medieval Europe and earlier – the holiday cycle of the Roman Church
was an attempt to synthesize a pre-existing solstitial cycle with a Christian
nomenclature and purpose. Hoping
thereby to tame the wild revelry of the annual saturnalia, that once popular
celebration of the winter solstice was paired with the birth narratives of our
Lord Jesus Christ. With the introduction in Northern Europe of the Easter season
and All Hallows Eve – the halfway dates of the solar cycle were also covered. And the busyness of the agricultural cycle in northern
climates downplayed a widely appreciated “mid-summer nights dream”, if I may
use a Shakespearean allusion for the longest day of the year – the summer
solstice. Every culture has an
annual holiday cycle, if it has risen above the primitive roots of a
hunter-gatherer culture. And even
the most primitive peoples live within the context of certain taboos and
superstitions that may or may not be related to a calendar.
On top of the mythical and/or
economic rhythms, there is also the cycle of the government schools and national
holidays – most often enjoyed by federal and state workers.
I can remember when I worked in the public school and the superintendent
reported at a meeting that our rural establishment was receiving long distance
calls on a specific winter day, where the callers expressed outrage that we were
open for business as usual. It
didn’t matter that we recognized the rights of a dozen or more people who
sincerely took the day off for personal and ethnic reasons; we were forced by
threat of lawsuit to add that holiday to our regular schedule.
Having said this, at the very
least I hope you understand how your lives are affected by the rhythms of any
cultural context – whatever the underlying purpose might be! Of course, we can well appreciate that the holiday rhythm
that we experience has been put together over many generations.
For a foundation, we have a Roman Catholic system, which reorganized the
more primitive pagan ones, then a minimal reformational reorganization, followed
by an American national synthesis of several religious heritages, which is being
purposely reorganized for corporate and secular concepts even as we now live
through the transformation to a post-Christian era.
For a proper comparison and inspiration for family meditation during the
year, let us compare the ongoing rhythms of cultural experience with the God
designed sabbatarian rhythm given to the people of Israel.
Old
Covenant Milieu:
As a follow up on last week’s meditation, the present section continues
in the establishment of a sabbatarian rhythm to the whole of life even as the
fourth commandment is expanded and honored thereby.
Meredith Kline confirms this systemization in these words:
“The sabbatical scheme is again present for
the entire religious calendar of feasts was sabbatically patterned.
Still prominent is the concern with the way in which the contemplated
divine choice of a permanent sanctuary site in the midst of an extensive land
must modify previous ceremonial practice. … Because Deuteronomy is a covenant
renewal document presupposing earlier covenant stipulations as still valid,
except as it expressly modifies them, it condenses and omits much while giving
new emphasis to features affected by the introduction of ‘the
place which the Lord will choose.’”
Christopher J.H. Wright echoes
this pattern: “The
sabbatical themes of rest, remembrance, and concern for the poor are all woven
into Deuteronomy’s summary of the three major annual festivals, which take
their place in what Braulik called the ‘holy rhythm’ of Israel’s life –
Sabbath days, seasonal festivals, annual and triennial tithes, sabbatical years
– thus continuing this section’s link with the fourth commandment: ‘remember
the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.’”
Finally J.A. Thompson joins into
the same chorus with a brief “amen”: “The
patterning of these feasts on a sabbatical scheme is in keeping with a variety
of other sabbatical practices in Israel.”
This agreement must be our
primary point for understanding this part of The Great Covenant. All of life is to be lived in harmony with the design of the
Creator God. And to that end –
the fourth commandment takes in ever so much more than only one day in seven!
It is the rhythm of the sabbatical practice, which is more important than
the details. Whether the one day in
seven is viewed as the last day by the Old Covenant Church, or the first day in
seven in the New Covenant Church is not so important as the very primacy of the
principle. While one day in seven is demanded to be set apart as a token
of the other six, all the rest of the week and the year must serve the purpose
of highlighting the sacred season of the Covenant Day as being prime in
importance – for honoring and worshipping the Creator who gave us six days to
earn our bread and one day to eat it before His face – in love, honor and
thanks.
A second lesson that must be
pulled from this section is the ‘representative’ collective gatherings of
the tribes demanded three times a year. My
commentators here urge us to consider the necessary fact of these religious
fellowship gatherings as a vital part of maintaining covenant orthodoxy.
By that I know from history – that any group (large or small) that is
not dynamically engaged with groups of like mind and heart, will eventually
withdraw into its own intellectual and spiritual ruminations.
As an example of this, we have only to consider the specific
peculiarities of the Coptic and Thomast churches, as well as a Japanese cult
descended from the teachings of Portuguese missionaries four hundred years ago.
I can also attest that the necessary three Presbytery meetings per year
serve a similar – yet, not always attained unifying function.
Dr Raymond Brown observes in this
regard: “The
people owed more to the Lord than any of them realized.
He knew that it would be harmful for them if his mighty acts were allowed
to slip from their memories. Yet,
the pressure of life was such that, all too easily, the people could forget what
he had done for them. Without
intending to do so, they would gradually become preoccupied with materialistic
things, and begin to adopt an ungrateful, selfish and loveless lifestyle”. How modernly prophetic are these words indeed!
Therefore, Dr Brown continues:
“It was not only necessary to keep the
nation aware of its debt to the Lord but to remind the people also of their
responsibilities towards each other. Yet
without specific occasions in the annual calendar these things would soon be
forgotten. Therefore, the Lord
commanded his people to hold three great festivals each year, specially designed
to keep the great facts of creation and redemption to the forefront of their
minds – the feasts of Passover, Weeks and Booths.
…The feasts provided God’s people with special days set apart for
spiritual, physical and corporate renewal.
These three outstanding festivals would help the people to remember
God’s saving deliverance (1-8),
abundant generosity (9-12)
and continuing faithfulness (13-15).”
With that threefold outline of Dr
Brown, let us consider briefly in turn the spiritual purpose of each of the
three annual feasts. One thing that
is noticed in the first of the three feasts is the probability that the Exodus
Passover celebration itself was grafted onto an earlier seven-day feast of
Unleavened Bread. Without going
into great detail on this issue, let us be satisfied that symbolically both the
blood of the Lamb and the Bread of Life came together a thousand years and more
before the disciples celebrated the very first Last Supper instituted anew under
the administration of Christ our Lord. The
combined Passover feasts celebrated the “deliverance
of the Israelites from Egypt”.
And of this saving grace, regular
reminders (as we know all too well) are positively necessary.
You are not your own, is a principle we must learn ever and anew – so
that like the people of the Old Covenant Church, we may realize the miraculous
deliverance from the slavery (to sin or Egypt) is a divine intervention on our
behalf.
The second feast later became
known as Pentecost, “because it took place fifty
days after the Sabbath which began Passover”.
It was also “the period between the start
of barley harvesting and the close of wheat harvesting.”
Here in Middle America – it would be like, but not as short, as the
harvesting of the oat and wheat crop. I
can barely remember the gathering of the neighborhood for the threshing
fellowships. Each of the farmers
would cut and bind the harvest and stack the bundles in the fields to dry.
Then the rented Thresher would move from farm to farm – where the whole
neighborhood would gather to separate the grain from the straw.
Thirty or forty people would gather, just as families might gather
together to dress a flock of chickens or slaughter a small herd of hogs for the
winter. Many hands of course would
make the labor quick and even enjoyable. The
old neighborhood was never quite the same when the modern combines made
threshing days history.
The spiritual purpose of the more
primitive threshing season in Israel was to focus the festival on the amazing
and abundant generosity of the Creator God who also sustains creation through
His seasonal providence. Dr Brown
also reminds us that in this festival, not only the local “teachers” but
also the poor in the land could and would be given or earned their rightful
share of the harvest.
The last feast in this rhythmic
cycle was the Feast of booths. Since
this took place in the autumn it was similar to our own harvest thanksgiving.
Dr Brown notes that “the Feast of Booths
was a time for sharing with the needy” in preparation for the mild
winter season when the land rested and people must live off of their stored
goods until the new crops of the spring. Dr Thompson notes, “the third
feast of the year was in some ways the greatest of all.”
In addition, “in the year of release at the
time of the feast of booths the law was read to all Israel.”
We should also note that it was
in the fall that the new wine of the grape harvest was sampled and greatly
enjoyed along with the other fruits of the harvest.
Like apple cider, pressed grapes only become alcoholic after a period of
time in storage. The sweetness of
the new crop was especially prized until it aged and gained the alcoholic bite
from natural processes. We may note
the Jewish preference in the scene from the wedding a Cana – where the wine
created by Christ is cherished precisely because of its very freshness – which
reminded the steward and the guests of the great joy of this festival.
At this time of the year, God’s
continuing faithfulness was the prominent ideal.
Year by year, He provided not only the necessities of life but also the
precious joys of fruits within their season.
Personally I look forward each year to fresh muskmelon.
And when I used to work in an Apple orchard I so enjoyed the fresh fruit
that I can barely stand the chemically protected corporate product anymore.
Strawberry season was a favorite time of year when the boys were growing
up. The whole family would drive an
hour to the strawberry fields in another county and there collect the crop to be
frozen for the winter. One of the
boys once approached the clerk at the end of the row wanting to know if he had
to be weighed before he went into the field and then afterwards!
The clerk laughed and said the pickers deserved their wages as long as
mom and dad paid for the crop removed!
Let us close this section with a
final admonishment of Dr Brown: “These
three feasts were times for recalling God’s acts (1),
enjoying God’s rest (8),
obeying God’s word (16),
remembering God’s goodness (17)
and sharing God’s gifts (16).”
New
Covenant Continuum: In the New
Covenant context, we read of Jesus and His disciples walk their way through the
harmony of the Sabbatarian cycle, yet we realize that Jesus is not content with
the theological applications of the revealed principles. The very Sabbatarian gift, which God gave as a blessing to
the people, had become accursed through the nit-picking legalities and spiritual
hardships imposed by the contemporary priestly cult. Harsh words from the Messiah, harsher than any of the
prophets - are bounced off the stiff-necked and hardheaded religious leaders.
These were men, who even the Jewish Historian, Josephus described in
equally harsh terms.
The final point I wish to make
here is similar to the essential difference between the Muslim cult and the
Christian faith. In those lands
behind the devil’s curtain where followers of Mohammed rule with a heavy hand,
no one is allowed to think, believe or question on their own. The prayer ritual must be followed five times every day and
while Jesus is recognized as one among many prophets, the religions related to
His person are to be condemned and their adherents destroyed.
The people are held by force and are kept scared out of their wits so
that they cannot make use of them!
By contrast, the Old and New
Covenant churches of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ enjoin people to
voluntarily affiliate with His church when those are called by His Spirit.
Most do so, with and even without enthusiasm.
But, however close their affinity and relationship – they are children
saved by grace. Those who best show
the fruits of the Holy Spirit do well keep the principles of the Great Covenant
revealed through Moses. The rest
are gently kept through the light touch of the kindness of His hand.
Unlike the leadership of the Old Covenant Church at the time of Christ,
we must be gentle, loving and encouraging of every attempt that people make to
honor, praise and thank the Lord of Salvation.
Some come in particularly close and shelter under the very wing of
Christ, others keep a little distance but nevertheless listen and give Him their
heart’s devotion as best they are able. We
always have to remember that congregations who would rather imitate the
methodology of the Muslim clerics today and the Priests of the time of Christ
damage very many people.
Contemporary
Application: Since
the time of the Reformation, historic Protestantism has basically recognized two
requirements for scheduling sacred holidays. First and always primary is the appreciation and recognition
of the weekly Sabbath as the seventh day set-aside since the dawn of creation
for the worship of the Triune God. Secondarily,
a specific day set-aside after the fall harvest for Thanksgiving, in northern
climates is generally practiced. Beyond
these two requirements, Reformed Christians recognize no biblical warrant for
any of the other seasons of the sun – which have become more and more popular
as the biblical roots of Western Civilization fall further into disfavor and out
of the common memory.
And yet in toleration of
peoples’ cultural ignorance in this respect, we may and must use the
traditional seasons in a way that gives opportunity to point people to the One,
whom all of the Old Covenant precepts, practices and principles pointed towards:
Jesus Christ. That is the whole
purpose of the sabbatarian rhythm established since the dawn of creation.
And we will be found very wanting at the end of the age if we do not use
all of the means that the Lord in His gracious providence has given to us.
Three of the last six years, I have received an unkind note about my
annual Advent series. The
accusation runs that I am not truly reformed because I use the advent season to
reach out beyond the walls of the church! Jesus
used the sacred seasons of the Great Covenant to teach and witness, so may we
all as long as the Spirit give us breath. So,
as we approach the great holiday of the corporate year, let us boldly speak of
Jesus Christ, born, raised and crucified as a Redeemer for all of His people in
every age and place. Amen.
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