Reading: Deut 16:1-17

So what is it that’s worth celebrating?

Passover celebrates their escape from slavery in Egypt – that was history

The feast of weeks could only be celebrated after they’d had a harvest – and they weren’t in the land yet so this was all to be done in faith

The feast of booths, or tents, was there to help celebrate God’s goodness to them while they were being nomads, living in tents, in the desert. So that was very present

So God is asking them to celebrate, past, present and future. The whole of history covered by his goodness to them.

The heart behind the law

It’s easy to run away with the idea that these celebrations were just there as burdensome laws to obey.

This is partly because we import our western ideas about law into the Israelite culture – which was radically different.
Most of our laws have a health, safety and prevention of crime motive
Of course theirs had this too, but there was often more to it.

They had a different mentality towards them.

Instead of ‘these are the rules you must stick by them or else some punishment will befall you, some of their laws had a very different ambience.

The thought behind them was “this is how the Lord is “I’ve rescued and redeemed you, I’m your God and you’re my people, so if you really understand / appreciate my grace, this is the way you should live, surely!”

E.g. I love and admire my wife, Rosi, and therefore I don’t want to do anything to deliberately hurt her. For me that would be unthinkable!

The rules I may impose on myself are there to keep our love alive.

That’s the logic God is seeking to evoke in his people “I’ve saved you and rescued you and provided for you, so I want you not to do things that would jeopardise our covenant!”

Now can you see the powerlessness of laws that are only externally imposed rules. They are unable to change the heart!

But when the law-giver shows love, executes a rescue, makes sacrifices for his people, that’s entirely different! And that is what God has been towards his people.
So the desire of his heart is that they will live appropriately in return.

That’s the power of God’s law – from the 10 commandments right through, –

We can see this, even from commandment no1: Effectively God says “When you comprehend the unmeasurable magnitude of what I’ve done for you – I rescued you out of Egypt –

you won’t have any gods ahead of me!
you will keep the Sabbath holy to remember me! And so on.

So the power of the law of Moses rests in the attitude of love that Go dhas towards his people.

Precisely that attitude is what we see as we get into this descriptions of the feasts.

These were not just ceremonies to be observed to stay on the right side of judgemental God
These were occasions to celebrate God’s extraordinary goodness to his people

Later on, Israel really lost the plot and the festivals just became routine and a mask for an altogether darker reality.

The surface looked good – it was all executed well, but behind the facade was extortion.

Isaiah starts his book with some heavy words:

Isaiah 1:10 [The Lord says:] Your … your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. Because … Your hands are full of blood! 16 Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong.

So what wrong-doing exactly?

17 Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

So the heart / motive behind the law and the festivals had got lost in religious observance – “I’m bored with it, I hate it!’ says the Lord

But even here

18 ‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;

God’s promising renewal even to a rebellious people

That’s what God is like! Failure is never the end

20 but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.’ For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Three times a year.

There are three of them to be observe through the year. And they each have a different message for us today

Each of them indicates something not to forget.

Remember God has delivered you! (v1-8)

Feast of Passover.

Background:

Children of Israel given sanctuary in Egypt. But Pharaoh changed, they became numerous and became slaves to the Egyptian heirarchy
God raised up Moses
miraculous plagues to
Pharaoh hardened his heart
The ultimate plague was a direct challenge from Almighty God
If you don’t kill a lamb, daub the blood on the doorposts, my angel will strike every first-born male in the house, and in your fields
And that’s what happened. If you daubed your doors, the angel passed over – hence the name
Pharaoh relented and sent the Children of Israel packing into the desert.
An awe-inspiring example of God’s deliverance!

Rescue / salvation

Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Aviv and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night.

It was a night time escape of nearly a million people.

‘Observe, or remember, the month of Aviv’ is like the 4^th commandment “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”

They were to do all this celebrating in order to remember something.

God knew that there were certain things that, with the passage of time, they could easily forget.

These were particular things that spoke volumes about God’s goodness and faithfulness to them – so He didn’t want them to forget.

How many of us know about this character <ppt: guy Fawkes>

How come we remember him and have almost completely forgotten about other assassination attempts, and even assassinations, of politicians?
Because ‘remember remember the 5^th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot”
and we attach something exciting to it – fireworks and bonfires – all to make sure we don’t forget an assassination attempt!

Now that is a parallel example of what God is doing here

remember a particular day – and attach something exciting to it – something everybody wants to be part of – a feast!

2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name.

They are to re-enact part of the passover story.

The lamb’s blood was spilt so that the angel of death would pass over – and this animal’s blood is spilled

It’s a stark reminder of the cost of their rescue.

3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left Egypt in haste – so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.

Background in Exodus: When they left in a hurry they didn’t have time to rise bread for the journey so they made it without yeast. So unleavened bread was a permanent sign of two things – the affliction they suffered in Egypt and the speed with which they had to get out.

4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days.

Now look at this …

4 Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until morning.

No left-overs allowed – this was going to be quite a feast!

Actually this feat brought two celebrations together. – Unleavened bread and the passover. They would eat both

5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly to the Lord your God and do no work.

Yesterday I was 50! >>>

Remember God has been generous to you! (v9-12)

The Festival of Weeks

At this festival God wanted to keep alive the idea of his abundant generosity.

9 Count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing corn. 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

Remember at this time they were still in the desert. They hadn’t yet planted anything, let alone harvested it. So this feast has yet to come.

This was very different from Passover. With the Passover the Lord tells you what to bring, but this was different.

When you brought a gift for the festival of weeks it was to be a free will offering – you chose how much and how it was to be given. And embedded in here is a principle of all Christian giving – proportionality.

Those of us with more resources have an obligation to bring more than those with little, and we should all bring something – and something that’s sacrificial.

V10 a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you.

And what were they to remember?

12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,

that period of slavery was a brutal period in their history.

The people who knew about the appalling deprivation of Egypt would surely never want another generation to go through that kind of brutality!

so the feast of weeks was there to keep the memory of slavery and God’s generosity alive – and to bring it into the present

So what happened to all these gifts?

Remember that many of them would be in kind – a sheep, a goat, a pile of grain or whatever produce could be brought after the harvest.

This huge pile of produce was used to have a great feast for the people. This really was a banquet! Again!

And that which wasn’t eaten was given to three categories of people

the Levites, the foreigners and the widows

These were three categories of people whom God knew needed material provision – and for very different reasons.

The Levites – were the tribe who had no land of their own. They were unable to produce produce for themselves and so they relied on the generosity of God’s people for their food. Theirs was the calling of God to lead the worship and teach – very similar to ministers today. They had no land >>>

foreigners – People from other towns or nations nearby should always be welcomed into the people of God.
God’s aim and hope was that people from the surrounding nations would see how good and generous God was and want to be part of his nation.
The widows. In their society widows had a very raw deal (!?) >>>

The feast of weeks was later renamed the feast of … pentecost.

So the day on which the Holy Spirit deluged the early church was the day when the Children of Israel were celebrating the generosity of God!

So the Holy Spirit’s power and influence in our lives is himself a sign of God’s grace, his love and his generosity!

Remember God has been faithful to you! (v13-15)

The Festival of Tabernacles

13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing-floor and your winepress. 14 Be joyful at your festival – you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

This was a celebration that had them al living in tents

It was designed to remind the children of Israel that this was how they lived in their wanderings through the desert.

Remember – that’s where they are at the time Deuteronomy is being written – so this was going to be a celebration about what they doing at that very time!.

In the New Testament the feast of tabernacles became a spectacular event. These tents or booths were placed on rooftops , in gardens and courtyards and people would live in them for a week.

Two processions left the temple each day of the week. One to collect leafy branches for booths and the other to collect water from the pool of siloam.
This water would be poured out ceremoniously.
It was a symbol of God’s river of living water that was starting at the temple and flowing to the four point of the compass to bring health and healing to the world.
The temple was the centre of God’s activity – and the water was poured into the innermost part of the temple.

The water was poured down the ‘coilias’, a small tube that took the water to the very foundations of the temple. At the time, the word used of the deepest part of a person’s spirit was the same – the coilias.

Now listen to what happened at the end of the festival when Jesus came

John 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood up and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: 17 each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.

Do you notice that it’s the men who are to take the lead here.

So when we celebrate

Don’t forget the past – History

Paul had to remind the Corinthians of their salvation >>>

serch ‘forgotten’ in NT

Can’t know the full reality of NT without OT.

Be happy – rejoice

joy

Rejoice always and again I say rejoice

Adopt this as an attitude of life.

Include the excluded

Social inclusion

e.g. Jesus and the woman at the well

Give and be blessed

Giving / blessing cycle

E.g. Barnabas Acts 4

Communion started with Passover >>>

Jesus kept the passover before he died. = The last Supper.

Jesus = the lamb

Instead of eating the bread as ‘the bread of affliction’ he said ‘this is my body’

Celebrate!