The Significance of Feasts

Good morning my friends,

Everyone loves a good party! Well, maybe not everyone. Ok, so let’s say everyone loves a holiday. We all like getting a day off from work when we can do what we want to do (unless you are a parent of 9 children). Yet, the holidays we have often have a greater purpose to them than just allowing us a time to do what we want. The purpose of a holiday is often to remember something. Unfortunately most of our holidays have lost any significance to us.

God had given Israel seven days of remembrance, if we were to count the Sabbath as a single day. It is interesting how the numbers work. The Sabbath represented a day of rest every seventh day and there were seven days representing a rest from labour for the purpose of remembrance. All of these feasts and celebrations were to mark a particular significant moment in the history and development of the nation of Israel. God wanted them to remember these moments. He wanted them to reserve a time when they would reflect on who they were and what their God had done for them and to pass this on to their children

We have two very important dates in our Christian calendar that we mark along with the rest of our society. For our society these are feast that have lost any significance and are simply a time off from work. For some Christians it is much the same. Yet, we need to recognize the importance of reflecting on these moments. Easter is approaching. This is the most significant moment in our history. This is the day the Son of God stepped into our place and took upon himself the penalty that was intended for us. He did this at the direction of the Father. It is a moment when we remember his death. It is a bitter and then sweet celebration as we come together on Sunday to celebrate the victory he won for us by breaking the grip of death.

I think we have it all backwards as we turn Christmas into something of greater worth than Easter. Most people take a week or two of holidays at Christmas and put a lot of money and emphasis into it. Christmas is significant but its celebration would be lost without Easter. We need to recapture our sense of awe and anticipation as Jesus draws nearer his time of suffering. We need to recapture our appreciation and adoration of what the Son of God did for us. It is great to celebrate Easter Sunday but we also need to approach Good Friday with a great deal of respect and humble worship. I believe that this is the day we need to put more effort into rebuilding awe and enter into it with a sense of it being the most holy day in existence. It should be a day of great respect.

Some would argue against what they see as a religious spirit but I argue against them. There is nothing religious about having days that cause us to stop, reflect and remember what Jesus has done for us. Yes, we celebrate this all year long but we need to take these opportunities given to us to teach the significance and respect due to our God to our children. As we remember we need to teach. I am afraid that in our desire to throw off some of the trappings of the traditional church we are also throwing out the significant and the holy.

Where will you be on Good Friday? Where will your children be? Will you demonstrate the significance of this day to them? Will they grow up remembering? Youth, where will you be? What will you be planning to do on Good Friday? Will you remember the significance of this day? Will you remove your “sandals” on this most holy day and call him Saviour?