Thanksgiving – a celebration of the joy of life

The Jewish fes­ti­val for our Thanks­gi­ving today is the Feast of Taber­na­cles, a cele­bra­ti­on of the joy of life. In the Old Tes­ta­ment, God wan­ted to remind the peo­p­le that they had lived in taber­na­cles during the desert wan­de­rings, that He pro­vi­ded for them and was clo­se to them. In Reve­la­ti­on we are pro­mi­sed that God will one day «dwell in taber­na­cles» among us. He will dwell with us. He will be our God and we will be sons and daugh­ters to Him. Thus, the har­ve­st fes­ti­val con­ta­ins a strong aspect of hope.

In my fami­ly of ori­gin, the har­ve­st play­ed a big role. App­les were picked throug­hout the autumn. Huge wagon loads were dri­ven to the neigh­bou­ring vil­la­ge to the big sca­les and then unloa­ded. We could recei­ve the weig­hing slip in a restau­rant. It some­ti­mes hap­pen­ed that my father would give me an apple now and then. Kägi fret bought. That was a high­light! I felt it was thanks for hel­ping, thanks­gi­ving. In addi­ti­on, every year the­re was a har­ve­st fes­ti­val in our church. All the far­mers brought some­thing from their har­ve­st. This resul­ted in a gre­at table of gifts, which the pas­tor was allo­wed to clear for his own purposes.

Unfort­u­na­te­ly, we have negle­c­ted this church fes­ti­val in recent years. The LORD hims­elf told his peo­p­le to cele­bra­te fes­ti­vals, inclu­ding the Feast of Taber­na­cles.: «The Feast of Taber­na­cles is also to be cele­bra­ted at the end of the har­ve­st sea­son – when the grain has been thres­hed and the gra­pes have been pres­sed – for seven days. At this feast you are to be joyful tog­e­ther with your sons and daugh­ters, your male and fema­le slaves, the Levi­tes, the for­eig­ners and the widows and orphans who live in your towns. Cele­bra­te this feast for seven days in honour of the LORD your God in the place he desi­gna­tes. For the LORD your God gives you abun­dant har­ve­sts and bles­ses all your work. Let it be a pure feast of joy!» (Deut. 16:13–15 NLB).

A celebration of gratitude

We are to cele­bra­te a joyful and long feast at the end of the har­ve­st sea­son! And this with the reaso­ning: «For the LORD your God gives you abun­dant har­ve­sts and bles­ses all your work.» The Lord bles­ses not only the work of the far­mers, but all our work. We owe ever­y­thing, every breath, every move­ment, every word to our Crea­tor. What do you need for your work? Skil­led hands, logi­cal thin­king, a mer­ciful heart, a social sen­se? The­se are all part of God’s bles­sing! May­be your health is not good enough for you to work. The pen­si­on from the IV or the social wel­fa­re office is also part of God’s blessing.

That is why we are also depen­dent on the Crea­tor for our liveli­hood: «All eyes look to you and wait for help; you give them food when it is nee­ded. When you open your hand, you satis­fy the hun­ger and thirst of all crea­tures.»(Psalm 145:15f NLB). God pro­vi­des for us. Have you wat­ched a mother bird fly to her nest and place the worm in her beak into the wai­ting mouths? If the mother does not open her beak, the­re is no life for the young birds. We are just as depen­dent on the Lord ope­ning his hand. It is good to have such an image in front of the inner eye when pray­ing at table. Crea­tio – God is still crea­ting. Vege­ta­bles, fruits, worms and also catt­le are crea­ti­ons from His hand.

Among the Jews, Thanks­gi­ving is an excee­din­gly joy­ous fes­ti­val («It should be a pure cele­bra­ti­on of joy»). Whe­ther young or old, phy­si­cal­ly skil­led or rather stiff and clum­sy – ever­yo­ne dances, che­ers and rejoices. It is a cele­bra­ti­on of the joy of life. The well-known sen­tence: «[…] Be not dis­may­ed: for the joy of the Lord is your strength.» (Neh­emi­ah 8:10 NLB), was also spo­ken at a Feast of Taber­na­cles at the time the Wall was built. Does the har­ve­st or the bles­sing of the work also cau­se us such joy?

A celebration of remembrance

For the Hebrews, the har­ve­st fes­ti­val is cal­led Suk­kot. God wan­ted to remind the peo­p­le that they had lived in taber­na­cles during the wil­der­ness wan­de­rings and that He was clo­se to them. This is why the 7‑day fes­ti­val takes place in Taber­na­cles. This «desert wan­de­ring con­text» has deep meaning:

Suk­kot is, in that sen­se, a remin­der that we too live in this world only in tem­po­ra­ry shel­ters. «For we have no las­ting city here, but the future we seek» (Hebrews 13:14 LUT). We are all tra­vel­ling with a lon­ging for home, for see­king the house of God. Deep within us is the lon­ging for love that does not cea­se and jus­ti­ce that is ser­ved. In this life, ever­y­thing is pro­vi­sio­nal and tem­po­ra­ry. Our who­le life should be cha­rac­te­ri­sed by a cul­tu­re of wal­king. When I report else­whe­re about the see­tal chi­le, I often say that we have a wal­king cul­tu­re. That is an extre­me­ly valuable attri­bu­te for a church. It is not so stre­nuous to launch chan­ges in our church. We are used to it and prac­ti­se it dili­gent­ly. The beau­ty of this is that God is clo­se to us and pro­vi­des for us.

I per­so­nal­ly want to live such a cul­tu­re of wal­king. To be available for God. Not to bind mys­elf to this world. To remain free and mobi­le. Pos­sess as if it did not belong to me. Chan­ge mys­elf as the Holy Spi­rit prompts.

A celebration of hope

The des­sert fork is also cal­led the «litt­le pro­phe­tess». When this fork is part of the place set­ting on the table, it indi­ca­tes a final cour­se. The Feast of Taber­na­cles is like a des­sert fork. In Reve­la­ti­on, we are pro­mi­sed that God will one day «taber­na­cle» with among us:

«And I saw a new hea­ven and a new earth: for the first hea­ven and the first earth were pas­sed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jeru­sa­lem, coming down out of hea­ven from God, pre­pared as a bri­de ador­ned for her hus­band. And I heard a gre­at voice from the thro­ne say­ing: Behold, the taber­na­cle of God with men! And he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peo­p­les, and he hims­elf, God with them, shall be their God; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and the­re shall be no more death, neither sor­row, nor crying, nor pain: for the for­mer things are pas­sed away. And he that sat on the thro­ne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith, Wri­te, for the­se words are true and cer­tain.» (Reve­la­ti­on 21:1–5 LUT).

The Feast of Taber­na­cles is the con­clu­si­on of all har­ve­sts. Jesus once said that the har­ve­st was gre­at (Matthew 9:37). Peter wri­tes about this har­ve­st: «But it is not that the Lord delays his pro­mi­sed return, as some think. No, he waits becau­se he is pati­ent with us. For he does not want even one per­son to be lost, but that all rep­ent and turn to him.»(2 Peter 3:9 NLB). After the har­ve­st is brought in, Jesus will come again. It is the start of the per­fect new crea­ti­on, that is the place whe­re all our lon­gings are satis­fied in an over­flowing way. We will be blissful­ly hap­py the­re! God crea­tes a new world. His taber­na­cle is with the peo­p­le, it is an eter­nal and inti­ma­te com­mu­ni­on of God and man. 

The huts at Suk­kot are cover­ed with only bran­ches so that you can see the sky. Hope means see­ing through the hori­zon. It means hea­ring the music of the sky. It is good if we do not clo­se our eyes to hea­ven in our lives. Con­cen­t­ra­ting on the earth­ly, on the mate­ri­al and on our own ide­as obs­tructs our view of hea­ven. It is good to push the roof asi­de every day and get a clear view of the sky. This is best done in a plan­ned time of com­mu­ni­on with God that is firm­ly inte­gra­ted into ever­y­day life.

In the annu­al cycle, the­re are 7 fes­ti­vals that the Lord orde­red in Exodus 23. Tog­e­ther they tell the gre­at sto­ry of God with huma­ni­ty. Through the first coming of Jesus, his cru­ci­fi­xi­on and resur­rec­tion, and then the coming of the Holy Spi­rit, the first four feasts, the spring feasts, have come to ful­film­ent. We cele­bra­te the­se four feasts in remem­brance of the first steps of God’s plan of sal­va­ti­on that have alre­a­dy taken place. Sin­ce Jesus ful­fil­led the­se four feasts on their exact date, in the right con­text and uni­ver­sal­ly, I deep­ly belie­ve that He will also bring the last three feasts, the autumn feasts, which point to His return and King­dom, to their ful­film­ent. Thus we cele­bra­te the spring fes­ti­vals in remem­brance of our past and in gra­ti­tu­de for our redemp­ti­on; the autumn fes­ti­vals in joyful anti­ci­pa­ti­on of an eter­ni­ty tog­e­ther with our Father and King. In the pro­phe­tic book of Zecha­riah, the Second Coming of Jesus takes place at the Feast of Taber­na­clesfrom the Mount of Oli­ves (Zecha­riah 14:1–16).

The temp­le was the place whe­re God met his peo­p­le. I am thril­led that the inau­gu­ra­ti­on was on a Feast of Taber­na­cles of all days. King Solo­mon asked God to hear the pray­ers of for­eig­ners as well (2 Chro­nic­les 6:32f). This idea has remain­ed until today. Thus, in Isra­el, citi­zens of other nati­ons are warm­ly invi­ted into the huts and all nati­ons are bles­sed in a spe­cial ritual.

Possible questions for the small groups

Read Bible text: Zecha­riah 14:1–16; Reve­la­ti­on 21:1–5

1. What is the importance of grace in your fami­ly? How could it be revitalised?
2. What is the mea­ning of living in taber­na­cles for the Jews? What could help us to keep this truth befo­re our eyes?
3. The bran­ches on the roof lea­ve the view to the sky open. What helps you to keep the view to the sky open?
4. In Zecha­riah 14:1–16, the coming of the Mes­sia­nic Saviour from the Mount of Oli­ves takes place at the Feast of Taber­na­cles. Do you think Jesus will return on a Feast of Taber­na­cles? What speaks for this (cf. other Jewish feasts)?
5. On Suk­kot, all nati­ons are bles­sed. Pray tog­e­ther for count­ries that are curr­ent­ly facing gre­at challenges!