Holy week is upon us. Different faith traditions see this week (and the time leading up to it) in slightly different ways. Catholics and Christians of the Anglican confession have been celebrating lent for the last 40 days. While the origins of this observance are not biblical, the current practice of settings something aside as a partial fast to devote yourself more completely to God is a good thing. All Christian traditions acknowledge the time from Palm Sunday (just passed) to Easter (this Sunday) as an especially important and high holiday, as we remember the "passion week" of Jesus and all that he taught and suffered during this week for our redemption. Different traditions may celebrate smaller events throughout the week (Maunday Thursday, for example), but we are all agreed that the cornerstone of our faith rests on what happened on Friday (His Death) and Sunday (His Resurrection).
The events of this week's celebration are anchored to the foundation of the Jewish calendar. Have you ever wondered why Easter isn't the same weekend each year? It's because Easter is always the Sunday after the beginning of Passover, and the Jewish festal calendar is a lunar calendar that does not line up with the Gregorian calendar that we are currently using. Very few Christian traditions acknowledge this foundation, and few Christians know that the "Lord's Supper" that we celebrate often in our church services, that we know came from the "Last Supper," is a truncated and re-purposed excerpt of the Passover meal.
Yahweh commanded the Jews to observe several holidays in honor of Himself, thanking Him for the numerous and varied gifts He bestows on them throughout the year. Of these holidays, three of them are "High Holidays," times when all the males of the Jews are required to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem. These holidays are Passover, Shavuot (in Greek: Pentecost), and Sukkot (Tabernacles). While the pilgrimage requirement was not passed on to the church in the New Covenant, Jesus and the Apostles modeled the continued observance of these festivals. Also, we know that in the Millennial Kingdom, under the rule of King Jesus, He will require that all people observe His birthday on Sukkot, the festival of Tabernacles. For these reasons and more, our family observes these three High Holidays.
When God gave the command to the Jews to observe the three High Holidays, He gave them dates on which Passover and Sukkot begin, but He did not do the same for Shavuot (Pentecost). He instead required that they count 7 Sabbaths (Saturdays) starting the Sabbath after the beginning of Passover and celebrate Shavuot on the day that follows (the 7th Sunday after the onset of Passover. Current Judaism starts counting on the day that follows Passover, no matter what day that is (this year, it would be yesterday, Wednesday the 16th). They will then count 7 weeks from that day and then celebrate the next day. Since Passover always starts on the 15th of Nissan on the Jewish calendar, counting this way means that Shavuot is always on the same day every year. This is not what God wanted us to do. If it was, He would have asked for it on a calendar day. Instead, God asked for Shavuot to always be celebrated on a Sunday. The date changes, but the day of the week does not. We count the biblical way. On the Christian calendar, the Sunday that Shavuot lands on is called "Pentecost Sunday." We rightly celebrate that the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles and birthed the church on that day, but do you know (As Paul Harvey would have said) "the rest of the story?"
Passover is about substitutionary death, atonement, punishment for sin, and the liberation from bondage. These pictures were begun for the Jew at the first Passover and were completed in perfection in Christ. Shavuot is about the introduction of a new way of living, of a clearer understanding of what it means to be God's people, of relationship, and of the presence of God among his people. This was begun at Sinai, on the first Shavuot, and completed in perfection in Acts 2.
Between these two holidays, God asks us to mark the passing of time by counting the seven sabbaths between Passover and Shavuot. He doesn't just give us the date for Shavuot because he wants us to live in the time gap reflecting back on the price of our freeedom and looking forward to the empowerment of His presence in our lives. Last year, my family marked the two High Holidays, but we missed the experience of marking the time, which the Bible calls "Counting the Omer." We're going to catch the blessings of this experience this year. This is my invitation to you, my friend, to walk this season with us and drink in the fullness of these next 7 weeks.
My family celebrates the Seder meal together on the Thursday night before Easter, the night before Good Friday, no matter when Passover began that week, because that was the night at Jesus celebrated it. This year, Passover began on Tuesday night, and observant Jews everywhere began the observation then. We'll mimic Christ's Holy week. It's short notice, but if you would like to celebrate the Seder tonight, here's a link to a Messianic order of service that we use: http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/seder.html
I will be posting a devotional each Saturday of the Omer, helping to direct your thoughts toward this time. I invite you to follow through it with us.
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