How to Have an Adonaic Christmas
Leviticus 23:21-22 HCSB On
that same day you are to make a proclamation and hold a sacred assembly. You
are not to do any daily work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you
live throughout your generations. (22) When you
reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap all the way to the edge of
your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and
the foreign resident; I am the LORD your God."
1.
The various names of Shavuot
The festival or holiday that is
described in this passage is known by many names. You can find it in the
Scriptures under the name Hag HaKatsir
(feast of the harvest), or Yom HaBikurim
(day of the first fruits). It is a festival of thanks for the harvest, but it
falls in late May or early June because that is the time of the wheat harvest
in
We get the name Shavuot from another name the Bible has for this festival, Hag HaShavuot (the feast of weeks). It marks the conclusion of the Counting of the Omer. It is called Shavuot (weeks) because Adonai commanded us to count seven weeks (49 days) starting on the second day of Passover. On the fiftieth (thus the name “Pente-cost”), we celebrate Shavuot. Because it officially closes the Passover season, some people refer to it as “Shavuot Atzeret” or “Closing Sabbath.”
The Bible tells us that our people were freed from their
bondage on the night of Passover. Tradition says that through Moses we were
given the Torah on the sixth day of
the Hebrew month of Sivan. That means that the first time Shavuot was ever
celebrated, we received the Law. That is why Shavuot has yet another name Zman
Matan Toratayanu (the time of the giving of our Torah) and is closely
associated with the Torah.
You may be asking yourself “Why in the world is this crazy man talking to us about a Jewish agricultural festival that takes place around the end of May when we are weeks away from Christmas?” Let me draw some comparisons for you:
2. Comparing Christmas and Shavuot (Exodus 23:14-17)
a. A day off of work
b. Celebratory mood
c. Light candles
d. Decorate with greenery
e. Special meals with dairy
f. Special prayer and Bible study service
g. Celebrate the coming of the Word
h. We (mentally) make a pilgrimage to Israel
Like Christmas, Shavuot is celebrated by taking a day off of work. All the businesses of those who observe God’s festivals close on this day to allow their employees the opportunity to celebrate the Lord’s graciousness.
Like Christmas, Shavuot is a celebratory time.
Like Christmas, Shavuot is characterized by the lighting of candles
Like Christmas, Shavuot is characterized by decorating with greenery.
Like Christmas, Shavuot is celebrated with a special meal that features dairy products (can anyone say “ice cream”?).
Like Christmas SHOULD be and in our congregation IS, Shavuot is marked by a special prayer service where we read Scriptures that are appropriate to the festival.
Like Shavuot, Christmas is a time when we celebrate the coming of the Word, the advent of the physical manifestation of God’s perfect requirements.
According to Exodus 23:14-17, Shavuot
is one of the shalosh regalim, the
three Biblical pilgrimage festivals.
Christmas is
probably the only time when even Gentiles (at least mentally) make a pilgrimage
to Bethlehem, meditating on and celebrating the Lord’s advent.
3.
The principle of giving in Christmas and Shavuot (Leviticus 23:21-22)
However, the key
point that I would like to make this morning is this – celebrating Adonai, -
piety to God – should be united directly and inevitably with charity to the
poor. Let’s look at today’s passage again.
a. The lesson gleaned from unleavened and leavened bread
At Pesach’, or Passover as it is known in English, we eat unleavened bread - partially to symbolize the need to get rid of sin in our lives, and partially to celebrate that God’s Passover Lamb was in fact without sin. Historically speaking however, it is tied to the fact that our people had to leave Egypt in a hurry and were commanded to not even take the time to add leaven to their bread.
Shavuot, however, is a different matter. The loaves that were offered by the priest to the Lord were to be made of “fine” or wheaten flour. These were not your ordinary white sandwich loaves! They actually weighed a little more than ten pounds each! As the unleavened bread marked the hurried exodus which was characterized by discipline and solemnity, Shavuot’s loaves marked the arrival in the Promised Land and the fulfillment of God’s promise to bring our people to a land of milk and honey and to fully provide for our needs. The first was a memorial of the bread hastily prepared at Israel’s departure from Egypt and Shavuot’s is a tribute of gratitude to God for our daily food, which is leavened.
b. Special offerings to church are good (Galatians 6:6)
But whether we offer unleavened bread solemnly or leavened bread in a celebration, in both cases the first fruits go to the Lord. In our passage today, we see how Adonai wants us to truly give Him our offering. There is a place for ritualistic giving to God’s house. It is only right and just that His house be provided for and his ministers supported for...
c. Special offerings to the poor are good (Matthew 6:1-4; Matthew 5:46-48; 1 John 4:12, 20-21; Jeremiah 9:23-24; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Galatians 6:9-10; Ephesians 4:28)
But the grateful child of God does not stop there. In a very direct sense, even when we give to the church, we are giving to ourselves. Our offering to the church ensures that we have a place to worship. It ensures that we have a comfortable place since it helps pay the light and heat bills. It ensures that we have some quality teaching. It ensures that we can listen to and enjoy great music. So in a very direct sense to give to the church is STILL giving to ourselves.
In Adonaism, we recognize that the best way to give is to give in such a manner that our gift remains anonymous or that it goes to someone who can never give back to us.
As the Master taught,
And,
If we only give
gifts to those who are capable of giving gifts back to us, in what way are we
perfecting our character? If we only serve those who can serve us, in what way
are we fulfilling the Master’s command to also give in secret or to give to the
poor without drawing unnecessary attention to ourselves?
These types of
acts are described by the term gemilut
ch’esed in Hebrew. Literally, this means loving kindness. An great example
would be the burial of the dead because this type of charity is done without
any hope that the “recipient” i.e. the dead person will repay the good deed. In
Hebrew, this is called ch’esed shel emet
– a true act of loving kindness.
An Adonaic Christian understands and tries to live in obedience to the Master’s greatest command which is to “love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.”
The world tells us,
“Celebrate the coming of the Messiah by getting.” We are taught to want gifts.
We are taught to want the perfect family get together. We are taught to want
the experience of beautiful lights and wonderful music. The world has turned
God’s celebration into a “den of thieves”, artificially marking up the cost of
products when they know that people are desperate to get the “perfect gift” for
their loved ones then as soon as the pressure of that need is over all the
prices drop drastically.
God is telling us,
“I have provided for you. I have cared
for you. Celebrate my provision of the Messiah by caring for someone else.”
If we want to
show our devotion to the Lord, we will do the things that He loves. We will
give Him gifts in which He truly delights; gifts of faithful love, justice and
righteousness on earth!
We SHOULD take
the day off and celebrate the Lord. However, that celebration should lead us
individually, as families, or as a congregation to reach out to the poor, the
needy and the destitute and make sure that they are not without the means to
celebrate the coming of the Messiah too.
We are to “not to
reap all the way to the edge of our field or gather the gleanings of our
harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident.” We should not spend
so much on ourselves, spending every bit of our cash and maxing out our credit
cards to the point that we cannot take care of the poor; even if it is only in
some small way.