Thought for Today
Exodus 5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.'"
Hosea 9:5 What will you do on the day of appointed festival, and on the day of the festival of the LORD?
Luke 2:41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
I don’t normally think of Memorial Day as a festival. My computer, however, offers as synonyms for ‘festival’: anniversary, commemoration, jubilee and holiday. Commemoration and holiday seem to me to be the closest fit for my own understanding of Memorial Day.
Hosea is not a biblical book I often read or reference. This morning, as I thought about the whole topic, I came across that question above. Memorial Day is not “the day of the festival of the LORD.” It is a very important and significant ‘day of the festival’ of our nation. What did you do on that festival day?
For many, Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer. Many participate in parades. Others go camping or organize cookouts. There are annual automobile races. There are commemorative events in our nation’s capital, wreaths placed there and in many National Cemeteries. These are all important and significant. Sadly, this year much of our country experienced unfavorable weather on Memorial Day. Irrespective of weather or any other complicating factors, it is important to honor and remember, to make special note of all who have paid the ultimate price so that the rest of us can live and enjoy our freedoms.
This year, the day preceding Memorial Day was Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost was one of the three great festivals for Jews in the first century. Even in the 21st century, many Christian churches and Jewish synagogues take note of Pentecost as “the day of the festival of the LORD.” Hosea’s question is still important. I believe Hosea’s question is important for each of us to consider . . . but part of our consideration is the question of why we did what we did on that day. Did we do what we did in order to remember and commemorate the LORD?
As a Christian, I know that Jesus and his parents “went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.” I have read that delightful story in Luke’s gospel about Jesus’ being left behind when everyone else headed home. As a child, I found that story disturbing and always made sure I was in the car when it was time for my own parents to head home. As an adult, I find the story comforting, especially the thought that Jesus was sure in his knowledge of Joseph’s and Mary’s love and comfortable enough to feel safe in God’s house.
On that first Christian Pentecost, we know about the “Acts 2:2 sound like the rush of a violent wind” and that the “Acts 2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.” Many churches decorate on Pentecost with red banners or ballons and many people wear some article of clothing. This year, ironically, just as I finished my sermon, the fire alarm in our sanctuary went off. Initially, I feared that I had mentioned those tongues of fire one too many times. As it turned out, we had some sort of malfunction in our heating system which produced enough smoke to trigger the alarms.
I don’t suspect that on future Pentecost Sundays we will answer Hosea’s question that what we do on that Sunday is ritually evacuate the sanctuary. Certainly, we can find a somewhat less disruptive thing to do “the day of the festival of the LORD,”
Maybe a more important question for all of us to ask ourselves is ‘what will you do on the day after “the day of the festival of the LORD”?’ One of the 10 Commandments is, “Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.” It is important and we should do just that. However, no matter how hard you search, there is nothing in the Bible that limits keeping days holy to only the sabbath day.
The sabbath day commemorates God’s own rest following Creation. But, the importance of that day and of our keeping it holy is that by doing so, we honor our Creator God. There is no reason and no excuse for not honoring God each and every day. We should keep every day holy in honor of the God who created Creation and who sent Jesus into Creation to assure our salvation and the salvation of Creation.
What will you do on the day of appointed festival, and on the day of the festival of the LORD? What will you do on the day after the appointed festival? What on the day after that? Micah reminds us we should “6:8 do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” all day every day.
Stay safe, honor God always, trust God,
Pastor Ray