September 19th, 2011 | 
Author: 
By Craig Borlase. The first of 4 harvest blogs from our friends at Stewardship.
Here comes Harvest time: annual festival of tinned goods and small children struggling to make it all the way up to the front of church without dropping a 500g can of beans on their feet.
Really? Is that what Harvest Festival is about? Cleaning out the murkier corners of the kitchen cupboards? Not according to the Bible.
The Old Testament is big on instructions, even dealing with the mechanics of farming and feeding. It turns out these instructions have something to say to us today as well.
At the heart of the message are the three harvests, each of which is intrinsically linked to one of the three key religious festivals. There’s Passover (barley), Pentecost (wheat) and the Feast of the Tabernacles (fruit), and they are loaded with meaning.
The day that follows the Passover Sabbath is known as the Feast of First Fruits, and Leviticus 23:10 reminds us how on this day the priest was to bring ‘a sheaf of the first grain’ that had been harvested. Think for a moment about the importance that firsts play in the Bible: Passover’s loss of the firstborn, Jesus as the firstborn of Mary – as well as God – as well as the first rays of light of Salvation’s new day. This first harvest is meant to remind us where our priorities lie.
After the barley harvest comes the time for wheat to be gathered. The barley harvest was celebrated through the Feast of Weeks (sometimes known as the Feast of Harvest), and it was a Jewish holy day. That’s why the disciples were gathered in the Upper Room in Jerusalem – observing religious custom – when the Holy Spirit showed up and Pentecost kicked off.
The Feast of Weeks was celebrated by people bringing on offering of bread they had made form the first wheat harvest. They were reminded of the transforming power of God, of His provision, his Harvest. Pentecost extends this theme, bringing to mind the great harvest of 3,000 souls on that one day, as well as of the power of God’s Spirit to transform us.
Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles brought to mind the bounty, provision and protection of God. The celebration lasted a week and even today those observing the Feast will spend the time living in temporary, fragile shelters – as instructed in Leviticus 23:39-43. Why? Because that is how the first generations in the Promised Land lived: dependent on God, not man.
These tin cans we shove into plastic bags are a poor symbol of God’s abundance and generosity. This harvest let’s reconnect with the idea of celebrating our God who protects, provides and who never leaves us.
Posted in