On Shavuot

It has been said, in various different ways, that if we don’t learn from the past, we will repeat its mistakes. I believe history is one of the most neglected and underappreciated subjects and topics in churches and society today. It seems, day by day, we are making the same mistakes from the past and rather than learning from them, we repeat them over and over again. Worse still, is that for many, some of the standards and ways of the past are inferior, less than those of today and that how things are today are far better than decades, centuries, or thousands of years ago. “It was different then…” or, “that was then, this is now” are common phrases that, while true at times, are not always true.

I want to take you back to the past, the biblical past, to the time of the prophet Moses. As a leader of Israel, made up of Jew and Gentiles who had undergone an exodus out of Egypt, his life would be forever changed the day he encountered God on Mt. Sinai, face to face, to receive the Ten Words and several other commandments that would shape and define His called-out people.  The time in the biblical calendar, according to Exodus 19:1, was Pentecost (Shavuot). It wasn’t known by that exact name at the time, but it was the month of Sivan. Later, God would instruct Moses the following about the day in Deuteronomy 16:9-16:

You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall celebrate … to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; 11 and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. 12 You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes…. [and] shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.

So, you were to give a freewill offering of thanks to the Lord for all that He had provided through the agricultural season. To not come empty-handed, for God had filled one’s hands so much, there was no excuse.

The question then is, what does that have to do with us today? I would contend, everything. For Christians, this is a time to reflect on all that God has blessed us with and how He has enlarged our blessings from meager beginnings. In the past, a farmer started with a few small crops during a festival called First Fruits and gave thanks to God. Seven weeks later, there were now so many crops, the farmer gave thanks to God, the same God who was faithful in the small things, was faithful with the large things. So, today, Christians are aware that God works in the same way and has multiplied our blessings in life. Our freewill offerings today can be finances, time, or resources.

Fast-forward to the book of Acts and on this same day, the same day Moses received the commandments authored by the Holy Spirit, that same Holy Spirit, was poured out three times; first to Jewish believers in Christ, then Samaritan believers in Christ, and then Gentile believers in Christ. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they spread the good news of Messiah Yeshua and were defined from the world by “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). They gave thanks to the Lord and their lives were a living sacrifice (cf. Romans 12:1). How did they stand out though, from other communities, and in the society, they lived? They were known by their fruit. Messiah Yeshua explains this in Matthew 7:15-20 and this image serves us well, as we explore this festival which was born from the agricultural practises. 

James, the half-brother of Yeshua, challenges us with this truth when he wrote:

What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:14-17)

Simply stated, he was saying this: if you have faith, it will be evidenced by your works. Faith doesn’t stop in your head; it flows out through your hands. It’s not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. A fruit tree is only a fruit tree if it bears fruit. Works do not save, but they are evidence of being saved; you will want to serve the One who created you, spiritually saved you, and will preserve you for eternity.

So, Pentecost (Shavuot) is a celebration of God not only pouring His Holy Spirit into those who believe, but empowering them to live out those commandments He has given to His people to live them out. It is a time to celebrate God for all He is, all He has blessed us with, and the words of Scripture He has given us so we know how to live.

In summary:

During this season, in highlighting the festival of Pentecost (Shavuot), I encourage Christians to let their light shine and for their fruits to be known so to glorify God. To those who have yet to make a decision, see the light of the Messiah in those that follow Him and revisit the words of God to know the Word of God, Yeshua.