Hallowed 50th

In my last post, I mentioned that the Hebrew jubilee was celebrated every 50 years because it followed seven cycles of sabbatical years (seven times seven). Another Jewish feast was calculated similarly: Leviticus describes the Festival of Weeks (Shavuot) as celebrated on the “day after the seventh Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:16). The “counting of the omer” would ritually count the days from Passover to Shavuot. An omer is a measure of unthreashed stalks of grain—the amount that was used in an offering at the temple. But the ritual of “counting of the omer” would count the days, often with a congregation after evening prayer.

Shavuot celebrates Moses receiving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. It is considered a time of covenant between God and humanity. Traditionally, Noah made his covenant with God on Shavuot. It is also the season of grain harvest, starting with barley around Passover and ending with wheat seven weeks later. When they had the temple, people would offer two loaves of leavened bread from the wheat harvest. It was also the beginning of the fruit harvest, and people would begin to bring their first fruits to the temple.

In modern observances, the holiday is celebrated with feasting (often dairy) and rest from work. Homes and synagogues are decorated with greenery, including a canopy resembling a wedding chuppah, as Shavuot can be understood as the day that Moses (the matchmaker) brought together the bridegroom (God) and his bride (people of God). There is also the reading of the book of Ruth. The events in Ruth take place during the harvest, and Ruth converts to Judaism and enters into the covenant with God, similarly to the people entering into the covenant with God upon receiving the Torah. Also, Ruth is an ancestor of David, who is traditionally believed to have been born and died on Shavuot.

So what does harvest booths and omers of grain have to do with Christianity? Well, as Easter is calculated by Passover, Pentecost similarly lines up with Shavuot. Pentecost comes from the Greek for fiftieth, as it falls 50 days after Easter. On Passover, the people of Israel were freed from their enslavement in Egypt; on Shavuot, Moses received the Torah and the people became a nation committed to serving God. On Easter, the people of God were freed from sin and death; on Pentecost they received the Holy Spirit and became the Church, committed to serving God.

Just as there many in Jerusalem for Passover when Christ was killed, many were in Jerusalem for Shavuot when the Holy Spirit descended (Acts 2:5). The apostles spoke in tongues, reaching the people from all over who had gathered in the city and were then to carry the message throughout the empire.

In the Western Church, the Holy Spirit is often associated with red, the color of fire, like the tongues of fire of the Spirit descending on the disciples and the presence of God on Sinai. But in the Eastern Church the Holy Spirit is associated with green, the color of life. For Pentecost, churches are decorated in lush greenery, representing the life and vitality of the rushing wind of the Spirit.

In Scripture numbers represent certain principles. And those numbers built upon themselves, multiplying numerically and multiplying in meaning. Seven is holiness. Seven sevens is even more holy. Christ teaches us to forgive not seven times or seven times seven but seven times seventy—essentially, endlessly. So 50 days past the Resurrection, a week of Sundays, the day after seven times seven, we are still celebrating. God is still moving—in fact, He’s moving louder and wider. Twelve followers become thousands. News will spread from an upper room to far reaches of an empire. Bread will be offered for generations. The disciples have received instruction; it is time to harvest souls. The people of God, freed from sin, have become the Church.

“You shall then keep the feast of Weeks for the Lord, your God, and the measure of your own voluntary offering which you will give shall be in proportion to the blessing the Lord, your God, has given you. You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord, your God, together” (Deut. 16:10-11).