Harvest Festival - Stiffkey 2003
Today is Harvest Sunday.
Question: I was in Langham school on Thursday and the head, Mike Green asked the children: Why do we celebrate Harvest Festival?
Ans: It is a day when we remember and give thanks to God for all He has given us.
And as a result of God’s blessings, St. Paul urges us, in the first reading this morning to be generous to others.
Helen, where is our collection going today?
God wants us to have a generous heart. Not giving because we HAVE TO but because we WANT TO.
Look at what Paul says:
7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor 9:7)
And I am sure you are delighted that we are going to have the opportunity to be generous in the last hymn –
With a collection!!!!!.
Harvest Festival stands in a long tradition for God’s people. It goes back a good 4,000 years.
In our Old Testament the people of God, the Jews, had three major festivals; festivals where there was a three-line whip for all to attend.
1. The first festival was the Feast of Passover. It was usually held in April each year – at the beginning of the harvest.
It was at this festival that God’s people recalled how God himself had been their Saviour. For he had brought them miraculously out of slavery in Egypt.
And it is significant that it was at the Feast of Passover that Jesus was crucified in AD 29. Because through his death, he became our Saviour. He brought us out of the slavery to sin to become sons and daughters of God.
2. The second festival was the Feast of Weeks or Harvest, where the Jews gave thanks to God for their crop. This festival occurred at the end of the barley harvest.
It was also known as Pentecost because it was timed to be 50 days after Passover.
We read in Acts 2 that it was at Pentecost when the power of the Holy Spirit was released on the disciples. And they were then able to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.
And as the result of one sermon 3000 people became Christians. I wish I could preach like that!!!
3. And the third festival was the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurred after the grape and grain harvest was over.
It was at that festival that the Jews would camp out for a week in tents - recalling the temporary dwellings they had after the exodus.
All three of these festivals reminded them of God’s blessing on his people – in the physical and in the spiritual.
1. The Physical Harvest
My first thought is obvious – the physical harvest. This is, of course in the tradition of the Feast of Harvest or
Pentecost that we stand this morning.
Paul, in our reading reminds us of God’s provision for us when he says: "God supplies seed to the sower and bread for food."
And BREAD is a theme of my little talk today:
Question: But can anyone tell me what we need to make bread.
Corn (in the form of flour), Water, Sesame seeds Salt, Yeast, and a little bit of heat!!
Trick: Make bread.
2. The Bread of Life
While it is easy for us to remember the physical harvest, it is important that we also remember the spiritual harvest too.
Indeed my second thought stands more in the tradition of Passover
I wonder if any of you can remember any of Jesus’ words to do with bread:
“I am the bread of Life?” (Jn 6:35)
Question: What do you think Jesus meant when he said that - Did he mean that he had suddenly become a piece of bread?
Answer: Jesus meant that he alone could satisfy our deepest needs. Jesus is the spiritual; food of life.
Let’s look at the background to that statement.
Jesus has just fed a crowd of man and women who had come to hear him preach. He then left but the crowd followed him.
Why, because he had fulfilled a physical need – he had fed them when they were hungry.
Now Jesus challenges them:
“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw the signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for food that perishes but for food that endures for eternal life” (Jn 6:26, 27)
What was Jesus’ mission on earth?
1. Was it to be a good teacher – well he was that
2. Was it to be a miracle worker - yes he was that
3. Was it to be a good example of how to live- yes he was that too.
But his real mission on earth was to satisfy our deepest spiritual needs.
In other words when Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life” he is saying: I alone can fully satisfy you.
Question: Can you recall where Jesus was born?
Answer: In Bethlehem,
Question: Do you know what Bethlehem means?
Answer: “ The house of bread”.
Jesus came from the “House of Bread”. I wonder if God was telling us something with that.
Jesus will satisfy our deepest needs
So what are these deep needs. I could think of five of them
1. Belonging
The first need Jesus satisfies is our need to belong.
We all have a need to BELONG.
Jesus came to this earth so that we could belong in the family of God. He died to enable us to be his brothers and sisters – to belong to God’s family. To be able to call God the Father – Dad
“Our Father in heaven” in the Lord’s Prayer would more accurately be “Our Dad in heaven.” (Mt 6:9)
Jesus comes for satisfy our need to belong become his brothers and sisters.
2. Dear Friend
The second need that Jesus satisfies is that of close friendship.
If you will cultivate that friendship, he will become a dear friend to you.
Jesus said: I have called your friends, for everything I
have learned from my Father I have made know to you (Jn 15:15)
3. Answers our questions
The third need that Jesus satisfies is our curiosity. He answers our questions.
The Pharisees asked Jesus questions – for example whether it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. It was a no win situation. If Jesus said “You should pay taxes to Caesar” he would have lost public support.
If he said “You shouldn’t pay taxes to Caesar” the Pharisees would have been able to deliver him to the Romans for execution.
Jesus answer is breathtaking. He asks them to bring him a coin and says: Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. (Mt 22.21)
Even Alistair Campbell would have been proud of that one.
4. Relieve our fears
The fourth need that Jesus satisfies is that he will
relieve our fears.
Just after the Resurrection, in Jn 20, the disciples were gathered behind closed doors for fear of the Jews. Jesus walks through the door and stands in the midst of them and says:
“Peace be with you.” (Jn 20:19)
Another time, when the disciples were caught in a storm on the lake of Galilee, he relieved their fears by calming the storm.
Jesus relieves our fears.
5. Entertains our doubts
The final need that Jesus satisfies is our doubts. We all have doubts at times and Jesus entertains our doubts.
The most famous occasion was when Thomas doubted that the Lord had risen. He told the other disciples that he would only believe if he put his hands into the nail holes in Jesus hands and his hand into the spear mark in Jesus’ side. Jesus, instead of being angry with Thomas for doubting, offers Thomas the proof he was looking for. He said to Thomas.
“Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” (Jn 20:27)
Jesus will entertain our doubts – and will deal with them.
Conclusion.
While it is easy to see the physical harvest – all around us, we are called to remember too that there is also a spiritual harvest that God gives too.
He feeds both physical and spiritual needs.
So the next time you eat a piece of BREAD (or toast for breakfast may I encourage you to think about the five spiritual needs that Jesus, the Bread of Life can satisfy.
1. B – Our need to Belong
2. R – He relieves our fears
3. E - He entertains our doubts
4. A – He answers our questions
5. D – He is a Dear Friend
