March 6
"There were three annual feasts, the Passover, the Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, at which all the men of Israel were commanded to appear before the Lord at Jerusalem. Of these feasts the Passover was the most largely attended. Many were present from all countries where the Jews were scattered. From every part of Palestine the worshipers came in great numbers. The journey from Galilee occupied several days, and the travellers united in large companies for companionship and protection. The women and aged men rode upon oxen or asses over the steep and rocky roads. The stronger men and the youth journeyed on foot."
Desire of Ages, page 76 from the chapter, 'The Passover visit'
We go to Camp Meeting! The Conference officers plan and usually spend a good amount of time on a motto and a theme. There was no need for that kind of planning for the three great feasts. Everyone knew the significance of the occasion. The idea of the Passover was to look back at the deliverance of the people from Israel from their captivity in Egypt. Of course it was a time of thanksgiving. We, as Christians have different interpretations of the meaning of the Passover – but it is still a time of thanksgiving.
Jesus was in the midst of all of this. True, there was the religious celebration, but the ascent from Nazareth in a great company would have been a wonderful celebration for a young man.
You can guess, of course, that the older men – the 14 year olds who had passed this way before right through to the oldest traveller would be making remarks on the lines of, “you’ll be a man tomorrow my son”.
Jesus would have a greater objective in mind but could not have failed to get caught up with the dual celebration. He had his own Bar Mitzvah to look forward to, and his first Passover as a man. Who could fail to be excited?
If we were planning a special celebration to mark our own passage from one phase of our life to another we would need to make sure that there would be celebration as part of the event. |
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
