Sukkot follows the season of repentance and covering. Sukkot is where the lessons of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are put to a first test.

Repentance is the shade of forgiveness, a place of refuge and refreshing. It is shade because fault is still fresh in the minds of those effected, there is still enough light for us to see; but in that shade all will also be transformed in the new beginning of covering.

Build the sukkah, the tabernacle.

Here is another layer regarding the instability of Sukkot: living forgiveness, under the shade of the sukkah.

There is a rabbinic teaching that says the glory of God dwells in the shadow of the sukkah; the place where covering shades us from the direct heat – pictured as the hot sun – of judgment.

In the sukkah we welcome, not only our family whom we will naturally forgive, but also “strangers,” perhaps those distanced because of trespass that we now have forgiven.

Sukkot teaches us to shade people in the forgiveness we have received, and that which we have given. Sukkot is seen as an end, as it appears to mark the end of the festival year, but it is the beginning of living without the weight of the past, in the spirit of God’s renewal.

Sukkot is a place for the forgiven to land, and start again.

How can this be lived out after Sukkot? Messiah gave us daily words to pray that create a sukkah, a place of daily refuge, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matt. 6:12).

And how is this done? In Him. In Messiah, the Tent of heavens presence, “And the word pitched His tent and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:15).

The instability of Sukkot in faithing action unto the Lord is trusting that He will make our wrongs, and their wrongs, right in the shade of repentance (Ro. 8:28-29).

So the decorations are only decorations, and the sukkah is only a flimsy shed, if the power of God’s presence is not realized in the shade of repentance where forgiven brethren sit and dwell together.

It seems unstable, but in our limping instability, we rely on the Holy Spirit to come alongside, and speaks Messiah’s promises to us once again.

Be well. Shabbat shalom, and Hag Sukkot Sameach!

Opulence. So often we feel that in order to receive guests, everything must be perfect, pristine. Sukkot, Tabernacles, says no.

In order for Sukkot to be perfect, joy must be present, not opulence. As the Lord commands, “and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days” (Lev. 23:40).

It’s not the building, it’s the joy. The joy becomes the foundation of the mishkan, the tabernacle of His presence. Your joy, and that of those gathered with you, becomes a building of joy, praise, and thanksgiving, as the psalmist writes, “In Your presence is fullness of joy” (Ps. 16:11). This joy is not dependent on a building, but the reality of His presence (Matt. 18:20).

The Lord commands us to build a booth, a tabernacle, or, another way, a rough shed. At no other time of the year would we put up a couple of walls, throw some branches over the top, and invite family and friends over to sit in our makeshift shed, out in the elements. No, we do this for the opulence of joy.

Traditionally we welcome the ushpizin, guests, to our sukkah; but gathered with with us is the living presence of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Mk. 12:26-27), and those who came before us. As the author of Hebrews writes, “so great a cloud of witnesses,” (Heb. 11:1) sharing in faith, faithing toward the unseen Lord, and the city He has promised to those who love Him (Heb. 11:16).

An opulent, perfect dwelling does not make for a perfect festival, but tasting the harvest of His promise, when the cloud of His glory rests in our midst Ex. 40:34), and we are bathed and baptized in the clouds of His glory does.

When Peter, upon the Mt. of Transfiguration, suggested that he build three booths, three sukkahs, the Father interrupts, and it is Yeshua/Jesus alone that remains; shining out the glory of heaven (Matt. 17:1-8).

Be well. Shalom.

Tabernacles: Look.

Leviticus 23:40:

וּלְקַחְתֶּם לָכֶם בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן, פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים, וַעֲנַף עֵץ-עָבֹת, וְעַרְבֵי-נָחַל; וּשְׂמַחְתֶּם, לִפְנֵי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם–שִׁבְעַת יָמִים.

“And you shall take, on the first day of the feast, fruit of a beautiful tree, curved branches of a palm tree, branches of a willow, and you shall rejoice before the Lord for seven days.”

We are living in a season of desperate pressure. People around the world, from every tribe, nation, and tongue, sharing a global pandemic; fear, anger, restriction, loss, separation, and isolation are conditions perhaps more relatable now than at any point in living memory.

Yet, the appointed seasons of the Lord continue. While many of us have wrestled with how to celebrate communal holidays indoors, Sukkot, the feast of Tabernacles, sends us out.

The deep significance of Tabernacles is beyond a single article, as it has historical, ecclesiological, eschatological, and prophetic significance, even today. Still, we will first look to one point: “And you shall take.”

Under the weight of enormous familial, societal, and occupational pressures, many of us have become tunnel visioned; so focused on the troubles before us that we scarcely take a moment to look up, look around, and remember that we are alive, after all.

This is not a commentary on meeting the immediate needs of the moment; rather, a reminder for all of us: look up.

I start this festival commentary, not in the grand endeavor of building a sukkah/tabernacle, but with a reminder to look. Look away from the mountain of pressures and problems before you, and look to the trees and waterways around you.

The Lord commands, “And you shall take,” implying that you are outside, and in the midst of life, but differently, the “fruit of a beautiful tree,” you have admired something other than your troubles, “curved branches of a palm tree,” movement once again, now down by the water, “branches of a willow,” to do what, “you shall rejoice before the Lord for seven days.”

Here the Lord takes us away from the confinement of our troubles, to His creation. We’ve had to look for fruit, look for beauty, touch creation, and visit flowing, living water. Life, beloved, is more than your troubles, fears, schedules, and pressures.

By this simple, overlooked, and often ignored command, the Lord is reminding us to saturate ourselves in His grace. All the rain has brought forth beauty, and fruit. The rain has caused the living waters to flow. The aroma of life fills, filters, and refreshes the stale air of worry. Beauty is what surrounds, the trials will pass.

Rejoicing before the Lord, waving the elements, the bouquet of His creation gathered in our hands, is the witness of victory. Yes, a victory even in anticipation.

Here is the final scene of Sukkot, a victorious people from every tribe, people, nation, and tongue, not fighting a virus or each other, but victorious in the Lamb:

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7:9).

Hag Sukkot Sameach!

Be well. Shalom.