Deuteronomy 26: 1-11, Psalm 100, John 6: 25-35
I wonder what pictures or images come to mind when you hear the word harvest. Perhaps you think of fields of wheat and corn, ready to be cut; perhaps you think of great mounds of potatoes or vast quantities of fruit and vegetables. Perhaps your mind instantly goes to the supermarket aisles that are laden with all kinds of foods. I suppose you could say harvest = food.
People have been celebrating the harvest for centuries, giving thanks for the food they have grown.
Harvest festivals are occasions to celebrate and give thanks for the bountiful crops and produce that has safely been brought in.
It was an important time for people because it meant that they could store food and eat well through the long, hard winter months.
In Old Testament times, they didn’t just have one harvest festival but two. One was to celebrate the first fruits of the harvest and one to celebrate when everything was finally gathered in.
Our Harvest Festival corresponds to the Feast of Tabernacles which is described as “the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year” (Exodus 23:16). This was the last and greatest feast of the Jewish year and it was sometimes simply referred to as ‘the feast’. During this time, the men dwelt in green booths or ‘tabernacles’ made out of branches, in remembrance of their time in the wilderness when there were no harvests, and they depended on God for their daily food. You can read in Exodus how God cared for and provided for their daily needs. This celebration of gathering in the crops at the end of the year was a time of thanking God for food and farming.
Last Sunday Emma reminded us that it wasn’t until the 1860’s that Harvest Festival became an annual event in the Church of England.
Today we are celebrating and thanking God for the abundance of his provision and we are also giving thanks for farmers and those involved in food production. God is a generous God and blesses us with all the good things we enjoy.
In our OT reading, Moses is speaking to the Israelites just before they enter the promised land of Canaan where they would eventually settle. God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and had promised to settle them in a land that would provide an abundance of crops and good things to sustain and nourish them – a land flowing with milk and honey.
Moses is saying that when they are settled in the land and harvest the crops they have grown, they are to take the firstfruits up to the temple of God and present them as a thanksgiving offering to God. Notice he says firstfruits of the harvest - not the windfall and not the leftovers – but the firstfruits.
In doing this, they were to remember God’s gracious deliverance and provision for them, and they were to joyfully celebrate all the good things the Lord would give them to enjoy.
Why was this important? Two reasons. Firstly, the giving of firstfruits honoured the LORD. It was a way for the Israelites to remember God's gracious provision at harvest time. By offering the firstfruits they were recognizing their dependence on God for all his blessings.
Secondly, it made the point that it is the God of Israel, Yahweh, who blessed the land so that it produced an abundant harvest, not the pagan god Baal who was worshipped by the surrounding nations.
But that is not all. Moses says the Israelites are to celebrate and share the harvest. Israel’s joyful gratitude should also lead them to generosity with others, sharing God’s abundance with those in need.
Harvest time is a reminder of God’s abundant provision for us. God is generous and has set in place times and seasons for the earth to produce an abundance of crops. He has given us all good things to enjoy and blessed the work of all who grow the food we eat.
It is an opportunity for us to give thank to God for his provision and also to give thanks for all those who help to produce the foods we eat and enjoy – farmers, bakers, factory workers, lorry drivers, shopkeepers and many others.
From one end of the Bible to the other, we are commanded to be thankful. In fact, thankfulness is the natural outflowing of a heart that is attuned to God. In our 2nd reading the Psalmist says that we are to "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations". The Psalmist is encouraging us to cultivate an attitude of gratitude.
How many times do we stop and thank God for all the good things we are blessed with? Do we rejoice in what we have or are we more prone to reject God’s goodness? Its easy to think and feel we are hard done by when we look at what others have. The trouble is, if we’re always wanting more, we’ll never be satisfied. The antidote is being generous and thankful for what we have.
But God doesn’t just want his people to be thankful. He also wants them to be generous – generous towards God and generous towards those in need. Our generosity is an expression of our love for God and love for our neighbour. And by neighbour, I mean anyone in need.
There are many different ways in which we can be generous – generous with our time, talents, our money. We’re all different so one size doesn’t fit all. You can decide in your own heart what that might look like for you.
This morning the food items we’ve brought as an offering to God will go to the food bank to help those in need. It looks very different from what the Israelites would have done. But all the same, this is our communal act of remembering all God’s blessings in our lives and a tangible expression of giving to those in need.
Psalm 100 v 5 says “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
We are being reminded and reassured of God’s goodness, his love, his care, his faithfulness and provision. All we have is a gift from Him. So let thankfulness and joy bubble up in us as we celebrate God’s goodness in this harvest season. And let that overflow in generosity towards those in need as we share prayerfully and practically.
Amen.