Anticipation . . .

Besides pastoring and doing outreach teaching about the Hebraic roots of Christianity, my husband and I both teach high school. Trust me, well before this time of year, students, parents, and especially teachers start examining the calendar to find out just how many days we have left!

Imagine how the apostles felt after that first resurrection morning. Instead of going back to same old, same old, fishing nets and tax collection, suddenly they realized everything wasn’t over. In fact, everything was about to begin again, in a whole new way.

They had already seen Jesus die on Passover as the sacrificial lamb. John the Immerser had even announced that He was the Lamb of God at His baptism. But then He was raised from the dead on a very important day as well.

Jesus was resurrected on the day after the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread. While there was disagreement between various sects as to which Sabbath was referred to, His resurrection added to the words of Lev. 23:9-21 must have electrified them. They knew something else was going to happen.

Jesus continued to appear to them off and on for forty days, but then He told them to wait in Jerusalem. Wait for what?

They would have recognized that they only had 10 more days to wait until the Feast of Shavuot, or weeks. Most Christians recognize the day as Pentecost, Greek for “count fifty”.

All Jews knew that they had to count seven full weeks between the day after the Sabbath during Unleavened Bread until Shavuot. That counting is called the “counting of the omer”. “Omer” means “sheaves”. So we are to count one sheaf for each week.

On that day, it would be exactly 50 days since the wave sheaf had been offered before the Lord—the firstfruits. I Cor. 15:20—24 tells us that Jesus is the firstfruits.

The firstfruits of the early harvest, a sheaf of barley, had to be cut down and waved before the Lord before the harvest could begin. Likewise, Jesus had to die and be offered as an offering for our sins before the harvest of souls could begin in earnest.

Pentecost is not a new Christian feast! And Shavuot is not just some Jewish harvest ritual. On this day it is customary to read the book of Ruth, when a gentile woman from a tribe banned from ever joining Israel becomes part of the heritage of Jesus. Hmmmmm, Jew and gentile, joined together.

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” (Acts 2:1)

Pentecost is tomorrow. Have you been counting the days?