The Challenge of Celebration

Scripture — Nehemiah 8:9-12 (NRSV)

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Devotion

Today is Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday” if you translate from the French. This is a day in which many people celebrate. Of course, not all Mardi Gras celebrations are what we might call “appropriate.” But many are. On this day, for example, many Christians eat lots of pancakes. Why? Because this tradition is not only fun and delicious, but also a way to use up butter and sugar in preparation for Lent with its emphasis on fasting.

Celebration can be a challenge. I realize that might sound odd. But if you think about your various celebrations, I expect you will come up with some challenging realities, like dealing with your peculiar uncle on Thanksgiving. Or facing differences in family opinions about food. Or . . . you name it.

We get help in thinking about celebration from a surprising, delightful, and instructive passage in Nehemiah 8. Ultimately, I want to use verses 9-12 to talk about the challenge of celebration. But first, I’d like to walk through the text with you so I can share some of its surprises.

As you may recall, in the first portion of Nehemiah 8, after the wall of Jerusalem was finished, the priest Ezra read the law of God to the people for six hours. Then the Levities interpreted what had been read so that the people might understand the law and do it.

Today’s passage, which begins with verse 9, describes the response of the people to what they had just experienced. First, when the people heard and understood the law, they wept (8:9). We don’t know for sure why they wept. Perhaps they were convicted of their sins. Perhaps they realized that their longsuffering was a result of their unfaithfulness to God’s covenant. Perhaps they were simply overwhelmed with the presence of God as the Scripture was read.

Now, if I had been a leader of this congregation, I imagine I would’ve been pleased with their tearful response. Spiritual leaders want their people to confront their sins and confess them authentically. Tears can be powerful evidence of the work of God’s Spirit among us. So, if I had been one of the leaders in Jerusalem, I would’ve been inclined to say to the people, “That’s great. Feel free to keep on weeping.” But that’s not what Nehemiah, Ezra, and their colleagues said. Rather, they said, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep” (8:9). Now that’s a surprise!

We might suppose that because the day was “holy to the Lord,” weeping was required. But that’s not what the leaders believed. Instead, because the day was holy, it was time for a boisterous celebration! Yes, in verse 11 the Levites told the people to be quiet because the day was holy. But the people were not to remain quiet. The “Be quiet” command meant “Stop weeping and start celebrating!”

Here’s what the leaders told the people they should be doing instead of mourning: “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (8:10). First of all, the people were to go home and prepare rich, plentiful food for a big party. They were to make enough to share with those who couldn’t afford such extravagance. Generosity is an essential element of godly celebration.

The people were to do this with “the joy of the Lord” (8:10). Those of us who come from more reticent cultures should not assume that this joy was to be savored inside. Rather, as we read in verse 12, the people went their way to eat and drink and share with others. Celebrative dinners are often noisy with fun stories and lots of laughter. Moreover, the people made “great rejoicing” (8:12). Given their culture, it’s likely that they sang, clapped, and danced.

When we get to this part of the narrative, I would suppose that the reason for the celebration was the completion of the wall. But, once again, that’s not what we read in Nehemiah. Rather the people were to make great rejoicing “because they had understood the words that were declared to them” (8:12). This wasn’t a celebration of wall completion. Rather, it was more like the kind of celebrating we do at a graduation after learning has happened. For the first time in ages, the people had heard and understood God’s law. For sure, the law called for repentance, restitution, and righteousness. The law is serious business, after all. But when we understand God’s truth, that is ample reason for celebration.

I entitled this devotion “The Challenge of Celebration.” That might seem odd. Why would I call celebration a challenge? Well, in Nehemiah 8 it certainly is. The challenge for the Jewish people was knowing when it was time to weep and when it was time to celebrate. Their challenge was also knowing what and how to celebrate. Plus, there was the challenge of celebrating in a community of people with varied financial means. This passage shows that it was fine for those who had adequate resources to celebrate lavishly. But they needed to be sure to enable others to share in that celebration, especially those who couldn’t afford it.

When I read this story, I think back to a time when I was pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church. For many years, we had been engaged in a major building project. It wasn’t a wall, but rather a sanctuary and activity center for youth. My congregation and I spent a great amount of time, money, a prayer building these facilities. When we finally finished, we thought it would be appropriate to have a grand celebration. But what kind? How could we celebrate in a way that included every member of our congregation, those with financial means and those who struggled?

The elders finally decided to host a lavish brunch after church on Sunday. Everyone would be invited and nobody would be excluded. The cost of the lunch would be covered through the building fund. Though most of our people were excited about this, some were concerned about such a great expenditure of money “on ourselves.” It seemed selfishly extravagant. Wouldn’t it be better to send that money to one of our mission partners? Or perhaps we should save it to help pay off our building loan?

As we talked through these thoughtful questions, we turned to Nehemiah 8. From this story, we were encouraged to believe that there is a time to celebrate bountifully. We rarely did that as a church, and this was indeed a time for celebration. But we were concerned that some folks would feel uncomfortable about spending money “on ourselves.” As we were sorting out these issues, one of our elders solved the problem. She said, “My husband and I have decided that we’re going to donate money to pay for the brunch. This is our special gift of joy and celebration.” A few weeks later, we did indeed have a grand celebration. It was time, not for weeping, but for rejoicing. And we made sure that anyone who wanted to come would be welcome no matter their financial means.

I want to share one more story inspired by Nehemiah 8. During my pastorate in Irvine, the leaders and I were talking about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. We had become aware that many of our church members would not be spending time with their families. In fact, some of them, especially some of the young adults in our church, had no place to celebrate with other people. This seemed wrong to us. So, we decided to host a Thanksgiving dinner at the church. Several families who could have celebrated in their homes offered to host the dinner. It would be a combination of a catered meal and a potluck.

As congregants signed up for this event, I noticed that quite a few in our intended audience were coming (single adults, young adults). But many others were not who we had been expecting. They were older couples or young families. When I asked these people why they were coming to our Thanksgiving dinner, they said that it would be so much more fun to celebrate the holiday with our church family. I was deeply touched, both by the generosity of those who wanted to provide a place for others and by the fact that so many of our people loved being with the church family on Thanksgiving Day.

I share these stories with you not to hold up my former church as something special. We were simply a community of Christians trying to figure out how to live biblical truth in our distinctive context. I do hope that these stories will encourage you to think creatively about your own celebrations. How might they come to reflect even more God’s way of celebrating?

Nehemiah reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. It’s good and right at times to celebrate, to enjoy the good things of this life in fellowship with others. We do this, not only with our nearest family and friends, but also with the greater family of God. Perhaps for many of us, the biggest challenge of celebration is the pervasive problem of isolation and loneliness. According to a recent Gallup survey, 20% of American adults report feeling lonely “a lot of the day yesterday.” Yet, if we follow the example of Nehemiah and his people, not to mention the example of Jesus, then we will celebrate joyfully and invite into our celebrations those who might otherwise miss out on the celebration.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Mardi Gras?.