Before going into Jesus' three parables from Matthew 25, I will post a couple of elliptical posts concerning the feast days that are quickly approaching. These concern the Day of Atonement and the the Feast of Tabernacles.
From sundown on October 7 to sundown on October 8, 2011 is the Day of Atonement. This was described by God to Moses in Leviticus 23:27-32:
"Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath."
The Hebrew word for "day" is "yom" and the word for "atonement" in the passage is "kippur", which is where the term Yom Kippur on the Jewish calendar comes from. The word "kippur" comes from the root "kaphar", which has several different interpretations: to cover, to purge, to make atonement, to reconcile. Interestingly enough, it is translated as "pitch" in Genesis 6:14, when Noah was building the ark for the approaching flood. The pitch was the material that coated and protected the boards of the ark to ensure that the boat was water-tight. It kept the boards together; it repaired the breaches between the boards; it ensured that the boat did not sink. Similarly, we of the Church can be seen as the boards of the boat. Our actions towards one another show how we love each other, keep the boat together, and keep it from sinking. So the method of atonement that reconciles us with God, is also our method of treating one another and reconciles us to one another. We humble ourselves before God and before each other, by helping each other, and this is how we afflict our souls... and make atonement. (Not surprisingly, through excellent Spiritual timing, this post will tie together with the results that occur in the last parable of Matthew 25.)
There are a couple of caveats to this. First, observing this sabbath as a matter of ritual - for ritual's sake - is not recommended. As God said through His prophet, "For I desired mercy [i.e. love], and not sacrifice; and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6)." Second, observing the sabbath to create a spectacle is heavily frowned upon. This message was given to us by two powerful witnesses: Isaiah (by word of God) and Jesus. First, Isaiah 58 is an awesome source on what is a pleasing day to afflict your soul for God.
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew My People their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God. "Wherefore have we fasted," say they, "and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?" Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, "Here I am." If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
Jesus also spoke of an acceptable fast (day to afflict the soul) in the Sermon on the Mount, saying, "Moreover, when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father Which is in secret: and thy Father, Which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly (Matthew 6:16-18)." This echoes the same message as was given in Isaiah, and I believe was Jesus' reference when He spoke it.
The pleasing affliction to God is to humble ourselves to help one another, for each other's general good and not for show. This is how we are instructed to keep the boat together and is important in the time of the approaching flood. God bless.
