Jesus shared in life with us – in every way. He even went to parties and participated in feasts and other celebrations. I believe Jesus even had a great sense of humor. He was well-acquainted with ceremony and festivities; He wasn’t afraid to be used or recruited for service at a special event; and He enjoyed honoring His friends and neighbors with His physical presence.

He entered into life with humanity, and by sharing in our mundane life He was able to share His eternal life – the greatest celebration of all! That’s the Jesus I know and love. I want to share with you about some of the everyday things from Jesus’ life for this one reason: He wants you to be just like Him!

He shared the details of living a human life; to show us how we can share in the details of each others’ lives; and because of that, we are best suited to invite the world to know and share His life.

God Himself instituted Feasts and Festivals and Holy Days for the people of Israel – celebrations that varied in duration from one day to an entire year in length. In terms of frequency, one celebration – Shabbat, or the Sabbath, took place every week, eight celebrations took place every year, while the Sabbath Year came around every seven years, and the Year of Jubilee every 50 years.

The people of Israel celebrated rest and relaxation, they celebrated the land, the harvest, God’s goodness, His provision, their release from centuries of slavery in Egypt, their wandering in the desert, they gave thanks, and they presented themselves to the Lord for His use and for His favor. They used these celebrations to cleanse themselves, memorialize events, commemorate special days, and to remind themselves of their history.

Listen to these instructions from God found in Exodus 23:10-16:

“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

“Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.” (Exodus 23:10-16)

God gave the people even more Feasts and Festivals to be held throughout the year – Feast of Weeks, Feast of Booths, Feast of Trumpets, the Sacred Assembly and the Day of Atonement.

God instituted these Feasts and Holy Days. . .
• to make people take time off,
• to slow people down,
• to reinvigorate their hearts, their families and their nation,
• and to re-focus their energies back toward Him.

When Jesus was a boy, He would have taken part in these festivals. Eating at feasts, camping out in a tent for a week, eating unusual foods as symbols of something that happened centuries before Him. When He was an adult He celebrated these events along with his family and millions of other Israelites throughout the land.

Jesus also celebrated the every day special events such as weddings, funerals, dedications, special rituals of cleansing, sacrifices, and more.

In John 2:1-11 we read about Jesus attending a wedding.

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to Him, “They have no more wine.” (Now – we’re getting a glimpse into Jesus’ personal life and how He interacted with His mother!)

“Dear woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.” (What Jesus was saying was: “Is that any of our business, Mom? This is someone else's special event – not mine. I’m not going to use this wedding to start my ministry and upstage the newlyweds! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves – so don’t push me.”)

But being the typical mother, she was undaunted. . . “His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”

They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then He called the bridegroom aside and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Jesus jumped right in and provided 120-180 gallons of the best wine – the expensive stuff! He kept the party going.

Let me take a moment to tell you a little about the party Jesus was attending – let’s look at some of the details of a Jewish Wedding of Jesus’ day.

The groom would come to the girl’s home and negotiate the bride price – the price he paid the parents for properly raising the girl. A marriage contract was signed, a cup of wine was shared over the covenant – and the couple were betrothed.

The groom left the bride to prepare herself for life with her new husband, while the groom went back home for about a year to prepare a home for the newlyweds. When the groom’s father approved of his preparations, he would go back to get the bride, who would be ready with her bridesmaids and waiting on his return – even if she did not know the exact day or hour.

Back at the groom’s home, the guests would all arrive and prepare for a sumptuous feast. When the newlyweds arrived, seven days of feasting and celebrating would begin.

So – for Jesus to be at a Wedding – He spent close to a week eating and drinking and having fun in the company of people enjoying the festivities.

• Jesus was invited places – we know He was invited to at least one wedding, there were probably more. (John 2:1-11)
• We know He was invited to funerals or vigils – Lazarus’ was one we read about in Scripture. (John 11:1-44)
• We know He was invited to meals – Mary and Martha invited Him to share a meal – probably more than once – and a prominent member of the Sanhedrin also had Jesus over for a meal. (Luke 10:38-42; 14:1-35)
• Sometimes invited Himself! Remember Zacchaeus? “Climb down out of the tree, there, Zach – I’m coming to your house today!” (Luke 19:1-10)
• He celebrated Passover with His friends, and He took part in the Feast of Booths (a.k.a. the Feast of Tabernacles). (Mark 14:1-31; John 7:1-15)

Jesus was invited – and He accepted the invitations! Jesus extended the invitations, too. And when He was there, He wasn’t afraid to be used or recruited to service – like at the Wedding Feast where He turned water into wine when the party still was going on and the wine had already run out. Jesus partied, He celebrated, and He honored His friends and neighbors with His presence!

What are some of our celebrations, today? Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter – all have a religious connotation. 4th of July gives an exciting aspect to our patriotism, where Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day are a bit more somber or reflective on the cost of our freedom as Americans.

New Year’s Eve is always fun – depending on how old you are and how wild your celebration, and Valentine’s Day is always fun – depending on how old you are and how wild your celebration!

Then there’s President’s Day, Fat Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day, Palm Sunday, Maundy-Thursday, Passover, Good Friday, May Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Hallowe’en, All Saint’s Day – and a whole host of other “special days” on the calendar.

We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and commemorate dates like first dates, years in a home, years of sobriety, years since a surgery, years until retirement – and much more.

I’ve told you all of that, because I want you to be aware of this: We seem to have lost the ability to celebrate well – the way God wants us to celebrate!

In our society today, we have so many special days that we forget some and ignore others and play down many so that only a very few actually make it to the level of a true “celebration!”

Celebrations are meant to show happiness that something good or special has taken place.

• We show this special event by eating or drinking or playing music or dancing or a mixture of all of these and more.
• We also show this happiness that something good or special has taken place by the use of ceremony and festivity – we make the event famous, and elevate it and allow it to change our way of living, if just for a day.
• We do this together. We do this to bind us together. We do this to change the world around us.
• We do this to become “a people;” to be interconnected; to be a community.

Think about this:

1. We don’t celebrate very well.

It’s interesting that one of the biggest celebrations in America today is Mardi Gras. It’s held before the season of Lent, when devout Christians give something up as a form of penitence (showing regret for sin against God). The entire focus of Mardi Gras is that – just before giving something up for Lent as an act of devotion to God – we go out and get drunk take off our clothes and run around like raving lunatics, perhaps to get it out of our systems!

OK – so let’s look at Thanksgiving. Up early in the morning, turkey in the oven, vegetables cut up, desserts prepared, everything boiling, table set. . . 5 hours later, we give thanks that the meal got done and we get to eat. Wait a minute. . . is that what Thanksgiving is all about?

Christmas – don’t get me started! It’s not even St. Patrick’s Day yet, and I’ll bet you can find Christmas decorations in some store somewhere!

What about Hallowe’en? We celebrate death and dying and the macabre with jack-o-lanterns and vampire teeth and haunted houses. What’s up with that?

Other than holidays that need a make-over – we simply don’t do the actual celebrating very well. . .

For a celebration to BE a celebration there are five major ingredients that must be in place:

1. There has to be a focus of the celebration – birthday, graduation. . .
2. There has to be some kind of party – food, music, games. . .
3. There have to be guests – you really cannot celebrate alone. . .
4. It has to change your life in some way – you’re different because of the celebration. . .
5. As a result, you grow closer to others – and/or to God. . .

We tend to be very sedate and private in our celebrations. We do quiet things and we cocoon ourselves away from people.

Jesus was at a Wedding Feast where the wine ran out and He replaced it with the best wine the people had ever had. You can imagine the noise and the scores of people running around – and Jesus was there celebrating! Why? Because that’s what God wanted!

2. God wants us to be a celebrative people.

Make no mistake about this. God wants us to be a celebrative people. God instituted the Feasts and Festivals and Holy Days of the Sabbath, Passover, Firstfruits, Booths (camping out), and Pentecost or the Feast of Weeks. They were there to help us slow down, show and experience joy, and grow closer to God and to one another.

But – did you know that much of the narrative of Jesus’ words in the New Testament about the Church and Heaven have to do with the celebration of the Wedding Feast?

I don’t want to go into too much detail today, because it’s a wonderful message all by itself. . .

1. There’s the covenant that Jesus established – a betrothal covenant.
2. He commemorates it with a cup of wine. (Matthew 26:27-29)
3. He leaves us to “go prepare a place” for us, and promises to come again and take us unto Himself. (John 14:2)
4. When will He return? Only Jesus’ Father knows! (Mark 13:32-33)
5. Like the bridesmaids awaiting the groom, we must keep our lamps trimmed and burning until He arrives. (Matthew 25:1-13)

Our entire story of salvation and deliverance and eternal life is told using the same language of the Wedding Feast. When we get to Heaven, we will all sit down at the Lamb’s High Wedding Feast – not as guests, but as the Bride of Christ! (Revelation 19:7-9)

God uses language of celebration – He instituted celebrations – what more proof could we need?

3. Jesus enjoyed celebrations.

You know – a lot of people have a hard time with the concept that Jesus had a sense of humor. Most people see Him as authoritarian and stoic – even angry – but that is not at all Jesus’ character!

We have to read carefully the hints to Jesus’ personality found in Scripture. We can’t tell if He laughed out loud, or if His sense of humor was dry or if He smirked or smiled or grinned – but we do know He had a sense of humor.

Jesus used sarcasm and puns and paradoxes and hyperbole as an arsenal of verbal sparring with the leaders of the Jewish people. “You blind guides – straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel!” (Matthew 23:24) Yes – He called them names! Jesus had a sense of humor! He invented humor before Adam was created!

Jesus turned over the tables of the money-changers – but the gospel writers want us to hear the sound of money clinking all over the stones of the courtyard and hear the “whiz-crack” of the whips as the cheaters ran for their lives. People witnessing that in that day would have jumped for glee at the spectacle! Imagine the grin Jesus flashed to the children looking on.

Jesus was a rule-breaker of sorts – a “pusher of buttons”. He had to be to stretch the Pharisees to the breaking point! “Jesus – your disciples picked grain on the Sabbath! What are you going to do?” “Me? Hey, the Sabbath was made for man – not man made for the Sabbath. Chill out!” (Mark 2:27 – my own paraphrase)

Jesus was a natural at using farce – mockery and the ridiculous – like when He said “Hey – stop complaining about a speck in his eye when you have a LOG hanging out of YOUR eye!” (Matthew 7:3-5 – my own paraphrase)

When Jesus named Simon “Peter” Jesus pulled a pun! “I tell you, you are Peter (Petros) and on this rock (petra) I will build my Church!” (Matthew 16:18) It may not sound funny to our western ears, but it was not lost on the disciples! “Simon - you’re going to be the rock-foundation for the Church I’m leaving behind in your care – so let’s call you. . . Rocky!”

Never forget that Jesus loved as deeply and as genuinely and as wonderfully as any man or woman you have ever met with a great capacity for love and humor and grace. The best you’ve ever seen in a human being that you admire – Jesus has them beat. And that includes a sense of humor.

Jesus loved life’s celebrations, and that’s the last bit of evidence we need that you and I must be people who celebrate!

• We need to re-learn – or learn for the first time – how to be a celebration people.
• We have to include others in our lives.
• We have to accept their invitations.
• We have to attend – and honor them with our physical presence.
• We have to go and be willing to serve or put to work.
• Most of all – we need to use the celebrations of life to slow down, connect with people in real, relational ways, and to re-focus on God’s goodness and provision. Our celebrations become holy-days because God instituted celebrations to keep us connected with Him!

Jesus shared in life with us – in every way. He even went to parties and participated in feasts and other celebrations. He was well-acquainted with ceremony and festivities; wasn’t afraid to be used or recruited for service at an event; and He enjoyed honoring His friends and neighbors with His physical presence.

He entered into life with us, and by sharing in our mundane life He was able to share His eternal life – the greatest celebration of all!

Learning to recognize the everyday aspects of the Master allows us to enter into and feel some of the same experiences and feelings He had. That realization should warm our hearts – and cause us to celebrate. Jesus entered our lives to show us how we should enter into life with one another, so we could effectively invite the world to enter life with Him.

So I challenge you to include others, accept their invitations, get out there and celebrate life in order to focus on God’s provision and love. Enjoy life’s celebrations!