Cultivating Joyنموونە

Joy Is Having a Feast

Joy, as part of the fruit of the Spirit, is a New Testament word, of course. But joy is very much in the air throughout the Old Testament as well.  So many of the psalmists call on the people to sing and rejoice. Whatever God gives is to be received with thanksgiving and joy, including everything from the word of God to the gifts of everyday life. This act of celebration was actually a command for the Israelites. Three times every year, they would remember God’s overflowing blessing with overflowing joy—with celebration, banquet, and rejoicing.

However, we should notice that in the Old Testament the earthly joy of feasting together as an act of thanks to God has two key characteristics: it must be morally clean and socially inclusive. The Canaanites in the land around them also had many feasts, but God warned Israel to avoid the kind of debauched “joy” of those festivals, which included immorality, drunkenness, gluttony, and idolatry. In contrast, Israel’s feasts were to be occasions that the whole family could enjoy together without embarrassment. Moreover, Israelites were to make sure that nobody got left out at their feasts. In particular, God told them to include Levites and foreigners who did not have their own land to harvest and widows and orphans who had no families to provide for them (Deutoronomy 16:14).

The New Testament also encourages this kind of celebration. Drunkenness and gluttony are condemned, but we are encouraged to include more than just our close friends and neighbors in our celebrations by looking to the example of Jesus. He “came eating and drinking,” and was criticized for it in Matthew 11, but he enjoyed parties and dinners without condoning sin and immorality. And one of the clearest commands he gives is to invite the neglected to their parties—the poor, the needy, and the disabled (Luke 14:12-14). 

Thus in the light of Scripture, the joy that is the fruit of the Spirit includes the sheer joy of eating and drinking together. No wonder Jesus used the word feast to describe our future with him in the new creation. And our feasting reflects the joy of the Holy Spirit, clean and wholesome, not tainted with immorality or excess. And it will be inclusive; all those who belong to the family of God are included, and not just those we happen to like. 

From Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit by Christopher J. H. Wright.