Repentant Joy at the Kingdom Banquet

In a posted Bible study on the Book of Nehemiah, Michael Spencer made the following comments, based on Neh. 8:10 about The Unlikely Command of Holy Joy. He is making a direct connection between the joy of repentance and the joy of the Messianic banquet, the celebration of the Kingdom.

But the Gospel, in the form of God’s promises and mercy, is alive in the midst of all this weeping, grieving and blame.

The Gospel is the invitation to stop grieving, to stop letting the past control the present. The Gospel is an invitation to holy joy. In fact, the Gospel is the command to stop weeping and to feast, to laugh, to share and have a party.

Surrounded by ruins. Deserted. Dominated. Full of suffering and questions. Convicted of their corporate complicity and continuing guilt in the failure to be the people of God. Failed witnesses. A failed mission to be a chosen, holy, priestly nation.

Plenty of reasons for tears, and not many reasons for feasting. But they are commanded to feast, not fast, and to have holy joy, not endless weeping.

Over and over, Jesus declares the days of mourning and grieving are over; that the joy of the Gospel of the Kingdom has come. The Pharisees react predictably: God wants guilty sinners making bigger promises for bigger obedience. The parties and banquets that Jesus’ inaugurates are too much and too soon.

The Pharisees want the weeping and the grieving. The Gospel of God wants us at the banqueting table, laughing, sharing, celebrating.