Among other things, the holiday of Sukkot reminds us that God’s people are “strangers” in this world; they are literally estranged and live as “resident aliens” — here, yet not here…. We wander; we are lonely; we yearn for our heavenly home. Life in this world is “olam ha’sheker,” the false world — full of deception, troubles, and struggle. Thus Abraham said to the sons of Chet: “I am a ‘stranger and sojourner’ (גֵּר־וְתוֹשָׁב) among you; sell me a burial site…” (Gen. 23:4), and likewise David confessed: “For we are strangers with You, mere transients like our fathers; our days on earth are like a shadow without abiding (1 Chron. 29:15). Faith affirms that underlying the surface appearance of life is a deeper reality that is ultimately real and abiding. It “sees what is invisible” (2 Cor. 4:18) and understands (i.e., accepts) that the “present form of this world is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). The life of faith therefore calls us to live as toshavim – sojourners – who are at an infinite “distance” from the world of appearances and who seek the Eternal. Sukkot means we ache with a divine “homesickness” as we look forward to our real home in heaven (Heb. 11:9-10). “O You who are at home deep within my heart, enable me to join you deep in my heart.”
1 Chron. 29:15 Hebrew reading lesson (click):
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Chag Sukkot Sameach and Shabbat Shalom, my fellow sojourners in Messiah’s hope…
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