How Fall Harvest Feast Days Reflect the Lessons of Jesus' Parables

Elizabeth Delaney Headlines Contributor
Published Sep 10, 2024

When we think of a fall harvest, we think of fruits and vegetables such as apples, cranberries, grapes, pumpkins, and squash. We might think of spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. There are also various activities and holidays that may come to mind. In the Bible's Old Testament, there were fall festivals that were celebrated as a way to honor God. When Jesus walked the earth, He used parables (or stories) as teaching tools to help people understand various scriptural truths. Some of His parables can be connected to the fall feasts.

Though Jesus said He came to fulfill the law and what the Prophets said (Matt 5:13), we can still learn a great deal about God's loving character by studying the fall feasts and some of the parables that reflect them.

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year that occurs in the fall. The celebration will begin on October 2nd, 2024, at sundown, according to Chabad.org. Traditionally, this feast day is a time of reflection and realization of the sin in an individual's life and the realization of renewal. The parable of The Lost Sheep (Luke 15:4-7) and The Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10) can be connected to Rosh Hashanah.

The lost sheep wasn't going to make it back into the fold without the shepherd coming after it. The woman who lost her coin had to make a point of going after it in order to retrieve it. Likewise, when we're lost in our sin, our relationship with God is broken until the Holy Spirit moves into our life to help us realize our sinful state. It's because of Christ's life, death, and resurrection that we're able to experience a new life in Christ. His sacrifice on the cross was the payment for our sins.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur is also known as The Day of Atonement (or Day of Forgiveness). It begins at sunset on October 11th, 2024, according to Chabad.org. Perhaps it was intentional that Jesus told the parable of The Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32), right behind The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin. The son insulted his father in a major way by asking for his inheritance while his father was still alive. To add injury to insult, he left home and wasted it with quite a few irresponsible activities. Once he finally realized the mistakes he made, he returned to his father, but before he even made it all the way home, the father was so eager to forgive and restore their relationship that he ran to the son and hugged and kissed him. That's a picture of the profound love of our Heavenly Father when we want to be restored to a right relationship with Him.

Sukkot

Sukkot is also known as the Feast of Booths. Originally, it was a reminder to the Hebrews of their 40 years of wandering around in the wilderness and journey to the Promised Land, according to Jewfaq.org. Once they made it to the Promised Land, it became connected with the fall harvest and was referred to as the Festival of Ingathering, according to Hebrew4Christians.com. According to Chabad.org, it begins at sunset on October 16th this year.

Sukkot completed the celebration of the fall festivals for Israel and required a trip to Jerusalem. In order to celebrate the holiday, materials to build the booths had to be brought along on the journey, as well as animals to be used for sacrifices.

Parable of the Wheat and Tares

Jesus spoke about a sower who sowed good seed into his field and an enemy who sowed tares into that same field during the night (Matt. 13:24-30). When the plants began to grow, no one knew for sure which ones were wheat and which were tares. Jesus identified Himself as the sower and the devil as the one sowing tares (Matt. 13:37, 39). Jesus instructed the angels (servers in the story) to wait until the end of time before separating the wheat from the tares since it would be easier to tell which is which. Then, the tares will get burned up in the fire while the wheat enjoys being in God's Kingdom. This particular parable is a warning to those who don't have a personal relationship with Him and an encouragement to those who do.

Parable of the Vineyard Workers

Grapes are generally harvested in the fall. This particular parable is generally connected to the rewards the Lord will give to those who make an effort to step out, use the gifts and talents God gave them, and the harvest of souls for His Kingdom (Matt. 20:1-16). It's definitely a comfort to those who come into a relationship with Him later in life, or perhaps have limited resources or are limited in some other way because it suggests that He'll reward each one according to the opportunities they were given, not on the amount of work that was done. In addition, it will eventually be revealed that not everyone who seemed to be doing work for His Kingdom had the proper focus.

Elizabeth Delaney has been a freelance content writer for over 20 years and has enjoyed having her prose published in both the non-fiction and fiction markets. She has written various types of content, including Christian articles, healthy lifestyle, blog posts, business topics, news articles, product descriptions, and some fiction. She is also a singer-songwriter-musician. When she is not busy with writing or music, she enjoys spending time with friends or family and doing fun social activities such as hiking, swing dancing, concerts, and other activities.