SEASONS - THOUGHTS ABOUT BUILDING A SUKKAH

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

This article is only a draft and composite of many of my thoughts about Sukkot and the significance of the Sukkah all jumbled up together.  I leave them here for whatever anyone can glean from their confusing and unorganized order.  I hope to split all the pieces out to create smaller articles over the time leading up to Sukkot.  If you can digest it this way - please feel free!  Just don't judge my writing ability by this composite of notes not yet organized.

If you’ve ever built a sukkah for Sukkot you have probably realized there is a lot of hidden meaning to be found in the building process.  

Jesus taught us all of these things in the Gospel, but all gospel lessons can easily be applied to the simple things that make up our normal lives, or even our special occasions in life, such as the time we experience during Sukkot when we decide to follow God’s instructions and complete the act of building a sukkah and spending our time inside the structure. 

It is called the Feast of Tabernacles because we dwell in booths or temporary shelters called sukkahs. 



The word sukkah in Hebrew actually translates to mean a temporary booth.  For some people this is as deep as building a sukkah will go, for others though – there is so much more to the whole wonderful experience.  

You really won’t get this unless you actually DO this.  

Obedience is the first step to growth in The Kingdom of God.  It is also a straight path to joy.   

So most of us who observe Sukkot joyfully build our sukkahs and enjoy them throughout the season of The Feast of Tabernacles. 











God often lets us find out a few things for ourselves as we go along instead of just spelling out lesson after lesson, making them boring and hard to retain.   This is yet another reason for observing The Fall Holy Days.   God knows the process of doing things is the way we are more likely to retain good lasting knowledge and remember significant matters.  It seems this "going-through"  process is just as important as the results of the process.  


Before we reach this date for The Feast of Tabernacles, if we are observing all The Fall Holy Days, we have judged ourselves and found ourselves lacking during Rosh Hashanah, confessed our sins and begged for God’s mercy and forgiveness.  

We have found that beautiful place in time right after Yom Kippur, where we have confessed all we know, fasted, and even asked forgiveness for what we don’t understand.
  
It is a season when we are beginning a new year of our lives standing clean before God, with atonement provided by the blood of Jesus that cleanses us white as snow.  By the time we arrive at Sukkot we find ourselves raising holy, clean, pure hands before our God in worship, because we have laid our sins and burdens at the feet of Jesus and have been washed in the blood and atoned for by a merciful God.  There is no better feeling! 

We turn our attention to starting a fresh new year in a much better state of mind and heart.  It is a feeling of great celebration!  Once again we have the hope of trying to walk holy before the God we love.  We know we are only human, and we are going to make mistakes; but we know He will guide us and pick us back up when we fall.  It is usually only a matter of time, but in the meantime, we have fresh new lives to build on for the coming year.
  

We will look up through the sukkah roof  of earthen branches and see that there are many, many stars in the sky.  We would realize that there is more sand on the sea shore than any man can count.  These things stand for the great number of Abraham’s children and the sign of the promise God made to Abraham even before he had become an Israelite!  









We always take the time to  remember the promise and to pass the promise on to others who need hope.
  
The sukkah is a place where people come looking for something.  Just like the story of the woman who lost a coin and cleaned and moved everything until she found it.  What we find in the fellowship of the sukkah is  the very thing the coin represented to the woman in the story.   It is a precious treasure.   People come seeking the substance of life here.  

Each year that passes finds my heart growing more tender toward the usefulness of the sukkah.   God’s mind is so unbelievably rich, and all it takes for Him to share it is obedience.  At first I came to building the sukkah blindly, just being obedient to the commandment to build the sukkah; then I began discovering one fact after another that related to joy.  

The woman in the story swept her house and searched it carefully.  I cleaned the floor of my sukkah too, looking around to be sure that it was full of the things that sustained life.  I had found them here, in this little temporary dwelling and like the woman in the story I wanted to call all of my friends and neighbors and invite them to come over and rejoice with me.  I wanted them to know what I had found in this season.  I put several chairs inside my sukkah and sat in prayer for awhile.  I thanked God for the opportunities He has granted to me simply by his instructions of how to build a sukkah.  I placed a bible on the table.  I opened it up.  Reading the bible inside the Sukkah is special!  

As older folks, living in the Sukkah, having lost our earthly fathers, we often to remember the once clear but now vague comforts and perfect order and dignity of living in our Father’s house under his rules.  Often the story of the prodigal son comes to mind.   We do not want to live like either son inside our Sukkah, but only a son who loves The Father.    Like the younger son, we, over time have gained some knowledge and understanding about these things we once took for granted, and now we hate ourselves for taking them for granted for so long.  We know we dare not ask for things to be as they were, but in the deepest part of our hearts we want to go back, simply to beg forgiveness and mercy of our Father who had been so good to us for so many years.  We Gentile Christians fit the picture of the younger rebellious son so well.  Especially during the time leading up to Tabernacles, during Elul and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

















We can see the significance of this and so many other bible stories right away when we are living in the sukkah.  It symbolizes the tents that the Israelites dwelled in during their time of wandering through the wilderness.  They camped surrounding the glory of God that led them through a pillar of fire by night and a cloud during the day.  They all kept the front of their tents open facing this glory.  Three sides were closed, but they could look out the open side at any time and see where God dwelt.  Ah, so much can be said for living in a temporary shelter of three sides with the front open and welcoming God, family, friends and neighbors to come inside and enjoy community.  Blessings of community always come from living in a sukkah!  

It takes DOING to see.  Sometimes God just loves for us to read between the lines as we are “doing” the things He has instructed us to do.   God doesn't always EXPLAIN His answers, He let's us discover them on our own.   This seems to be a family trait.  Jesus never gave straight answers either.   He always answered questions with questions.  It seems very possible that communications technique was intended to make us think.  Thinking, after all, can be a very spiritual trait.   If you start to build a sukkah you will find yourself thinking about a lot of things as you build. 

Like any good Father, God waits patiently with all of us as we go through different processes in the different seasons of life.  Every year He waits to see it we are going to build our sukkah.  Every year He teaches us a different way to dwell in the sukkah.

So, I discover it over and over each year, as I think of building this simple little temporary dwelling.  Every year as I go through the motions of The Feast of Tabernacles I learn something new and it all adds together each time, layer upon layer. It is never the same, always different each time.   

One year the learning experience started as I listened to my pastor’s sermon right before Sukkot.  The sermon came from the passage found in Luke 15:  Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Where am I in that passage?  I’m the one they called a “sinner.”  I’m not a tax collector, but it is funny that this passage of scripture came up just about the time we received our property taxes for the year. How odd that taxes and feast days seem to coincide!  I do vividly remember being angry at the tax collectors of our county who decided all of a sudden this year that my detached garage could be taxed as a separate building from this point forward, doubling the extra fire and emergency dues that are to be paid for living where I live.

 Not many people like their tax collectors, or want to hear from them or deal with them on a daily basis.  Have you ever heard anyone say “Oh yea!  I’ve been audited by the IRS and get to meet with them in person this week, can’t wait to see them!”  No, neither have I.  Those tax collectors have their own special brand of “sin.”  The thing we don’t usually see is the fact that all of us “sinners” have some brand of sin that we enjoy more than other sins.  That their sin is different from ours doesn’t change the fact that when you lump us all together – we are all just “sinners.”   This lesson plays out in the ritual of shaking the Lulav and knowing there are many kinds of people.  When you bundle them together, they are all sinners in need of God's grace and mercy.  We become like the Citron fruit when we receive God's love into our hearts, both sweet to the taste and fragrant with His Holy Spirit.

None of us will ever reach sainthood on this earth, but now we’ve come to the season of joy for all “sinners.”   Some have trod further into the valley toward sainthood than others, but each person must and should have given that to God by the time of the feast.   It is The Feast of Tabernacles.  It is a time period that comes after a time when we have considered our sins and examined our lives during the previous month of Elul.  

So how do we go about this? 

We begin to build our sukkahs for the festival of Sukkot. 

It is the very next thing we do after Yom Kippur and Atonement.  We have a festival that is to be celebrated in temporary booths called Tabernacles.  Is this silly?  Perhaps; but, perhaps not. 

Has your earthly father ever given you a chore that you didn’t appreciate or understand until it was complete?  Do you find yourself having fond memories of that special time now that it is years behind you?  Do you sometimes wish you could go back to those days, just for a little while, simply because they are so dear to you?   Years and years later the lessons you learned while carrying out your father’s instructions may still be important to you.  Looking back, you understand and appreciate the lessons learned while completing the project you once did not understand.  You are thankful and amazed at your father’s wisdom and so glad you participated.   God has a way of doing this for us when He is instructing us to build our sukkahs.

 You start out with the knowledge of the fact that the sukkah is only temporary.  You will dwell there for awhile, but only for awhile.  The time you set aside to dwell there should be a time of joy and celebration.  When the temporary time is over you will go to live in a more permanent structure.  So, build now – while the time is here.  Do not wait until it is time to go to a more permanent place.  This is a time you can never re-gain.  Live it out NOW.  One day you will look back and remember.

To build something like a sukkah, you first need to learn to follow instructions from someone who knows how to build properly.   God is the master builder.  He gives the instructions for the sukkahs in the scriptures that follow:

"Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, on the first day of the first month.  (Exodus 40:2)

As I pondered building a sukkah and all the process you usually go through in building one, our pastor’s sermon and the words of the scriptures spoken kept coming back to me.  I kept remembering that if not for the grace of God I would always be “just a sinner” and I kept thinking about how all the people I considered to be pagan and ungodly were probably just like those tax collectors, just a different flavor of sinners who were in the same boat as me – in need of restoration and resurrection. 

As those walls went up on the sukkah, a few walls between me and my neighbors began to fall down.  Then I read the second part of the scripture passage that my pastor had preached about again:

Luke 15:2   But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Ah, those very religious ones; those old Pharisees!  Perhaps I could fall into that definition – was I too being very religious in keeping the commandment to build this Sukkah?   These guys were in the same boat in that we all were sinners, be our sin self righteousness or murder; but they missed the point.  They were living in their own self righteousness and counting on the fact that if they simply did everything right they would not be condemned.  They couldn’t see that we were ALL sinners.  They were telling God how perfect they were and not humbling themselves in their obedience.  There was no worship involved here, only duty.  All of their laws had to make sense to them.  They knew no simple, humble obedience.  

I, on the other hand was just taking God at His word, looking at my little pile of boards and branches and saying “Okay Lord, I don’t get it completely, but I’m willing to do as you have instructed just because I love you and want to be with you in the things that you enjoy.”  My sukkah was about worship, not legalities.  I wasn’t constructing it out of duty or fear, but out of love.    So, on this realization, I continued building.

The Sukkah was to be shared with God and family and anyone who wanted to join in on the celebration.  Hmmmmm, I hoped once I got done that I would not turn into a Pharisee in my Sukkah.  Sometimes we can start off right but lose our way and go wrong.  I had to be careful of this.  I thought about how I needed to open up the front wall so that anyone who wanted to draw close and come inside could experience the same joy that I would find here.  A sukkah is for sharing.   I left the front open.  I welcomed other sinners to join me.  This is what Jesus did, yet even He was often condemned by judgmental people.  There would probably be a few who would judge me even for building this Sukkah in my yard.  They simply would not understand. 

People are often afraid of things they do not understand. They might even say I had misinterpreted the law and forgotten all about how The Messiah’s coming had completely changed things.  I wouldn’t listen to their judgments though, because I knew that everything happening about my sukkah WAS about how The Messiah had changed things.  I would simply invite them inside to experience the joy with me.  No one would be turned away.  Everyone would be welcomed in this Sukkah.  They would be welcomed into the shade, there would be food to share with them  if they were hungry, a chair if they needed to rest, and lots of good companionship.  I was liking this “sukkah” experience more and more.

I pondered the next part of my pastor’s sermon scripture reading: 

(Luke 15: 3-7:)  ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Hmmm……I was okay with inviting the judgmental casual acquaintances inside the Sukkah, but what about those who had truly offended me?  What about those who had once worshiped with me but had taken offense at some human part of the whole experience and walked away?  What about those that I knew had made a real profession of faith but had not even begun to live it out yet?  Was there hope for them too?  I knew The Good Shepherd would be looking for them, even during the feast days, hoping, watching, searching the horizon, looking to see if they would be coming back.  Who did I know like this? I needed to make it easy for them to be found.  I needed to make it comfortable for them to come back into the fold.  I would open my sukkah to them.  I would call them and invite them over for some cool refreshments during the time of the feast. 

I was seeing more and more why God had asked us to keep this ritual every year.  It was more than a harvest festival for the land, it was a harvest festival for the soul.  

The Good Shepherd wanted all His sheep in the fold.  It was time to look around and noticing who had not been among us lately and inviting them to come back inside.  What better way than a party in a festive sukkah?

Then I read the next part of the scripture reading my pastor has just quoted from a few days ago:

(Luke 15:8-10:) ⁸ “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins^[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

This parable gave me some good instructions as to how to furnish my sukkah.  The woman had lost something, a coin that would sustain her with the food that gave her life.  I was interested in lost people and helping them to find the value in life, and the tools the woman used in the story were the same tools I would need in my sukkah.  She needed a light.  She lite a lamp to make it easier to find her valuable coin.  I went to get some candles to put on the table in my Sukkah.   I was reminded of how many festivals God gave us that portray Jesus as the light of the world.  I would light the candle in the Sukkah,and we would thank God for bringing us Messiah.  He would furnish the light in the Sukkah, as well as the stars in the sky.   

The pages flipped to the rest of the passage from my pastor’s sermon:

Luke 15: 11-31: ¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.  ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.  “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.  ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.  ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  
²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’  ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

It was the age old story of the prodigal son.  It starts out mentioning that there were two sons.  I thought of the two sons in this story as I had come to see them; so often I had thought of those two;  I could see that the older son symbolized Israel and the younger son symbolized the Gentiles.  The two sons were very different, but they had the same Father. 

We Gentiles have been a lot like the younger son in the story.  We have wanted everything we have coming to us NOW, and we have asked God to give it to us NOW.  And God, just like the Father in the story divided His possessions out and gave us a our portion NOW.  He sent His only Son to save us with his life.  He sent His Holy Spirit to sustain us.  We took it all for granted and went out and lived like kings, feeling rich and important from all our blessings.  We thought we had it all, but we were actually very poor because we had not yet learned the true values in life at all.  We have squandered our wealth in wild sinful living.  Sin has run rampant among us, even to the top level of the leaders of our churches and denominations.  Our sins have brought the land that God gave us into captivity.  We find ourselves in financial bondage to strange people in strange lands.  We have to work hard for anything to put on our tables now, and we often stop to remember how blessed we were before we threw God’s laws out the window and tried to live however we wanted to at the moment.  

So we turn and go home to a loving and merciful Father who meets us with a cloak that covers us and a ring that says who we really are.  It is amazing and crazy to us that He loves us so much to totally forgive how selfish and rebellious we have been.  He still loves us!  Our times of sorrow and repentance turn to joy and celebration!  We have found out who we truly are and we only want to be the restored child of the father forever.   We celebrate our restoration in The Feast of Tabernacles inside our temporary dwellings called sukkahs.

We return to a land and a way that our brother has never left.  The older brother is Israel.  Israel and the people of Judah who have always done everything right.  They have stayed with the Father all along.  They have carried out His instructions to the letter.  They resent the fact that the younger brother has come home from all the waste and repented to the Father and found favor.  They resent that the father did not met them at the door with a cloak and a ring and present it to them for all their righteousness all these years.  They resent that the Father has not seen their total loyalty and devotion and recognized them for it in the land. 

So, here they are, the two brothers.  They are both back together in The Father’s House, and it is the time of joy and celebration.  It has been the Father’s custom to celebrate this season of harvest.  When the sons reach the Father’s House the temporary dwellings become permanent.  They are both home forever.    The Father never stops teaching.  He will keep showing them lessons in life and letting them walk through the process until they learn to love each other again and live in harmony in His House.   The Father understands the needs of each son.  He knows the lessons they both need to learn.

  So, with all of this in my mind and heart, I open up my little temporary sukkah.  

I open it up to all who will come inside and find the joy and love that dwells in this place because One Father loved so very much that He was willing to sacrifice His only son. 

 I know one day that Father will take these fragile temporary things and make them real and permanent structures forever.