Feast of Camping

Understanding Tabernacles for Jesus and us

04/05/2019

John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 Jesus moved about within Galilee; he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, "Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.

I have never been a fan of camping: going out into the woods, setting up a tent, building a fire, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, and telling tall tales. That probably explains why I never made it past the rank of Webelos in Cub Scouting, a very beginner level of scouting. Nevertheless, for several years after I was ordained a priest, a group of us would travel to different destinations precisely to camp and enjoy God’s creation. Fortunately, several of my priest friends were Eagle Scouts, so we made it back alive every time.

One memorable trip was to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, on the boundary with Canada, hence the name. About eight priests camped for five nights, carried canoes on our heads over islands called “portaging” and every morning celebrated Mass on a make-shift altar, a tree stump. I don’t know what passers-by thought seeing us gathered in a circle with our long white robes, maybe an early morning meeting of the Ku Klux Klan. The best part of campaign for me was spending the night in a tent with close friends and knowing Jesus was with us, too. But every night I still dreamed of coming home and sleeping in my own bed.

Today’s gospel presents three excerpts from John chapter 7, but the whole chapter is set in the context of the feast of Tabernacles. We read in John 7:1-2, “After this, Jesus moved about within Galilee, but he did not wish to travel in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill him. But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.” What is the feast of Tabernacles? It is a week-long Jewish feast falling in September or October commemorating the forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert, while God dwelt in a tent, a tabernacle. 

Part of the feast required Jesus to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and visit the Temple, the new tent and tabernacle, God’s dwelling among his people. In a sense, Jesus had to go camping with his brothers to Jerusalem, to the tabernacle, to the tent, where it would be dangerous. He would rather have remained in Galilee, where it was safe, and he had a warm bed. Just like Jesus came camping with us priests in the Boundary Waters, so Jesus is always willing to set up his tent with his people no matter how dangerous. Keep in mind the Jewish feasts and festivals that serve as a background to John’s gospel. They will shed great light on Jesus’ words and actions.

My friends, may I suggest a couple of ways today’s message might be more meaningful for us? First of all, do you realize that Jesus still sets up his tent in our midst today? In every Catholic church the most prominent part is the Tabernacle, where we reserve the sacred Communion Hosts. We want to make sure everyone notices it so we place a sanctuary lamp with a candle always burning next to it. I love coming into the church at night, when all the lights are off and the red Tabernacle light is burning brightly.  Just like Jesus traveled with us camping in the Boundary Waters, and just like God dwelt in the tent/tabernacle for forty years in the desert with the Israelites, so Jesus has set up his tent/Tabernacle with us today as we camp here on earth. We are not alone.

But St. Paul brings out a secondary meaning of tent/tabernacle in 2 Corinthians 5:1. The Apostle to the Gentiles writes: “For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.” In other words, each of us inhabits a body that is like a tent or tabernacle, and which is temporary. And while it’s fun to go campaign for a while and build a fire and roast marshmallows and tell tall tales, we should also want to go home to our own beds, that is, return home to heaven. Think of loved ones who have died – I think of my nephew Noah – and try to see the end of their earthly life like folding up their camping tent/tabernacle and going home to heaven, and sleeping in a warm bed.

The feast of Tabernacles is the feast of tents or, more colloquially, “the feast of camping.” This feast may help us understand a little better what Jesus was doing in John chapter 7. This feast may help us understand what we are doing here on earth. But then again, I might be all wrong. After all, I never made it past Webelo.

Praised be Jesus Christ!