Three Times In a Year – Deut. Chpt. 16

We know that when Jesus was arrested and crucified, he was in Jerusalem for one of the annual feasts. There were three annual feasts: Unleavened Bread, Weeks, and Tabernacles. Jesus was in town for Passover and Unleavened bread, which were celebrated together. The roots of all three feasts are found here in Deut. 16. They were ordained by God as tokens of remembrance of what he did for them in bringing them out of Egypt and taking them to the promised land.

Three times per year, all of their adult men had to present themselves in Jerusalem, to make sacrifices and remember. Families went along when possible. The point I want to focus on is the remembrance. God says over and over again throughout the old testament, “remember what I did for you.” Likewise, we have the ordinance of communion to remember what Jesus did for us. We aren’t limited to three times per year, either. We can, and perhaps should, take communion in remembrance as often as required to keep us from forgetting.