A Parable

Why We Celebrate God's Holy Days

O nce upon a time there was a wonderful King that ruled a Kingdom. The King was always doing fine and wonderful things for His people. The people desired in their hearts to worship and glorify the King and His wonderful deeds. So the King planned appointed times each year: special times for celebrations to tell the stories of His deeds to the people's children and to glorify the King. The King wrote the instructions of how to observe the celebrations in a book called the Book of Wisdom. For many years the people enjoyed these celebrations. Each year they would learn more about their King and feel closer to Him. They realized the King's celebrations were not only to tell stories of the things the King had done for His people in the past, but also foreshadows of more fine things the King was planning to do for them in the future.

There was another kingdom that did not worship the King. They worshiped objects such as statues, animals, trees, and the sun. In this other kingdom, the people practiced several different annual parties that glorified the people and the objects instead of the King. Each party had a different theme. In some they dressed up like animals and other beings. In some they decorated their homes and gave gifts to each other.

Then a man from this other kingdom visited the King's kingdom and told the people the annual parties were much more fun than the King's celebrations. Some of the people wanted to continue celebrating the ceremonies that worshiped the King. Other people wanted to replace the special celebrations with the new celebrations. Through the years people started to combine both sets of celebrations. They would practice the annual parties, meant to worship objects such as statues, animals, trees, and the sun, but they would say that they were worshipping the King, not the object, so everyone would be happy. They changed the appointed times of the King's celebrations to new times that coincided with the annual parties. The people of both kingdoms were combining so many traditions that no one could tell that there were two kingdoms. The kingdoms blended into each other. This continued for many years until the most recent generations forgot the celebrations that the King planned that glorified the King and His wonderful deeds for the people.

One day a man was reading the Book of Wisdom. He came across a little known chapter that told about the King's appointed times each year: special times for celebrations to tell the stories of His deeds to the people's children and to glorify the King. He was so excited! He went to tell the people about the wonderful celebrations. This made the people very angry. They felt that the man was condemning them for traditions that they had innocently done all their lives. They did not understand.

The man was sad, but he decided to keep the King's celebrations in his own family. The man's family learned much about the King. In fact, each year the man and his family grew closer and closer to the King because of the wonderful stories they learned about during the celebrations. The man and his family learned that the King had special secrets that revealed foreshadows of more fine things the King was planning to do for them. That man wanted so much to share these stories with others. Even though the man was continually rejected, he continued to tell about the King's celebrations. After a while, a few other families (who had always felt uncomfortable about the annual parties they kept) listened to the man. They read the chapter in the Book of Wisdom and also got excited. Soon many people returned to celebrating the King's appointed times, worshipping and telling stories about the King. This made the King very happy!