Festivals and Tourism
Imagine a people for whom religion has been a burden, not perhaps in the sense that they found it unattractive, boring or too demanding, but in the sense that it always left them with a feeling of inadequacy. Whatever they did they could never quite hit the mark. What appeared to work for others just didn’t quite work for them. Religious ceremonies and occasions were not so much solemn as serious — extremely demanding in every way but unimaginative and unsatisfying. Confessions and long faces overshadowed thanksgivings, celebrations, fun and laughter. None of it necessarily a refection of God, but certainly a reflection of human perceptions of God in their society, and always made worse when the prophets were out like wasps.
Then along comes Zechariah with a new vision. At least four of the fasts are to have an element of gladness at the centre. The origin and purpose of the fourth, the seventh and the tenth is not known and some scholars have even suggested the fifth may have been an addition, but why not allow for a little hyperbole: ‘the fifth is going to be an occasion of joy — and every other feast you can imagine as well.’ Zechariah has the bit between his teeth. He wants to change the mood and give the people an uplift.
As he waxes eloquent so the picture changes from a city for which nobody cared to one which everybody wanted to visit. A neglected tourist spot suddenly tops the list for holiday brochures. A ‘sink housing estate’ suddenly spawns a new image and the price of real estate rockets. The down-town church, with a dull notice board and a leaking roof, patronised only by three old people and a dog, suddenly boasts a congregation that blocks the entrance and its singing lifts the roof. Its people too become better to live with. Once upon a time nobody wanted to know them. Now people queue up to claim their acquaintance.
But don’t overlook the consequences. Consider the effect on the faith (and the faithful) when everybody is included and its very popularity puts it in danger of becoming something it never expected to be? What then is the role for a new prophet?