In 2014 an idea for a novel came to me. I don’t remember the exact day or time. After many self edits over five years, the 87,000 word Historical Christian novel, Daybreak from on High, now remains stored in micro soft word in my computer, as well as, in a box from Staples. The book is about a young Jewish man named Jonathan who sells doves with his father in the Court of the Gentiles in the Great Temple in Jerusalem. The story begins with the announcement of the birth of a prophet, John the Baptist, on the Feast of the Atonement.
In writing this work of fiction I learned that Jewish life centered around the feast days of their faith, the three major ones being the feasts of Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. Our Christian feast of Easter is in proximity to Passover. Jesus celebrated these feasts with his family as he grew up and He celebrated the Passover with His disciples the Thursday before He was crucified.
In reflecting on the life of a Jew I realized our lives as Christians also center around the Holy Days on our calendar. We observe the forty day period of lent leading up to the Feast of the Resurrection of Jesus. Like the Jews we follow certain customs in the form of fasting, worship, and festivities. This year churches were closed because of the corona virus pandemic. The usual observance of Palm Sunday through Holy Week and Easter in our churches was not possible. In Chapter thirteen of my novel Passover was cancelled one year because of a massive loss of life, not caused not by a virus, but by the Roman Ethnark Herod Archelaus. The Temple was closed and the people celebrated the feast at home.
I will describe how my husband and I celebrated the 2020 Easter in my next post.
DJ Pasternak, Author 