It’s Dragon Boat Festival today! This Chinese holiday falls on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar. Although most people in China enjoy special foods, a public holiday, and some watch exciting dragon boat races today, the origins of this holiday are sombre. The Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the tragic passing of an ancient patriotic poet, Qu Yuan.
What does Dragon Boat Festival have to do with Christians? It’s a secular holiday, but there are points of connection with the gospel in a back-to-front sort of way. Let me explain.
A good heart … a bad king
Qu Yuan, so the story goes, ardently loved his country. Even when he was misunderstood, doubted and exiled from the capital after trying to warn his king against an unwise political alliance, he still loved his country.
This man lived in what is now part of China. His tragic story took place about three centuries before Jesus’ birth. That was the era when, much further west, Greeks ruled Israel and the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into the lingua franca of the day, Greek.
Poetry was how Qu Yuan expressed his love and fears for his country. When it became apparent that his land was doomed, Qu Yuan drowned himself.
The Dragon Boat Festival is named such because local people went out in boats looking for his body.
Tragic.
Pathetic.
Hopeless.
Deceitful hearts … an all-seeing king
The God-above-time spoke the following words about 300 years before the day of the good-hearted Qu Yuan.
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)
Wait.
What?
That’s not the stuff of modern injunctions to ‘Follow your good heart’. And yet it is God’s word. It seems that even the heart of the hard-done-by Qu Yuan was not pure. I know that my heart is far from pristine.
Language and Culture- an Aside
In English, we read in Jeremiah 17:10 that the Lord searches our hearts and examines our minds.
In Chinese, we read that the Lord searches our hearts and examines our 肺腑 – literally lungs and internal organs, though metaphorically that means ‘the bottom of our hearts’.
In Hebrew, we read that the Lord searches our hearts and examines our כְּלָי֑וֹת (kə·lā·yō·wṯ), which literally means kidneys, though metaphorically means minds.
Hearts, minds, lungs, kidneys and any other parts of the body that represent what is truly ‘us’, the Lord knows it all.
Comfort or Calamity?
Under the gaze of the holy One, who can stand? To the one who stands in his own strength and uprightness, this examination must surely end in calamity.
And yet, thankfully, the words about God examining our hearts and minds come in the broader context of Jeremiah 17. We learn there that the person who throws him or herself upon God’s mercy is preserved.
God sees our hearts and accepts us, despite ourselves, when we trust in him.
God sees us just as we are. No pretences are needed. False bravado is pointless. External sweetness and light won’t conceal internal negativity and knots.
Not only that, but the Bible is full of precious promises about the transformation of our hearts and minds as we look to our Lord.
Hope
On this day, many people in Asia commemorate the patriotism of an ancient tragic character with a good heart. Despite his integrity, Qu Yuan was doubted and exiled by his beloved king. He died without hope.
In contrast, modern Christians live as citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Our beloved king sees our confused hearts and accepts us just the same. We may well die, but we die with hope of a future resurrection, of imperishable spiritual bodies, and of pure hearts.
There is still a battle waging, but ultimately, our king is victorious. Even now, he sees our hearts … our minds … our kidneys … our lungs … our organs … our all … and still he loves us and saves us.
That’s worth celebrating!