A LESSON ABOUT FASTING The work of rebuilding the temple was going on very well; and the people of Bethel sent messengers to inquire from the priests whether they should keep practicing the fasts for which they have committed themselves because of the captivity. 1‐ The inquiry of the people of Bethel 1 ‐ 3 2‐ Fasting without spirit 4 ‐ 7 3‐ Fasting with repentance 8 – 14 1‐ THE INQUIERY OF THE PEOPLE OF BETHEL: In the fourth year of king Darius, namely in the year 518 B.C., when the work to rebuild the temple was going well and steady, which was apparent in the disappearance of the signs of desolation from Jerusalem, the people of Bethel sent delegates: Sherezer, with Regem‐Melech and his men to inquire from the priests who were in the house of the Lord and the prophets, whether, after the appearance of the new life, there is still need for practicing the fasting and weeping in the fifth month (the tenth day), as a memorial of the burning of the house of the Lord (Jeremiah 52: 12, 13; 2 kings 25: 8 ‐10); as they have done for so many years; or they may stop it? ……… As this question bore two painful portraits: that fasting represented a burden on their life they would rather get rid of; and that it was a goal in itself, not practiced with the spirit of inner repentance and true change; for which the response from God, on one aspect, came bearing rebuke, and on another aspect, revealing the true spiritual concept of fasting. 2‐ FASTING WITHOUT SPIRIT: As the question came bearing the sign of grumbling on their part concerning the fasting, as well as a kind of hypocrisy; the Lord’s response came that He is in no need of their fasting. Having committed themselves, by themselves, to fast, it would be their right to stop doing it without question. Yet, it was befitting of them to practice it with a true spirit, and if they decide to stop it, to rejoice in God’s work to them. In other words, whether they fasted or ate, they have not presented offering of love to God, but all what they did were outer appearances; That is what He meant by rebuking them, saying: “The word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying:……. Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me – for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?” (5, 6) They asked about the fasting in the fifth month, and He answered them, as well, about that of the seventh month, which they set as a memorial of the murder of Gedaliah, governor of Judah, that caused the scattering of the rest of the Jews after the captivation (Jeremiah 41: 1‐3); and confirmed to them that those two fasts, and others, like that of the tenth month, the memorial of the first siege on Jerusalem. and the fast of the fourth month, a memorial of taking the city over in the days of Zedekiah (Jeremiah 39: 2; 52: 6, 7); as though He says to them: I am aware of all your fasts along the generations; but I do not seek the multitude of fasts, but their quality. You practiced them without the counsel of God, nor in obedience of His commandments, but only to calm down your consciences. According to them, fasting was just abstaining from eating, and not from practicing evil, and for the enjoyment of righteousness; hence St. Dedymus the blind says: [we are committed to control our bellies with the bonds of metanoias together with tears. How destructive would it be for man to abstain from the enjoyment of the bread of life (John 6: 35); namely of the body of Christ, the true bread that comes down from heaven]. He then discerns between two kinds of fasts, quoting a testimony from the Holy Book, saying: [Concerning the good fast, it came in Joel: “Consecrate a fast; call a sacred assembly”(Joel 1: 14, 2: 15); and, “Good is prayer with fasting and giving alms, for they save from death” (Tobet 12: 8, 9). Whereas concerning the bad fast, we find the wicked accuse the Lord, saying: “Why have we fasted, they say, and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?” (Isaiah 58: 3); To which the Lord answers them, saying: “Is it a fast that I have chosen?” (Isaiah 58: 5). Beside abstaining from food, man is committed to double his good deeds; as according to the Holy Book: “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning; your healing shall spring forth speedily” (Isaiah 58: 7, 8). 3‐ FASTING WORKING WITH REPENTANCE: The Lord confirms to them that His talk about fast after the seventy years of humiliation, is the same He said to them through the prophets before the captivation; that He does not seek neither fasting nor eating and or drinking (feasts), as a goal in themselves ……., saying: “Should you not have obeyed the words which the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets, when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?” (7). The word of God does not change in the time of anguish or that of prosperity; for He seeks the holy life, and therefore He would receive their fast and feasts; and smells their worship as sweet fragrance. Not separating between the spiritual conduct and the spiritual worship, God seeks the following from them: (1) “Execute true justice” (9). If we offer the fast to enjoy the mercies of God, it is not befitting of us to execute oppression on our brethren; lest we would hear the words of the Lord: “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked. Defend the poor and fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and needy” (Psalm 85: 2, 3). So has Habakkuk cried out to the Lord, saying: “Plundering and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes fort. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds” Habakkuk 1: 3, 4) He started by the execution of true justice; namely, he started by addressing His talk to the spiritual rulers; for it is befitting of them , before setting fast or stopping it, and celebrating a joyful feast, to revise their accounts in their practical life: Do they execute justice, so that God would listen to them and receive their counsel; or they practice oppression, that they would not have benefit of their fast and feasts. I wish they would rather hold fast to justice and truth, heed the words of St. Jerome, on the tongue of the Lord, saying: [I gave you authority over my herd, on the people of God; Be judges, and not wolves]. (2) “Execute true justice. Show mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother” (9, 10).; Together with the commitment to justice and truth, man should also be committed to mercy and compassion, everyone to his brother. It is befitting of us to bear the Spirit of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, who proclaimed on the cross that both justice and mercy embraced one another; Fulfilling the divine debt on our behalf, He proclaimed His justice and mercy without contradiction. For God to smell our worship, including fast and feasts, as sweet fragrance, it is befitting of us to walk by the spirit of truth without slothfulness, and with the spirit of love and mercy, without cruelty or arrogance. Presenting to us an example of good discretion, St. Jerome says: [The wicked carries out diverse acts as though on the stage of our life. When he is hungry he puts on the mask of a lion to devour; and when he intends to take the possessions of others by force, he puts on the mask of a wolf; and when he intends to kill, he puts on the mask of a murderer, etc. So it is with the righteous, it is befitting of them to have diverse masks. albeit good. Whenever I intend to give alms, I put on the mask of compassion; and when I intend to execute true justice, I put on the mask of the good judge; and when I endure harm with humility, I put on the mask of the humble. With the same line of thought, I say that in life, we carry out diverse and short acts. I wear our Lord Jesus in me, to be the mask of truth when I judge; the mask of true fatherhood when I deal with the fatherless; and the mask of compassionate love, when I deal with the poor, etc., If we intend to practice this kind of fast, acceptable to God, or to celebrate a feast joyful to Him; let us care for our brethren, particularly the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor; let us bear love without hatred in our hearts even toward those who afflict us. Presenting to us spiritual concepts of the widow, the fatherless, the stranger, and the poor, St. Dedymus the blind says: [The contended widow is she who has lost her wicked man, namely the devil, to seek her true Groom, our Lord Jesus. The good fatherless is he who lost his father who begat him in sin, listening to the voice: “Forget your own people, and your father’s house” (Psalm 45: 10), to have the Lord Himself, a Father, to lead him up high. The Lord is described as “He relieves the fatherless and the widow” (Psalm 146: 9); and “A father of the fatherless, a defender of the widow” (Psalm 68: 5).He also cares for the stranger, he who has forsaken the idol‐worship, his old dwelling place, to head toward the higher Jerusalem; And cares as well for the poor, he who has forsaken everything, counting them as trash, to acquire Christ. I wish we, therefore set forth together with that holy congregation: the souls who were widowed to win the heavenly Groom; became fatherless to receive God a Father; became strangers to set forth to the heavenly places; and became poor to acquire the precious pearl of high price. (3) “Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother” (10). According to St. Dedymus the blind: [After that teaching concerning not oppressing those who are denied care and protection, the Holy Book strongly confirms that it is befitting of us to forget the insults directed to us, not only by words, but from the depth of the heart …….which conforms to the words of the Savior in the gospel: “For if you forgive me their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6: 14) The Lord Christ presented to us the parable of the servant who owed him ten thousand talents (Matthew 18: 23‐35); Moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt, it was befitting of him to forgive his brother; but having not forgiven him, he lost his master’s grace. Commenting on it, the Lord says: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you, if each of you, from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses” (Matthew 18: 35) (4) Obedience to the commandment and the voice of the Lord, saying: “But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears, so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts” (11, 12). This is in short their whole evil: “The stubbornness of the inner heart”, that closes shut the door of the Lord’s mercies in their faces, to fall under His wrath. Concerning heeding the law or the commandment, St. Dedymus the blind says: [The Lord who gave them the law commanded them saying: “Give ear, O My people to My law; incline your ears to the words of My mouth” (Psalm 78: 1); “meditate day and night in the law of the Lord” (Psalm 1: 2); and, “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6: 6‐8). By our obedience to the commandments given to us, we shall be counted as faithful listeners to the law. How could he not be, he who keep the holy words in his heart and soul, to talk of them in his house, as well as on the way; while awake, and during his sleep?! …………. In his sleep he would say to God who knows everything: “When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches” (Psalm 63: 6); ……. he utter the same thing when he wakes up, and dares to say: “O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You” (Psalm 63: 1); ……. and with the same longing, he says together with the prophet Isaiah: “With my soul I have desired You in the night” (Isaiah 26: 9). He who does not heed the law would have “shrugged shoulder”; namely, stubbornly gives his back to the law; and as St. Dedymus the blind says: [This happens when we are planted in evil, to be worthy of the rebuke of the psalm, saying: “What right have you to declare My statutes, or take My covenant in your mouth; seeing you hate instruction, and cast My words behind you?” (Psalm 50: 16, 17). He who gives his back to the words of God, senselessly disregards Him; ……….By not keeping the law, he foolishly dishonors the Lord, the Giver of the law; as according to the apostle: “You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?” (Romans 2: 23); “They have turned their back to Me, and not their faces” Jeremiah 2: 27)., when, on the contrary, they should have given to the Creator of everything, the face; saying: “Unto You, I lift up my eyes, O You who dwell in the heavens” (Psalm 23: 1); and, “My eyes are ever toward the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net” (Psalm 25: 15). He who does not heed the law would have impaired sense of hearing (by the ear of the soul, and not of the body), the fruit of which, according to St. Dedymus, is the “Shrugged shoulder”; It is written: “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear, which will not heed the voice of the charmers, charming ever so skillfully” (58: 3‐6). How could he not be stubborn and deaf, he who stops his ears, he who, from the time he is born is a stranger from the Lord, speaks lies even while still in the womb?! This could symbolically apply to those who, since they were born, became strangers to the church, their mother; those who distanced themselves from her, stopped their ears like a cobra, and turned their energy to do evil, by spitting poison]. According to St. Dedymus the blind: [Testifying about those heavy ears of the soul, the prophet Isaiah says: “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy; and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and return and be healed” (Isaiah 6: 10). Having pleasure in the whirlpool of their evil, which they have chosen for themselves, their ears became heavy, their eyes became shut, and their hearts became dull; so that they could not endure to hear any talk concerning the virtue and the knowledge of truth, which could make them virtuous, and bring them back to Him from whom they are estranged; who can heel them of their impairments. In the talk before us there is a confirmation of the human freedom; With their complete free will they refused to listen, and made their ears heavy, etc…. something confirmed by the Holy Book with its two testaments. (5) God pays their refusal to listen, back with his refusal to listen to them; saying‐ “Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it happened that, just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen, says the Lord of hosts. But I scattered them with a whirlpool among all the nations which they had not known. Thus the land became desolate after them, so that no one passed through or returned, for they made the pleasant land desolate” (12 ‐14).. In His love, God threatens to bring forth His wrath. Yet when we cry out to Him: “Do not be furious, O Lord” (Isaiah 64: 9); “Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?” (Psalm 85: 5), we shall find grace in His eyes. In His wrath, according to St. Dedymus the blind, God does not avenge Himself, but punishes to make us virtuous; to put an end to sin, as a disease or wounds that afflicted us; for: “He desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2: 4). God’s anger reveals His care for our salvation; hence He says: “When My anger comes on him, I shall heal him anew”. Then, the one healed from his wounds would say: “O Lord. I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me” (Isaiah 12: 1). According to St. Dedymus [God’s anger, bringing forth with it a harvest of goodness, is not evil, but is necessary; for it is the work of the Physician of spirits, who “heals all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people” (Matthew 4: 23) …….. as a clever and wise Physician who does good, he sometimes uses painful and abhorrent ways. He chastises them, proclaiming: “I scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they had not known” (14). Even though He did not scatter them at that time among all nations, but allowed for them to be captivated by Assyria and Babylon, two nations well known by them; it indicates that this threat bore a clear prophecy of what will come upon them through their rejection of the Lord Christ, to be scattered all over the world, among nations they had not known. What are these nations under which man falls through refusing faith in God, but the diverse evils according to the Book: “God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves” (Romans 1: 24); “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting” (Romans 1: 28). By refusal to know God, His grace would forsake them, to fall under sins, and to be said about them that they: “are filled with all unrighteousness” (Romans 1: 29). Those are the nations, foreign to the nature God created man according to His likeness. Because of stubbornness, the pleasant land became desolate, with no one passing through nor returning; So it is with sin, the Body (the land) will be corrupted , and man’s life would turn into a life of mourning and bareness; would lose the inner peace, the gladness of the heart, and the spiritual fruition.
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