Letter Vi 99
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frame and "pacifies" God as we move from the world to the heavenlies.
To Athanasius, this time of fasting and anticipation was a time of loving preparation: preparation of the whole being
— mind, will, body, soul, and spirit — for the joyous experience of the resurrection festival. Abstention from food went with watching and prayer, holiness of thought and life, giving to the poor, and longing for the resurrection day.
We need that. Our age is one of mental and emotional religion, and we need to return to the experience of religion in which our eyes, stomachs, and fingers do holy things. Yes, our stomachs must experience the pain of preparation for the festival; our hands must consciously behave in a holy and preparatory way. Then we too shall go up to Jerusalem and eat the Passover.
Teach us what Thy love has borne, That with loving sorrow torn Truly contrite we may mourn:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
Gifts of light and grace bestow, Help us to resist the foe, Fearing what alone is woe:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
Let not sin within us reign, May we gladly suffer pain, If it purge away our stain:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
May we to all evil die, Fleshly longings crucify, Fix our hearts and thoughts on high:
We beseech Thee, hear us.?
—T.B. Pollock 1The Hymnal (Boston: Stanhope Press, 1924), p. 149.
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A.D. 334
Once again, dear friends, God has brought us to the Easter season; by His loving kindness we are once more about to assemble for it. The same God who brought Israel out of Egypt now calls us to the Feast, saying through Moses, "Take note of the month of new fruits, and keep the Passover to the Lord your God" (Deut. 16:1). And through the prophet He calls,
"Keep your feasts, O Judah; pay your vows to the Lord"
(Nahum 1:15). So if God Himself loves the Feast and calls us to it, it is not right, brothers and sisters, to postpone it or to observe it carelessly. We should come to it eagerly and zealously, so that with a joyful beginning here we will experience a foretaste of the heavenly Feast that is to come.
THE "PASSOVER OF THE JEWS"
If we diligently keep the Feast that is celebrated on earth, we will without doubt receive the perfect joy of heaven. As the Lord says, "I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before my suffering begins. For I assure you that I will not eat it again till it has been fulfilled with you in the Kingdom of God"
(Luke 22:15,16). We eat the Passover when we (1) put our minds on what it is all about, (2) acknowledge the Deliverer, and (3) respond to His grace. As Paul said, "so that we may keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:8).
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The Lord died so that we could be freed from doing those things that lead to death. He gave His life so that our own might be rescued from the devil's traps. And what is most wonderful of all, the Word became incarnate so that we could avoid being controlled by sin, but would be able to worship
God, who is a spirit, in the spirit. (Rom. 8:9-13).
A person who doesn't keep the Feast this way rejects God's grace like an unthankful person, even though he goes through the motions. Even though he believes these days are more important than others, he does not pray to the Lord who redeemed him during these same days so long ago. Even though he thinks he is keeping the Feast, the voice of the apostle Paul is meant for him in reproof, "You observe days and months and times and years: I fear that I have labored among you in vain" (Gal. 4:10,11).
We do not observe the Feast because of the days; we observe it because in those days the Lord suffered in place of us. As Paul put it, "our Passover, Christ, is sacrificed" (1 Cor. 5:7). In the same way Moses taught Israel not to think of the Feast in terms of the day, but of the Lord, saying, "It is the Lord's
Passover" (Exod. 12:11).
In the Lord's time the Jews, even though they thought they celebrated the Passover, did so in vain, because they persecuted the Lord. By their own testimony it no longer bore the name of the Lord. It was not called the Passover of the Lord, but the Passover of the Jews (John 6:4). Brothers and sisters, the Passover was named after the Jews because they denied the Lord of the Passover. That is why the Lord, turning His face away from their teaching, says, "My soul hates your new moons and your sabbaths" (Isa. 1:14).
PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING
So today, the Lord rebukes those who keep the Passover the way the Jews did, just as He rebuked certain lepers whom He had cleansed. You recall that He loved the one who was thankful but was angry with the ungrateful ones, because they did not acknowledge their Deliverer. They thought more highly of their
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cure from leprosy than of Him who had healed them. "But one of them when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell on his face at the feet of Jesus giving Him thanks. He was a Samaritan. And Jesus asked,
'Did I not heal ten? What happened to the other nine? Is this stranger the only one who returned to glorify God?' " (Luke
17:15-18). Actually, this one was given much more than all the rest, for besides being healed of his leprosy he was told by the Lord, "Stand up and go on your way. Your faith has saved you"
(Luke 17:19).
You see, those who give thanks and those who glorify have the same kind of feelings — they bless their Helper for the benefits they have received. That is why Paul urged everybody to "Glorify God with your body" (1 Cor. 6:20). And Isaiah commanded, "Give glory to God" (Isa. 42:12).
Caiaphas testified against our Redeemer, and the Jews treated our Lord with contempt (Matt. 26:65-68). Pilate condemned Him. But there was great exaltation and much power in the words the Father spoke to the Son, "I have glorified and will glorify again" (John 12:28). All those things He suffered for us are over and done with, but all those that concern Him as our Savior remain forever (Phil. 2:7-11).
So, brothers and sisters, let us remember these things and not be preoccupied with food, but with praising the Lord. Let
© us become fools for Him who died for us. As Paul said, "If we are foolish, it is for God; if we are sober-minded, it is for you; for One died for all of us, therefore, we have all died. For He died for all so that we who live should no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us and rose again" (2 Cor.
5:13-15).
THE BENEFITS OF CHRIST'S DEATH
Accordingly, we ought not to live for ourselves anymore but as servants of the Lord. His grace should not be ignored, because this is a very favorable time: the day of salvation has dawned, for our Redeemer has died (2 Cor. 6:1,2). For our sakes the immortal, indestructable Word came down and took
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on mortal humanity for the salvation of all. Paul plainly expressed his confidence about this by saying, "Our mortal bodies shall be changed into immortal ones" (1 Cor. 15:53).
The Lord was sacrificed so that by the shedding of His blood He might abolish death. In one place He reproached those who would try unsuccessfully to receive the benefits of the shedding of His blood, because they would not appreciate the value of feeding on the flesh of the Word (Christ, the Son). He said,
"What profit is there in my blood, that I go down to death?"
(Ps. 30:9). But this does not mean that the Lord's descent to earth was useless, for it gained the whole world! Rather, He meant that even after His coming in the flesh, sinners would rather be without His flesh than profit by it.
You see, He took pleasure in our salvation and thought of it as a distinctive victory for Himself. On the other hand, He considered our destruction a sad Icss. As to those who reject the benefits of His incarnation, one of His parables in the Gospels applies. He praised those who doubled the grace He gave, both the one who made ten talents from five and the one who made four talents from two. Both of them had done the right thing and had profited from it. But He threw out the one who hid the talent, telling him:
You wicked servant! Shouldn't you have put my money in the bank? Then when I returned I would have at least got it back with interest. Take, therefore, the talent away from him and give it to the one who has ten. For the one who made good use of what he has been given shall receive more and he shall have an even greater abundance. But even what he has shall be taken away from the one who is unfaithful. And throw the useless servant into outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth
(Matt. 25:26-30).
The point is that it is not His will for the grace we have received to be useless. Oh no, He expects us, as a duty, to give back to Him His own fruits, as St. Paul says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace .
. ." (Gal. 5:22).
Paul, being honorable and not owing anyone anything, but rather giving everything to everyone, was a true teacher of the
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Lord's purpose in this matter. Thus he said, for example, "Pay everyone what is due to them" (Rom. 13:7). In that respect he was like those sent by the landowner (Matt. 21:33ff.) to receive the fruits of the vineyard from the farmers, because he urged everyone to make a proper return to God. Israel, as we know, despised the Lord and would not give a proper return. Their attitudes were not good— so bad, in fact, that they killed those
He sent. Further, they did not even show reverence to the Lord of the vineyard, for they killed Him also.
THE BARREN FIG TREE CURSED
So when the Lord came and found Israel fruitless, He cursed them through the miracle of the fig tree, in which He said,
"From now on let there be no fruit from you" (Matt. 21:19).
That fig tree died fruitless, so quickly in fact that even His disciples were amazed when they saw that it had withered.
Thus, the words of the prophet were fulfilled: "I will take away from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the scent of myrrh and the light of a lamp, and the whole land shall be destroyed"
(Jer. 25:10).
The whole service of the ceremonial law has been taken away from them, and from now on and forever they do not have a feast. They do not observe the Passover — how can they? They no longer have a country of their own, but wander everywhere.
And although they eat unleavened bread on the day set for the feast, they are not fulfilling the Law, because they are not able to properly sacrifice a lamb, as they were commanded to do.
No, everywhere they make the attempt they break the Law, and God punishes them so that their "feast" days are days of grief instead of gladness.
There is one reason why this happened to them: They did not worship the Only-Begotten, but killed Him. In our time the wicked heretics and the ignorant schismatics are in the same boat: the former because they slay the Word (Christ the Son) and the latter because they divide the church. Both these groups are also outside the true Feast, because godliness and knowledge are missing from their lives. They imitate the con-
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duct of the Jews in the matter of Bar Abbas the robber. Remember that they preferred him to the Savior. No wonder the Lord cursed them under the figure or type of the fig tree (Matt.
21:19)!
Yet in His lovingkindness He spared them, not destroying them root and all. You all recall that He did not curse the root, but said that no one would ever again eat fruit from it. When
He did this, He abolished the pictures and shadows provided by the Jewish ceremonial law, and the whole system began to wither. But He preserved the root, so that we could be grafted in. And St. Paul says, "They, too, if they do not persist in their unbelief, can be grafted back into their own olive tree" (Rom.
11:23). Nevertheless, when the Lord condemned them because of their negligence, He took away their feasts, the value of the sacrificial lamb, and the true Passover.
But all that they lost was passed on to us! And along with it came the special, appointed day on which we are called to the Feast "with a trumpet," so to speak. For on this day we dedicate ourselves to the Lord with great thanksgiving, accepting it as our own Feast Day. We are committed to celebrating it, not for ourselves but for and to the Lord. Yea, and we rejoice not in ourselves but in the Lord, who bore our sorrows, and under the weight of them said, "My soul is sorrowful to the point of death"
(Matt. 26:38).
The heathen, and indeed all who do not possess our faith, set up feasts according to their own ideas and plans. Consequently they have no peace, because they are living in sin against God.
But the saints, those who belong to the Lord, keep His feasts just as they live for Him. They say, "I will rejoice in Your salvation," and "My soul shall be joyful in the Lord" (Ps. 35:9).
And yes, they keep the commandment that says, "Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous!" (Ps. 33:1). Thus, when gathered together, they all sing that festal Psalm, "Come, let us rejoice," not in ourselves, but "in the Lord" (Ps. 95:1).
LESSONS FROM THE SACRIFICE OF ISAAC
In the same way, the patriarch Abraham rejoiced at being able to see the day of the Lord — not some special day of his
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own. And as one who longed to see that day come, "he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56).
Here is a man of true faith, for when the Lord asked him to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, he was willing to do so. By faith he offered up the one through whom the Lord had given him the promise of a nation of descendants (Heb. 11:17). And in offering his son he worshiped the Son of God. When the Lord held him back from sacrificing Isaac, Abraham saw the Messiah in the ram that was ultimately offered as the sacrifice to God (Gen.
22:13).
We see, then, that the patriarch was tested by means of Isaac — not that Isaac was sacrificed, but rather the One who was pointed out in Isaiah, "He shall be led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers he shall be speechless"
(Isa. 53:7). He was, in truth, tested by Him who took away the sin of the world.
That is why Abraham was held back from laying his hand on the boy. If he had sacrificed Isaac, the Jews might very well have rejected all the prophecies concerning the Savior. Undoubtedly they would have especially rejected such prophecies given by the psalmist as, "You have not wanted sacrifice and offering; for You have prepared a body for Me" (Ps. 40:6). They would have referred all such prophecies to the son of Abraham.
THE SACRIFICES COMPARED
Thus the sacrifice was not for the sake of Isaac but for that of Abraham, who was tested by being called upon to make this offering. And of course, God accepted his intentions, but He prevented him from slaying Isaac. The death of Isaac would not buy freedom for the world. Nay, that could be accomplished only by the death of our Savior, by whose stripes we are all healed (Isa. 53:5). He alone picked up the falling, healed the sick, satisfied those who were hungry, and filled the poor.
Above all else, He alone raised us all from the dead, and having abolished death, He has brought us from sorrow and sighing to the rest and gladness of this Feast.
That, dear friends, is a joy that reaches heaven!
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THE HEAVENLY CHURCH JOINS IN THE
FESTIVAL We are not alone in our joy, for in heaven the whole "church of the first-born" (Heb. 12:23) rejoices with us. As the ancient prophet put it, "Rejoice, O heavens, for the Lord has comforted
Israel! Shout, foundations of the earth! Cry out with joy, O mountains, forests and all trees in them, for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and Israel has been glorified" (Isa. 44:23). And in another place he says, "Rejoice and be glad, you heavens; let the hills join in the gladness, for the Lord has had mercy on His people and has comforted the oppressed" (Isa. 49:13).
So you see, my friends, the whole creation keeps feast with us. As the psalmist says, everything that has breath praises the Lord (Ps. 150:6), both on account of the destruction of the Lord's enemies, and on account of our salvation.
That is quite appropriate, you know. For if there is joy in heaven over just one sinner repenting, can you imagine the celebration over the abolition of sin and the resurrection of the dead? Can you picture what kind of a joyful feast there must be in heaven?
Just think how the great multitude there shout jubilantly as they happily watch us in our gathering together— not only our weekly meetings but especially at Easter! For they see sinners who repented, people who changed when they were converted.
They see people who at one time totally indulged their appetites and desires, yet are now humbling themselves by temperance and fasting.
But that is not all they see, for before their eyes lies the enemy, weakened, no longer possessing life, being bound hand and foot—so that they, along with us, may mock him, "Where is your victory, O Death? Where is your sting, O Grave?" (1 Cor.
15:55). So then, let us sing a victorious song of praise to the Lord!
Who will lead us to such a company of angels? Who, longing for the heavenly feast and the angels' holiday, will say like the prophet, "I will lead them to the house of God: a multitude joyfully praising God and keeping festival" (Ps. 42:4)? The saints of old encourage us to be like that, saying, for example, "Come