DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Zechariah 8:19-23 (02/24 or 03/08) Vesperal Reading, Friday, Week Before
the Great Fast
Fasting and the Age to Come: Zechariah 8:19-23,
especially vs. 19: “...you
will rejoice, and you will love truth and peace.” To
gain this blessing from Holy Scripture, I must accept certain ‘ground
rules.’ I must bow to the
Father and to the Son and the to
Holy Spirit within the worship of the Church as “...a child of the Light
and an heir of eternal good things.”
And I must be willing to apply Scripture to the fabric of living
tangibly in this world. When I do
these things, the Holy Spirit reveals the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ and illumines the Scriptures (including ancient prophecies like
Zechariah) to help me live a truly God-pleasing life.
The ancient Prophets only glimpsed at the
Mystery of Christ, though dimly.
Still, God did graciously provide sufficient information concerning the
Lord’s first and second coming so that His ancient People came to expect
the ‘Messiah’ - the Christ.
The faithful today have the added advantage of the Apostles’
witness, the riches of the Fathers, and the guidance of Holy Tradition, whether
we be Jews or Gentiles. We have, indeed, “...been given to
know the mystery of the kingdom of God” (Mk. 4:11), and the grace to
apply the message of Scripture to our lives.
Ancient Hebrew prophecy was mostly written in
poetic style. Therefore, we
Christians must read it with the heart before we can understand it fully. The Holy Spirit helps us grasp the
language of the Hebrew Prophets which fully reflects the ethos, worship and
culture of ancient Israel. Yet,
living the life in Christ, we understand words such as ‘Israel,’
‘Jerusalem,’ and ‘Zion’ to refer to ourselves as the
Church, a truth that Saint Paul makes clear (see Rom. 9-11). And being the Church, we rejoice as the
present-day Israel of God (Rom. 11:8,23,24).
As Christians, by God’s grace, we can
approach this reading from Zechariah concerning the age to come, even though
the Prophet foresaw the eternal kingdom dimly; for we taste the coming kingdom
within the Church, and believe that we will enjoy it when Christ comes again.
Note that Zechariah refers to four fasts. These seasons were practiced in ancient
Israel in the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months (vs. 19). As God-given fasts for His ancient
people, they were times of mourning for the sins that carried them into exile,
ended the monarchy, invited the invasion of Jerusalem, led to the destruction
of the Temple of Solomon, and prompted a futile uprising against the
Babylonians. Zechariah foresaw that
one day God would restore and forgive.
Then, fasting would end, and the fasts would become holy feasts, times
of celebration.
Be attentive!
God urges us, as Christ’s own, to conduct our fasting in the joy
of the Lord, in truth and peace. We
fast now to prepare ourselves to celebrate the coming Feast of His Holy Pascha, that
we may worthily approach the banquet of the Lamb, the heavenly feast of the age
to come in the Lord’s kingdom (Rev. 19:9). In eternity, all fasting shall be
feasting.
In the age to come, Jews and Gentiles alike, as servants of
Christ, will worship together though composed of “...many peoples and
many nations...” (Zec. 8:22). The Apostles taught us that all ethnic
groups are now one in Israel, in the Church (Gal. 3:28). During two thousand years the Church has
largely become Gentile, yet now, ethnicity aside, we are one People.
Why, then, do we have fasts now? Why Great Lent, the Apostles’
Fast, the Dormition Fast, and the Nativity Fast? Each of these seasons is a prelude to
joyous feasting in Christ. Our
fasting seasons are gifts that provide a foretaste of sharing in the great
company of peoples from every nation who walk in the Uncreated Light of the New
Jerusalem and the age to come. In
the final day, all tears – all need to fast, restrict, and repent - will
be wiped away (Rev. 21:4).
O Thou Who knowest the secrets of
all hearts, prepare us through fasting to feast with Thee in Thine eternal and glorious banquet in the age to come.
Return to the February Calendar