Who Cares?

Passages: Is. 33:2-22; Rom. 12:1-13:10; Matt. 5:17-48
Ընթերցուածքներ՝ Եսայ. ԼԳ 2-22; Հռոմ. ԺԲ 1- ԺԳ 10; Մատթ. Ե 17-48

In the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen!

Repeatedly throughout this week, I have read or heard this quote, “Do you wish your prayer to fly up towards God? Make for it 2 wings – fasting and almsgiving.” These beautiful words by St. Augustine emphasis what the true spirit of Great Lent is. You see the Church in her wisdom has throughout the year set time apart for fasting. Every Wednesday in remembrance of Christ’s betrayal, every Friday in remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion and additionally weekly fasts before major feasts and celebrations. The greatest of these fasts is known as Great Lent. However, though the practice of fasting periods of the Church speak about abstaining from certain foods, the truth is nobody cares if we give up chocolate for Lent. It is not of anyone else’s concern, whether we choose to follow the Church guided vegan food, or if we decide to give up sweets, or social media, or whatever it may be. When I say nobody cares, my dears, what I hope we understand is that God doesn’t need us to not eat certain foods. When God created humanity and placed Adam and Eve in Paradise, He blessed us and said the fruits of the tree have been given to us for food. Additionally, when I say nobody cares whether we fast or not, it means what we eat or don’t eat is not for the faith or observance of others.

Last week, we read in the Gospel of Matthew of how Christ tells us that when we fast our faces should not be saddened so that others will see how we are sacrificing food. This is because my dears, fasting in the life of the Church, whether it is Great Lent or other such periods, is not just about skipping meals. However, when I say nobody care, we must care. Unlike what some modern pastors or other “spiritual leaders” say that fasting is unnecessary, or do whatever you want – this is false. Fasting is important and necessary and it is a required part of our Christian faith. Both Scriptures and the Church tradition instructs us all in the practice of fasting. St. Pope Kyrillos says, “Fasting is the weapon by which we defeat the demons, for the Lord said in the Gospels, [when the Apostles struggled to heal a demon possessed man], “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but by prayer and fasting.” Fasting is not for the shrinking of our waist line but for spiritual growth. Great Lent is a period spiritual growth.

In the Armenian Church, each one of the Sunday’s during Lent has a theme: Poon Paregentan, Expulsion, Prodigal Son, Dishonest Stewart, Unjust Judge, Advent and ending with Palm Sunday. How many of these Sunday’s speak about food? 0. My dears, today is Expulsion Sunday. Today we remember humanities choice of sin over God’s commandments, of self-justification over humility, of ego over love and grace. For so many of us, we believe that Adam and Eve sinned through the eating of forbidden fruit. Yet, Adam and Eve’s sin began not from what they put into their mouths but what came out of their heart. Today’s Gospel readings Christ over and over rebukes the Pharisees and us because we misunderstand the commandments of God. When He says, “I did not come to destroy but to fulfill [the laws or the prophets]” Christ Jesus is revealing to us the heart, the purpose and understanding of why we follow those commandments. God is not controlling us; the commandments are not arbitrary rules given by some totalitarian deity to keep us down. The commandments of God and the rules found within the life of the Church are guides towards His blessings, toward revelation.

Yet, so often we try to justify our choices, our decisions, our mindset, our pride, our ego, etc. with what we think is right. In a progressively polarizing world of politics and social issues today, we hold up banners, protest in the streets, comment on social media and push forward our understanding of righteousness. In the same way Adam and Eve, pushed forward their own self-interest when conversing with the serpent. They misrepresented what God commanded and taught, and ultimately their heart sinned first which brought them to eat of the fruit. Consequently, every action has a reaction – sin has a penalty. A penalty that Christ Jesus died on the Cross to redeem us for. That is the real message of Expulsion Sunday. Do we care what God commands of us?

What about the fasting? My dears, if Great Lent is merely treated like a diet, it is the same as if the commandments of God and our Christian faith, were we merely treat it as transaction. If I pray, I will be blessed; if I fast, God will be happy; if I (fill in the blank) then I somehow please God or will be a Good Christian. My dears, God loves each one of us. God desires to be in Communion, to walk with us in Paradise as He once did with Adam and Eve. However, we cannot be in communion with God unless we live according to His commandments, unless we continue to grow in His likeness through revelation of His image in us. Fasting is a tool by which we begin this journey of spiritual growth and revelation.

As I began with the quote of St. Augustine, fasting and almsgiving means that Great Lent, our faith as Christian’s begins with how we treat ourselves (fasting) in order to know how to treat others (almsgiving). This goes to the great commandments of God, to love each other as we love ourselves. We fast not to please God or others but to prepare ourselves; To live in humility over pridefulness, to see temptation and yet, trust God. We give alms because to have faith means to be compassionate, merciful and loving towards others. To help, not just with money, but with time, with empathy and grace. When we fast and gives alms, we do the work of God – Christ Jesus who fasted in the desert and who had compassion on all people. Great Lent is a period of spiritual growth to be an imitator of Christ our Lord. But nobody will care if we don’t care. Nobody will listen if we don’t listen. Nobody can have faith, if we who claim to have faith deny it by our lives.

Let us all pray my dears, for humility for ourselves and let us pray asking for God’s compassion and love in our brokenness and for the brokenness of others. If we are sitting in Church on Sunday and think we don’t need to fast, or we are already humble or we are too far gone, then I am sorry to say my dears, our heart is already choosing sin over God. We all are called to live our faith, to be equipped and grow through repentance, fasting, confession and following the commandments of God – to follow and trust God. By these we spiritually grow, mature and by these we grow in the likeness, the light of God that will shine in all corners of a darkened world and bring true healing. Whereby not only will we come but all humanity will once again gather in the paradise and walk with our Heavenly Father. “Do you wish your prayer to fly up towards God? Make for it 2 wings – fasting and almsgiving” but if we don’t care, nobody else will, Amen!