Sunday of the Holy Forefathers:
The Second Sunday before Christmas
Kontakion: You did not worship a man-made image, O thrice-blessed Youths, but were glorified in the test of fire, protected by a power beyond description. From the searing flames you cried out to God, saying: Hasten to help us, O merciful Lord, for in Your greatness You can do whatever You will.
Last week’s Gospel was about storing up treasures in heaven This week, our Lord takes it a step further. The great feast in the parable represents the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. In the book of Revelation, the establishment of the Kingdom of God is expressed in these terms: “'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure' And the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb'”.
All those invited? That’s us, the Church, the Bride of the Christ, those who have been given the privilege of hearing the Gospel of the Lord, especially those who’ve heard it from an early age. It’s also those who’ve been called by God to the Church later in life. But that calling comes with a cost. The cost is not in accepting the call, of course. The cost comes with living the call. Our Lord’s parable shows those who are invited but, rather than coming to the feast - rather than living the call - choose to focus on the needs of this life, or, if you will, their attachment to sin.
In the Epistle, Paul lists some of those attachments to sin, warning against them. He’s not talking about virtue, just the avoidance of sin. The description of the Wedding Supper says that the Bride has made herself ready. How? Through the practice of the virtues, among other things
Our kontakion today reminds of that cost, that of living the call. The three youths mentioned, along with their kinsman, the prophet Daniel, had been taken captive some 600 years earlier, when Babylon conquered the southern Hebrew Kingdom of Judah. King Nebuchadnezzar had made an image of gold, a 90-foot tall statue, and ordered everyone in the kingdom to worship it, saying ”but if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace; and who is the god that will deliver you out of my hands?”.
The three youths, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, refused, saying, “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up”.
When they were thrown into the furnace, it was so hot that those who threw them into it were themselves burned up. But the three were protected. As the account says, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He said to his counselors, 'Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?' They answered the king, 'True, O king.' He answered, 'But I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.'”
The three were let out, and, not only was their hair not singed, they didn’t even smell of smoke.
They stood for the truth - they lived the call. When persecuted, they were protected, and the Lord stood with them. And then, afterwards, the stigma of the persecution didn’t stick to them, neither the burning of the fire nor the smell of smoke.
When they had arrived in Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar provided gourmet meals for them. But these meals violated the dietary laws, and Daniel and his friends refused to defile themselves. The chief of the eunuchs was concerned that not eating the rich foods would damage their health. So, Daniel said, “Let us eat only vegetables and water for ten days, and then examine us’. And, after ten days, they were healthy. Subsequently, as scripture tells us, they increased in wisdom and authority.
Remember I’ve spoken of the eight passions leading to sin, and the virtues which counter them? We see here the exercise of the first virtue, temperance, countering gluttony. And that pertains to us today, when we are in the time of Philip’s Fast. The Church gives us these fasting periods, especially to develop temperance, and she gives us reminders of those who’ve fought the fight, run the race, so that we can follow their examples.
The Catechism tells us, “Human beings have a natural need for food and drink; food is necessary to support life. However, an excessive desire for food distorts a natural human need. This leads to the sin of gluttony, wherein food becomes an end in itself. There are various manifestations of this sin. The first of these is excess in food and drink. The Holy Fathers taught that food consumed in excess harms the soul. The second manifestation of gluttony is the quest for food and drink primarily for pleasure. A lack of self-control in eating and drinking leads to voraciousness in everything else, since one seeks to satiate the hunger and thirst of the soul by overindulging the body”.
In speaking of temperance, St John Chrysostom tells us, “We have, you see, a gentle and loving Lord who demands nothing of us beyond our capabilities. In other words, it is not arbitrarily that he looks for fasting and abstinence from food to be performed by us, nor simply for the sake of our remaining without food, but rather that we may be detached from things of this life and devote all our spare time to spiritual matters”.
So, my brothers and sisters, prepare yourself for the feast - not only the upcoming Christmas Feast, but the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.
Avoid the attachment to sin.
Stand for the truth, like the 3 youths
Practice the virtues, especially temperance to overcome gluttony.
"He is mistaken who thinks that the fast consists only in abstinence from food. True fasting is departing from evil." Saint John Chrysostom
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