Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Great-Martyr and Healer Panteleimon
Kellia: 1 Maccabees 2:49-70 Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:1-10 Gospel: St. Luke 21:12-19
1 Maccabees 2:49-70, especially vs. 50: "Now, my children, show zeal for the Law,
and give your lives for the covenant of our fathers." Mattathias reminds his sons that they are more than just his children.
They are members of a People joined in a covenant of such a great value that he is not ashamed to ask them to "give their
lives" for it. While rightly, as Orthodox Christians, we distinguish between that Old Covenant under which Mattathias
lived and the New Covenant which is our portion in Christ, still we share a covenant history with this zealous old man and
his sons, for we too are covenant people, we too are what St. Peter calls "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, [God's] own special people" (1 Pet. 2:9). What was special about Mattathias and his family, and also about
Orthodox Christians, is the fact that God has chosen to join with us in covenant, to lift us up from the ranks of humanity in
general and to bestow upon us a very unique bond with Himself.
One only has to read slightly between the lines in the deathbed words of Mattathias to learn much about the meaning of
being a covenant people - Old or New. Observe: only once did Mattathias speak of God, and then only to mention "Him"
with a pronoun (vs. 61). Yet the whole of the message to his sons plainly is about trusting in God. Start with Mattathias'
recollection of Abraham: his point is that the great Patriarch so trusted in God that he remained faithful even when tested
by God, and thus was reckoned as righteous (vs. 52). The implication of trust in God is present in each subsequent
example (vss. 53-60). The conclusion is drawn to the surface and stated explicitly immediately afterwards (vs. 61).
As Mattathias taught his sons, so he teaches us - that we ought to distinguish between "trust in God" in some general sense,
a cliche bantered about by many at present, and a true trust in God which Mattathias had in mind when he said, "give your
lives for the covenant of our fathers" (vs. 50). It is one thing to affirm that "I trust in God," meaning: "He is in heaven
looking after things up there and down on earth, and therefore we can trust that matters are going to work out all right."
Mattathias' examples better match what Orthodox pray repeatedly in every Liturgy: "let us commend ourselves and each
other, and all our life unto Christ our God." In that phrase, "and all our life," lies the difference. Mattathias' challenge is
to base our entire life, to found every action, and to trust at every moment solely in God. Covenant people are united to
God in everything they say and do - without exception.
Covenant people also are those with a living memory. While Mattathias' recitation of the deeds of the ancient Saints is a
challenge to have unreserved trust in God, it also is a challenge to keep faith with those other covenant members who stand
beside us now, who have lived before us, and those who will come after us under the covenant. The bond of the covenant
is not only with God, it also is exactly what the phrase in the Liturgy includes: "ourselves and each other." The bond
extends backward and forward in time - it is a "great cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1).
Finally, Mattathias asserts that covenant people are they who "receive" from God (vs. 51). Look at what people of the
covenant receive: great honor, an everlasting name, righteousness before God, sometimes recognition or inheritance in this
life, but above all eternal salvation and deliverance. In all the instances which he mentions, the sole aim of the Faithful was
not to receive something from God, but to keep the covenant already received from Him. A covenant with God is in itself
of inestimable worth. What else one receives is incidental.
Look down from Thy holy heights, O Lord, upon Thy people who await of Thee rich mercy. Visit us in Thy goodness.
Make firm our lives with Thy holy and sacred laws.