Saturday, March 27, 2004
Lenten Fast
Paul, Bishop of Corinth
Kellia: Malachi 4:1-6 Epistle: Hebrews 9:24-28 Gospel: St. Mark 8:27-31
Malachi 4:1-6 RSV, especially vs. 2: "But for you who fear My Name, the Sun of righteousness
shall rise with healing in His wings." The Old Testament ends with a prophecy of the Day of Judgment, called "the Day
of the Lord" (e.g., Is. 2:12; 14:3; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 30:3; Joel 2:11; Amos 5:18 and today's passage from Malachi). In the
Prophets' writings, such as in Malachi, the Day is portrayed as one of Divine burning against the "arrogant and all
evildoers" (Mal. 4:1). It also is described as a Day of "healing" and vindication for the righteous, for those who "fear" the
Name of the Lord (vs. 2). Hence, the Prophet Malachi exhorts us to live in accordance with the Law of the Lord, constantly
in expectation of the Day of God's judgment (vs. 4). Malachi promises that Elijah the Prophet will herald the final Day, by
coming to "turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers" (vs. 6).
To grasp God's message through Malachi - a word of fire and burning on the last great Day - hear the Apostle's warning:
"serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire" (Heb.12:28,29). What does it mean
to say, "God is a consuming fire?" Why does Malachi stir our hearts with an image of a great "burning oven," and have us
visualize the Lord destroying human beings made in His own image, consumed in flames?
Alexandre Kalomiros explains: "Love is fire. Anyone who loves knows this. God is Love, so God is Fire. And fire
consumes all those who are not fire themselves, and renders bright and shining all those who are fire themselves." Those
whom God renders bright and shining have, as St. John of the Ladder says, a soul that "longs and pants for the Lord with
the fire of love." Still, God destroys sin; so Simeon the Translator prays, "O Thou...Who art a fire consuming the
unworthy: Consume me not, O my Creator, but rather pass through all my body parts, into all my joints, my reins, my heart.
Burn Thou the thorns of all my transgressions."
However, the one who turns to the Lord Jesus with all his heart and soul and mind and strength (Mk. 12:30), like St.
Simeon, begs for and labors for the Savior's cleansing in his life. He knows that the "Sun of righteousness" has risen "with
healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2). He himself has been anointed "unto the healing of body and soul" by "the hearing of
faith," and has had his garment of incorruption preserved pure and unpolluted because the merciful God has shown mercy
to him through the multitude of His mercies. The Gospels are filled with accounts of healing performed by the Lord, and
countless numbers of the Faithful have been restored to their right minds and established in their hearts by His gracious
touch.
The final, great Day of the Lord will be heralded by the return of Elijah the Prophet, he "who was sanctified before he was
conceived, that angelic of body and fiery of intelligence, that heavenly man and forerunner of the Second Coming of Christ,
the glorious Elijah." As John the Forerunner warned his generation "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk. 1:17), the
coming Messiah would lay the ax "to the root of the trees," and "every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire" (Mt. 3:10). To heighten our appreciation of the Forerunner, the Lord likened the Baptizer John to
Elijah: "But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him" (Mk.
9:13).
Therefore, Beloved of the Lord, let us remember the law of God given through His servant Moses, His ordinances that He
commanded at Horeb for all Israel, both of the People of the Old Covenant and of the New and let us bend our straying
hearts in loving obedience.
Wherefore, having attained privilege with God, intercede, O Holy Prophet Elijah, with Christ our Savior to grant
forgiveness of sins to those who early celebrate thy holy memorial.
