Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Dormition Fast Martyr and Archdeacon Laurence of Rome
Kellia: Joel 1:14-2:11 Epistle: 2 Corinthians 2:14-3:3 Gospel: St. Matthew 23:23-28
Joel 1:14-2:11, especially vs. 2:11: "The
Lord utters His voice before His army, for His host is exceedingly great; He that executes His
word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it?" In
Joel 1:1-14, the Prophet describes a plague of locusts that pierced his heart and enabled him to
receive "the word of the Lord" (Joel 1:1). In turn, what he heard from the Lord impelled him to
cry out to his fellow countrymen: "Hear this.... give ear, all inhabitants of the land!" (Joel 1:2).
However, as his prophecy developed, it became clear that the message was more than merely a
plea to "hear, awake, and be confounded" (Joel 1:2,5,11). Because the "word" which Joel
received was from God, then the action called for in the prophecy was required by the Lord
Himself. The people were to "wail, lament, and gird on sackcloth" (Joel 1:5,8,13) - in short, to
"sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to
the house of the Lord your God; and cry to the Lord" (Joel 1:14). Divine judgment was revealed
to the Prophet through a natural disaster, and it was accompanied by a Divine command.
The present reading continues the earlier passage read before, being joined by verse 1:14 - the
actual Divine command to gather for a time of fasting and prayer before the Lord in His temple.
The pattern of Joel's presentation moves from the experience of Divine judgment to an
expectation of a response. The pattern is classically Biblical. It is God's way of communicating.
When the two lessons are read together as one prophecy, we are able to note three truths that
emerge: 1) the Prophet writes, but it is the Lord Who speaks. 2) The catastrophes of this present
life are windows for glimpsing the final and ultimate judgment of God. 3) Those who are blessed
to hear God's judgment also know that the Lord demands a response.
One should not read today's passage or the previous lesson outside of the context set by the very
first verse of the Prophecy of Joel - that it was "the word of the Lord that came to Joel." While
one may say, "Joel teaches" or "the Prophet calls upon us to cry," let us recognize that absolute
precision requires one to say, "the Lord teaches" or "God calls upon us to cry." Of course, both
forms of speech actually are appropriate, for the Prophet is not a "mindless sound-system" or
some "soulless pen" in the Divine hand. Rather, Joel must be heeded as a Spirit-filled and holy
man of prayer, what the Holy Fathers of the Church call a "true theologian."
It is purity of heart and spirit in the Prophet Joel that enables him to be a clarion voice of God, to
be one through whom the Spirit of God speaks with so little distortion. It should not surprise us
that he is able to move readily from a regional, natural disaster to a declaration of "the day of the
Lord" (vs. 1:15) - to declare that final, ultimate Divine judgment is very near. As one reads the
present passage over carefully, it becomes harder and harder to separate the two realities,
temporal and eternal. Is Joel calling God's people to sanctify a fast to seek amelioration from the
immediate consequences of a disaster in which a swarm of locusts stripped the countryside, or is
he calling the people to "tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, is near - a day of darkness
and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness" (vss. 2:1,2)? Events become transparent to those
who are cleansed and pure before the Lord.
Therefore, we too must heed the Prophet, for he calls directly from God to our ears, as well as to
the ears of the people of his own generation. "The Lord utters His voice," therefore let us "pass
the night in sackcloth, O ministers of...God....and cry to the Lord" (Joel 1:13,14).
If I think upon the multitude of my evil deeds, I tremble for the terrible Day of Judgment. But
trusting the compassion of Thy mercy, I shout to Thee, Have mercy upon me, O God.
