Main news for 6 November 2020

The prophecy of Zechariah that we read today contains the Lord's answer to a question about fasting. After the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., an additional July fast was established among the Jews for mourning Jerusalem. In 518, prominent Jews living in Babylon, having heard that the work of rebuilding the Jerusalem Temple was progressing successfully, sent a question to Jerusalem: was it necessary to keep this additional fast?

And the Lord answers through the prophet Zechariah, saying: "...was it for Me that you fasted and wept?" The conclusion of the Almighty is not comforting. He tells the prophet that those who wept were weeping for themselves. Indeed, in moments of loss and defeat, we often do not grieve so much over the sorrow as feel sorry for ourselves, sorry that "all this" has happened to us. And God says the same about fasting: just as a person eats for himself, so the Jews also fasted for themselves. Repeating what He had said literally a few years earlier through Deutero-Isaiah, the author of the second half of the book of Isaiah, the Lord points to the meaning and form of fasting pleasing to Him: render true judgment, and show mercy and compassion each to his brother.

In the passages read today from the next chapter of the book of Zechariah, the Lord addresses those who have already lived through catastrophe and restoration. For those who have lived through this, says the Lord, fasting will become a time of restoration, a time of joy. Fasting will become the effort needed in order to experience fully the joy of the presence of the merciful God among us. The Church included this prophecy in our liturgical reading today because catastrophe and restoration for us today mean the death on the Cross of Jesus, killed by us and by our sins, and His Resurrection. And during Great Lent we mourn Jesus and rejoice in His Victory, so that we may be able to feel and experience, to the depths of our being, His presence with us.

Through the prophet Zechariah, the Lord calls the people, after their return from captivity, to trust His blessing and work. "Do not be afraid!" are the key words of all chapter 8, expressing the prophet's faith that the ways of the Lord, however inscrutable they may be, draw a person toward salvation and life. In verses 14-17, again repeating the call, "Do not be afraid!", the Lord says something exceptionally important and unexpected. All His preceding words can be understood as a call to persistent labor in building the Second Temple, if we stay within the limits of the historical context. But the Word of God does not leave us that option. "These are the things you shall do," says the Lord. At this point one expects a list of architectural details for the Temple's construction. But it turns out that the heart must be applied to a completely different labor: "...speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and peace in your gates. Let none of you devise evil in your heart against your neighbor..."

So the constructive labor by which we are called to take part in God's saving action consists in judging rightly, loving peace, and not devising evil against one's neighbor. First, these words immediately broaden the context of the prophecy: from a word of comfort to the Jerusalemites of the late sixth century B.C., they become a promise about the Kingdom of the age to come. Second, almost for the first time in the Old Testament, God's rejection of evil is so clearly extended not only to people's actions but also to their thoughts. Clearly this too is a foretaste of the New Testament. Finally, it is important that the Lord calls people to this work of righteousness, peace, and mercy for a specific reason, expressed in negative form. One must not devise evil against one's neighbor or swear falsely because God hates this. Such a calling to become like God is also one of the essential features of the New Testament.

For Christians, Jerusalem is the city where Christ’s death and His Resurrection into eternal life are worshiped. During the fast, through prayer and the reading of the Word, we follow Christ’s path. We walk on, and many people, even those who do not belong to the Church, know about the season of fasting and take inward notice of it. Prayer will become a very important part of our spiritual labor during this time. Not only the weak and needy, but also the strong will come and stand in prayer. By God’s mercy, prayer will bear fruit, and on the night of Pascha we will meet the risen Christ in Jerusalem.