Notes for  9 October 2019

Why the fire on the altar has to burn without ceasing? Isn’t it indeed so troublesome: wood are waste, an extra staff is needed to support the fire, after the cleaning of ashes and etc. It would have been much more thrifty to establish well defined "reception hours", when the altar would be accessible for the sacrifices.

It is probably similar thoughts which make us to see so often the doors of churches closed with nameplates on them having hours of church service fixed on them. I do not condemn, I am just sad.

What thus meant this constant burning of the fire on the altar? Surely, one very important idea: God is always ready to accept us, He is opened to communicate with us, that is why ministry for Him cannot and does not have any right to limit itself only to some special hours or days. The apostle Paul, continuing this idea in the time of the New Testament will say: " pray without ceasing " (1Thessalonician 5:17).

Jesus is asked why His disciples do not observe the customs accepted among devout Jews. Why do they not pray and fast like the others? Christ answers with several short parables, comparing the situation to a wedding feast, a worn-out garment, and old wine. It is absurd not to rejoice at a wedding, stranger still to offer new wine immediately after well-aged old wine. And it seems utterly absurd to tear new cloth in order to make patches for a garment that is already worn out. The Lord does not say that there is no need to fast at all; He merely shows that at times it is entirely inappropriate, that everything has its proper time. But only those who are present at the wedding feast can understand these parables, those who understand that He is the very Bridegroom in whose presence it is impossible not to rejoice.

In the Lord's Prayer, we ask the Father to give us our daily bread, understanding this as the material goods without which life could not continue. For example, when translating the Bible into an Eskimo language, specialists had to use the word “fish” instead of “bread,” which for that people is more a luxury than the basis of the daily diet. This idea can also be interpreted more broadly, with this line of the prayer understood as a request for strength for each day. But precisely for each individual day, not for an entire lifetime. Christ calls us to ask for “daily bread,” for today, and not to worry about tomorrow. Yet how often we begin to ask for something in the future, something that exists only in our plans and dreams.

The Son of Man dies not only bodily. His voluntary sufferings include a break with the people closest to Him: with His disciples. Remember, He called those who hear and do His word His brothers, sisters, and mother? And now the hour comes when this family of His leaves Him. Against the background of general confusion and fear, when all "left Him and fled," it is still more painful to read Peter's assurances of faithfulness, the drowsiness of the three closest disciples, and Judas' betrayal. We too, believers and unbelievers, belong to the number of the Lord Jesus' near or distant disciples, to His large family. Some are His brothers according to the flesh, since by becoming man He became kin to each of us; others, having acknowledged Jesus' Father as their own Father, are His according to the spirit. In some incomprehensible way, our own manifestations of unfaithfulness, drowsiness, and betrayal are added to those that took place on that terrible night.

The thought that a Pharisee, too, can be righteous and respected among the people is not immediately easy to accept if we habitually divide people into categories: here are our people, who are good, and there are the outsiders, who are bad. But Scripture constantly breaks down stereotypes, including those that appear pious and grounded in spiritual tradition.

The criterion proposed by Gamaliel, who was trying to persuade the Jewish leaders not to harm the apostles, is simple and practical. It is based on long experience of observing the rise and disappearance of numerous movements that swelled and burst like soap bubbles. One might object to Gamaliel that many things displeasing to God last for quite a long time, with no end to them in sight for centuries. Yet, even with this qualification, he is still right in essence: what is not from God will collapse sooner or later. Much that seems strange and unfamiliar to us, however, may be taking place according to His will, so we should not pass hasty judgment on what does not fit our customary ideas.

The apostles were released, but this time only after being beaten. They had won again, but now the victory was harder won than the first time. Still more difficult trials lay ahead.