Lent Day 21: The Great Feast

Having a reading of the feeding of the four thousand is intriguing during lent. There is so much talk of depriving oneself of food, fasting and observing lent that we forget about feeding the people. The disciples were not interested in feeding the crowd or they thought that it would be difficult to embark on something like that. The miracle was not just feeding the four thousand and even more with seven loaves and a few fish, but being sure that it was indeed possible.

In our culture we take many things for granted. We do not want to do a certain thing because it is difficult and calls for a little effort. The disciples had to think of the seven loaves and the little fish, they also had to figure out how to divide this little food. So, the solution for them was to let the people go. Churches and communities are also like this. They will think that the people who come will fend for themselves and go back from church and eat from their home. All this because, arranging snacks or food is an effort and is hard work.

This is also why many government institutions don’t have basic facilities. There won’t be drinking water, proper toilets, canteens and the like because the idea is that the public will fend for themselves and there is no need to provide these essential and basic facilities. Jesus thinks differently. Even though he didn’t have to give food, he thinks about it. He looks at fulfilling the basic human needs of those who came to listen to him. Even though they came out of their own wish, Jesus feels it is essential to provide for them.

In St. Mark 8: 6 it is said that, he takes the loaves “and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd.” There is a great feast that Jesus initiates and calls us to initiate too. The coming together of a crowd also calls for their wellbeing and offering them food. Churches have to take this up with or without lent. Lent is a good time to think about this and start food programmes. It should not be limited to our church and community but to all who come. The Sikh gurudwaras with their Langars (community kitchen) are a beautiful example of this in today’s world. Christians cannot do without feasting. But feasting as excessive happiness should not just be the meaning we get. It is rather a meal given in a crowd which makes them justly happy and therefore in a festive mood.

Food also has a holiness aspect to it. It should not be wasted and disrespected. It becomes another sharing and fellowship. Food is indeed the way to the heart. We have a responsibility to serve food as it is an effort to alleviate hunger. Many in the crowd and in our church and community may not have the luxury of food. It is our way of life which makes us think the contrary. Many who come to churches may have fasted and are not necessarily going back to an assured plate of food. Jesus thought practically and was concerned about the people who did not have an idea about whether they would eat or not.

The Great Fast and Great Lent should go along with the Great Feast. A fast and lent without the feasting and the fellowship is far from the teaching of Jesus. Many poor people observe lent and such lents are much more difficult than observed by others. It is the responsibility of the haves to then provide to the have nots, just like Jesus did. May this lent remind us of this feasting, a feast and feasting for the poor and needy. Amen.

Anyone for a FAST lent?

Next week is mid lent commemorating the half way of the great lent. There are many in the church who have different sorts of lent. The first and last week of the great lent, the entire lent and half the lent. As the mid lent approaches we must also understand the real concept of the lent and also look at how it was seen in the early church.

What are some of the problems that face us during the lent? Reconciliation is supposed to be so important that we have a reconciliation service at the beginning and the end of lent. But how many of us reconcile with one another and everyone we know? Wouldn’t our church and society benefit from such a reconciliation? But we refuse to do that as reconciliation is the most difficult thing to do in our lives, more difficult than any fast, lent and diet restriction. In fact it is so difficult that we leave that out of the picture and do a big lent, feeling very self righteous in the process.

A fast like this is satisfying for our ego but does not bring about pretty much anything else. This is when we need to look at one of the advises of St.John Chrysostom. “Fasting is the change of every part of our life, because the sacrifice of the fast is not the abstinence but the distancing from sins. Therefore, whoever limits the fast to the deprivation of food, he is the one who, in reality, abhors and ridicules the fast. Are you fasting? Show me your fast with your works. Which works? If you see someone who is poor, show him mercy. If you see an enemy, reconcile with him. If you see a friend who is becoming successful, do not be jealous of him! If you see a beautiful woman on the street, pass her by. In other words, not only should the mouth fast, but the eyes and the legs and the arms and all the other parts of the body should fast as well. Let the hands fast, remaining clean from stealing and greediness. Let the legs fast, avoiding roads which lead to sinful sights. Let the eyes fast by not fixing themselves on beautiful faces and by not observing the beauty of others. You are not eating meat, are you? You should not eat debauchery with your eyes as well. Let your hearing also fast. The fast of hearing is not to accept bad talk against others and sly defamations.”

So we are asked to bring every part of our body into the fast and not just the stomach. Our mind should think of positive life affirming things, our eyes should see proper sights, our ears should hear good about others, our mouth and lips should talk good things about others, our hands should do good, our stomach should fast with others in mind, our legs should go the extra mile and our feet should stand up for others. The FAST lent that we undertake should make us
F- Feast
A- And
S- Say
       The
T- Truth

What is a feast? A feast is to make what is available the best and happily have it instead of grumbling about what is not there. Even as we fast we must know that the poor have limited resources with them. For them a meal may be left over rice and fish curry without any fish. It could be the remains of the meal of someone else. There we cannot talk about the purity of the lent but we must give what we have to others. We are on lent so that others may have. We cannot impose our lent on others because sometimes our lent becomes the only opportunity in a year for them to eat properly. A feast is also a feast of the soul. So when the body fasts, the soul feasts. That is why the fast should not show on our face as our soul is feasting and happy.

St. John Chrysostom says again “Let the mouth fast from disgraceful and abusive words, because, what gain is there when, on the one hand we avoid eating chicken and fish and, on the other, we chew-up and consume our brothers? He who condemns and blasphemes is as if he has eaten brotherly meat, as if he has bitten into the flesh of his fellow man. It is because of this that Paul frightened us, saying: "If you chew up and consume one another be careful that you do not annihilate yourselves." You did not thrust your teeth into the flesh (of your neighbor) but you thrusted bad talk in his soul; you wounded it by spreading disfame, causing unestimatable damage both to yourself, to him, and to many others. If you cannot go without eating all day because of an ailment of the body, beloved one, no logical man will be able to criticize you for that. Besides, we have a Lord who is meek and loving (philanthropic) and who does not ask for anything beyond our power. Because he neither requires the abstinence from foods, neither that the fast take place for the simple sake of fasting, neither is its aim that we remain with empty stomachs, but that we fast to offer our entire selves to the dedication of spiritual things, having distanced ourselves from secular things.”

Our fast according to this should make our soul reach out to our brothers and sisters and not consume them by eating their souls up! The church father advises us to not eat each other! During lent is that what we end up doing or do we share with those who are in need? All through the year the poor are eaten up by others. Isn’t it time now for them to have what otherwise is always ours? FEAST AND SAY the TRUTH is being happy with what we are doing but ultimately realizing that our responsibility lies in doing good for others. This we can do only if we realize that we are also responsible in the hungry not having food and the poor not being helped. This is the essence of lent. We must fast to accept and say the truth. In St. John 8:31-32 Jesus says “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” We are sometimes blindly bound to our lent that we do not see how we should transform ourselves and help others. Our lent should make us see the truth and it should set us free. Let us FAST. Let us Feast And Say the Truth. Amen.