Friday August 13, 2004

The Seven Maccabees, their Mother Solomonia and Eleazar the Priest (Part 3)

Okay, so why am I going on and on (and on and on) about fasting? Why is it such a big deal? (One big caveat here: I talk a good game, but dollars to...em... doughnuts, I won't be referred to as "the blessed ascetic" when I'm gone! So please, do as I say, not as I do.)

There are a dozen reasons. Maybe even a baker's dozen. First and foremost, because Jesus fasted (Mt. 4:1-2), for forty days straight as a matter of fact; and because He told us to fast.

Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Mt. 6:16-18

Note that the operative point is "when you fast", not "if you fast".

Apart from these, though, there are two reasons that came to mind as I was thinking about the Seven Maccabees, their Mother Solomonia and Eleazar the Priest.

First, we have to recognize that eating is much more than a physical thing, the simple meeting of a biological need. If you think about it, the worst thing that ever happened to the human race came about as the result of "bad eating": Eve and the forbidden fruit. (I think I mentioned once before, the bible never says it was an apple.) And the best thing that ever happened to the human race came about as the result of "good eating": the Last Supper. In fact, the very image Jesus uses to describe the Kingdom of God is that of a wedding feast. What we eat, and when we eat, and even how we eat, makes a difference. It is a physical activity with great spiritual consequences. "What we do in life echoes in eternity." (From the Gladiator, not the Gospel, but he makes a good point.)

And second -- and this is just common sense, not deep theology -- when you love someone, you do what they ask. Out of love and out of simple respect. You don't, or you shouldn't, have to have them explain it to you, even justify it to you, over and over again. (Any parent will tell you that "Because I asked you to" is a perfectly acceptable answer to more questions than you'd think.) God tells the Jews what they may and may not eat, and He's very clear that "the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you." (Lev. 11:7-8)

Eleazar takes this seriously. As does Solomonia, and as do her seven sons. So seriously, in fact, that they would and did give their lives rather than break this commandment. This is serious stuff. Eleazar goes further, in fact, and refuses even to pretend to eat the forbidden food, for fear of scandalizing those who would be weakened in their own faith because of it:

Those who were in charge of that unlawful sacrifice took the man aside, because of their long acquaintance with him, and privately urged him to bring meat of his own providing, proper for him to use, and pretend that he was eating the flesh of the sacrificial meal which had been commanded by the king, so that by doing this he might be saved from death, and be treated kindly on account of his old friendship with them. But making a high resolve, worthy of his years and the dignity of his old age and the gray hairs which he had reached with distinction and his excellent life even from childhood, and moreover according to the holy God-given law, he declared himself quickly, telling them to send him to Hades.

"Such pretense is not worthy of our time of life," he said, "lest many of the young should suppose that Eleazar in his ninetieth year has gone over to an alien religion, and through my pretense, for the sake of living a brief moment longer, they should be led astray because of me, while I defile and disgrace my old age. For even if for the present I should avoid the punishment of men, yet whether I live or die I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty. Therefore, by manfully giving up my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age and leave to the young a noble example of how to die a good death willingly and nobly for the revered and holy laws."

When he had said this, he went at once to the rack. And those who a little before had acted toward him with good will now changed to ill will, because the words he had uttered were in their opinion sheer madness. When he was about to die under the blows, he groaned aloud and said: "It is clear to the Lord in his holy knowledge that, though I might have been saved from death, I am enduring terrible sufferings in my body under this beating, but in my soul I am glad to suffer these things because I fear him." So in this way he died, leaving in his death an example of nobility and a memorial of courage, not only to the young but to the great body of his nation.

2 Maccabees 7:21-31

His example of nobility and his memorial of courage are left to us as well -- of whom, by comparison, so little is asked -- to inspire us to offer our eating: what we eat, and when we eat, and even how we eat, to his God and ours.

(2004-08-13 11:38:50.0) Permalink