Matthew 6:14-21
ORTHODOX STUDY BIBLE NOTES…
Jesus insists on mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God’s forgiveness. Those who do not forgive are not forgiven— period. This teaching is repeated in the parable of the unforgiving servant, which concludes with the same teaching. To not forgive others is to willfully flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves. This passage is read on the Sunday before Great Lent, called Cheese Fare Sunday or Forgiveness Sunday. Keeping a sad countenance to show off one’s fasting is mere external display. Jesus rejects such hypocrisy. For the one who fasts, the compassion of God outshines the physical discomfort.
 
During the fasting seasons of the Church, the hymns call the faithful to wash and anoint their faces (thus, there is no “Ash Wednesday” in the Orthodox Church). Fasting is for spiritual growth and the glory of God, not to be seen by those around us. Fasting also is not merely abstinence from food, but consists of self-denial in all areas of life in order to escape the control of the passions. On the eve of Great Lent, we sing, “Let us abstain from passions as we abstain from food.” St. John Chrysostom writes, “What good is it if we abstain from eating birds and fish, but bite and devour our brothers?” By attaching themselves to treasures on earth, people cut themselves off from heavenly treasures. They become slaves to earthly things rather than free in Christ. The heart of discipleship lies in (1) disentangling ourselves from the chains of earthly things, and (2) attaching ourselves to God, the true treasure.
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Lent is the liberation of our enslavement to sin, from the prison of “this world.” And the Gospel lesson of this last Sunday (Matt. 6:14-21) sets the conditions for that liberation. The first one is fasting—the refusal to accept the desires and urges of our fallen nature as normal, the effort to free ourselves from the dictatorship of flesh and matter over the spirit. To be effective, however, our fast must not be hypocritical, a “showing off.” We must “appear not unto men. to fast but to our Father who is in secret.” The second condition is forgiveness—”If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you.” The triumph of sin, the main sign of its rule over the world, is division, opposition, separation, hatred. Therefore, the first break through this fortress of sin is forgiveness: the return to unity, solidarity, love. To forgive is to put between me and my “enemy” the radiant forgiveness of God Himself. To forgive is to reject the hopeless “dead-ends” of human relations and to refer them to Christ. Forgiveness is truly a “breakthrough” of the Kingdom into this sinful and fallen world.

Monday
Today the nightly reading will consist of a quote from a modern Orthodox Elder and brief Bible excerpt…

“Throughout this period, at every service in Great Lent, we say the prayer of Saint Ephraim the Syrian (“O Lord and Master of my life….”), With these words, the saint wishes to make us understand very clearly, that, apart from other virtues we need to take special care with the last case, that of self-censure and of criticism of our bothers and that without love for our fellow human beings there’s no chance of making even the slightest progress towards our spiritual purification. If we don’t pay attention to our thoughts, our words and our heart, there’s no benefit in fasting.”

(Elder Ephraim of Arizona)

Matthew 5…

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Tuesday

“God seeks only one thing: that you honor Him, love Him, and keep His commandments, acknowledging that He is your maker. He does not want you to divide His glory and to worship other things instead of Him. He does not want you to love anything more than Him.  For this reason when He gave His commandments to Moses through the divinely written law He said:  “Hear O  Israel: thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy soul and with all thy heart and with all thy might and with all thy mind.”  So my beloved child, do you understand? He has left no room for your love to incline anywhere else, but absolutely all the desire of your soul should be to love the Lord. In this manner His grace will dwell upon you.”
(Elder Joseph the Hesychast in  ‘ Monastic Wisdom’)

Matthew 5…

13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Wednesday

“Whatever we do we must do purely for Christ, keeping in mind that Christ sees us and is observing us; Christ must be at the center of our every action. The human element must not get in the way.”

(Elder St. Paisios in ‘Spiritual Struggle’) Matthew 5..

17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

Thursday

“That’s how we should think always.  And that’s how we should live through difficulties and tragedies. We should see them all as opportunities for prayer, for approaching God. That’s the secret: how the man of God will transform everything into prayer. That’s what Saint Paul the Apostle means when he says, ‘I rejoice in my sufferings’, in all the tribulations he encountered. This is how sanctification takes place. May God grant this to us. I ask for this fervently in my prayer.”
(Elder St. Porphyrios in ‘Wounded by Love’)

Friday

“People do not think of others, they don’t go beyond themselves; their thoughts constantly revolve around themselves. But when they revolve around themselves, they have themselves at the center, not Christ. They function outside the axis which is Christ. In order to be able to think of others, the mind must first be with Christ. Then one can also consider the neighbor, the animals and all of nature. His radio station is working and, as soon as a message is received, he runs to help. If our mind is not on Christ, the heart is not working, and, as such, we love neither Christ nor our fellow human beings, not to mention nature, the animals, the trees, the plants.”
(Elder St. Paisios in ‘Spiritual Awakening’)

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a causb shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.

Saturday

“Abstinence, fasting, keeping vigil, renouncing worldly things, etc., are the means, my child, by which we attain purity of heart. The primary property that characterizes purity of heart is love. So our goal is purity of heart. Without purity, God is not beheld, He is not revealed.  So how can we tell whether we have achieved our goal, whether we have drawn near to it, if   we do not have a pure heart?”
(Elder Ephraim of Arizona in ‘Counsels from the Holy Mountain’)

27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.