Nativity Fast

Today marks the beginning of the Nativity Fast.  A common objection I hear to fasting, mostly from Protestants, is that it is fine "as long as you don't think you're earning anything by it."

It is with that in mind that I read with marvel this morning the Epistle reading for today.  Each day my homeschooled children, my wife and I begin the day by saying morning prayers, after which the children and I go through the readings of the day, the life of a saint of the day, and a short Bible study.

Today, the reading was Colossians 2:20-3:3.

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:  “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?  These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.  Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

On the day we begin fasting, St. Paul is instructing us not to follow the rules of this world.  Not to say "Do not handle!  Do not taste!  Do not touch!"  Why, on this day of all days, does the Church choose this passage?  Precisely because we do not believe we are earning anything by fasting.  Actually, the opposite is true.

As St. Paul teaches us, our fasting is not to follow legalistic rules to earn heaven or favor with the Father.  Rather, fasting is to teach us to deny ourselves, and our inability to fast properly, in humility, with right attitude, and to put neighbor above self teaches us precisely that we cannot earn heaven or favor with God by fasting or anything else.  This is made most clear in the Gospel reading for today, Luke 14:25-35:

Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. 

“Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Here, Jesus teaches us that we must hate our father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even our own lives.  What does this mean?  Why does the Church give us this message on the day we begin fasting?  To show us the life Christ has given us to live, and to show us the magnitude of our inability to live it apart from Him.  "[W]hoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."  This is what bearing the cross looks like.  Does it seem outrageous that one would be willing to lose father, mother, children, brothers and sisters?  How much more outrageous that one would give up his own life?

Jesus is teaching us to deny ourselves.  Not to earn heaven or favor with God, since sin is "missing the mark," and the mark is Christ Himself.  No, denying ourselves is precisely what it means to be Christian, because Christ denied Himself on the cross, gave His own life for the life of the world.  He denied Himself that we might live, and so we deny ourselves that we might learn (in however small a measure) to live in Him and not of ourselves.  So it is that as the Church begins the first of the Church's four fasting seasons, she has given us the wisdom of Jesus to deny ourselves (in much greater measure) and follow Him, and the wisdom of His Apostle to place no great weight on our doing so.  St. Paul puts quite a nice punctuation on this juxtaposition:

These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.  Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

Indeed.  May your Nativity fast be a blessed one, with your hearts set on things above and not on earthly things.