+ The animals and beasts:
We may wonder, my brethren, at the king of Nineveh, and his call after he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe and covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes and said” Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water” ( Jonah 3:6-7). Let us focus on the word beast. How many beasts are inside of us, moreover refracting monsters?! Aren’t the impurities in our minds, organs and lusts beasts wondering and grazing in our old being, only asking to be fed by everything that is unlawful?! Didn’t the Lord warn us saying” whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. ( Matthew 5:28). And in the Old Testament God has warned us” You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” ( Exodus 20:17). Saint Paul rebuked the Corinthians because of their beastly lusts that had overshadowed the love that was between them during their meetings in the church, which unfortunately, we are still suffering from nowadays ” Therefore when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper. For in eating, each one takes his own supper ahead of others; and one is hungry and another is drunk”. ( 1 Corinthians 11:20-21). He had also previously rebuked the Corinthians for keeping amongst them he who had sinned with his father’s wife” It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named[a] among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you”. ( 1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Then what about the ferocious monsters that lie down in our souls?! What about the anger monster that perches on the bulging arrogant self? What about this predatory lion that is let loose outside of us in bouts of anger, leading to insults, verbal abuse and folly, smashing and even murder. From here we can understand what the Lord said” But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause 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”. ( Matthew 5:22). Our beloved teacher John also says” Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him”. ( 1 John
3:15). And in Cain we see a clear example of this ferocious monster of anger within, that led him to kill his brother Abel” not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous”. ( 1 John 3:12). Envy is one of the beasts within us as well, and the destruction it causes affects the person that envies first, and has major negative impacts. It is enough to know that the breeder of envy is satan himself, using arrogance souls. Always wanting to be first, distinctive and above all. Not loving oneself leading to hatred of others. We can never forget the envy of Joseph’s brothers because of his colored robe that was given to him by his father Jacob, also because of his
visionary dreams. All this envy lead them to think of killing him then eventually throwing him into the well then selling him as a slave to sojourn in Egypt. Didn’t the head priests and the elders hand Jesus over to Pilate to crucify him, and Pilate wanted to release him” For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy” ( Matthew 27:18). But the result was that Joseph’s brothers hungered and came and humbled themselves before their brother after God had raised him and made him the second man over all Egypt after pharaoh, controlling the food of all land, also the chief priests and the elders of the people who refused Christ to whom is all glory, their land was destroyed and Jerusalem was burnt after the resurrection of our victorious Lord and His ascension, leaving those who envied Him burning in their envy. Beloved by the Lord, these are few examples of the beasts that live within, God’s wrath comes upon those who disobey. In order for us to survive we must not nourish those beasts within so they can die.
+ Do not taste:
From here we see the importance and effectiveness of fasting. Fasting is not just replacing
delicious food with another, neither it is just an abstain from eating and drinking then eating
some beans. We can do all this without any benefit, if we do not dry what’s feeding those beasts
within. The Lord has put a wonderful recipe in the book of Isaiah chapter 58″
*To loose the bonds of wickedness ( hatred, gossip, condemning others, no good deeds),
*To undo the heavy burdens ( to release oneself from psychological and spiritual problems that has formed since childhood and evil experiences, impurity and self pride through confession and repentance and exposing oneself completely in front of your father of confession)
*To let the oppressed go free ( whom I control at work, at home, I do not oppress those who are
poor financially or psychologically, didn’t the Lord set us free after we were slaves to death and
satan and offered Himself for us to live?! )
* Is it not to share your bread with the hungry (humbly and not with ego)
*And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out( here, the words of Saint Paul
comes to us” Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly
entertained angels” ( Hebrews 13:2) )
*When you see the naked, that you cover him( not only to these who are without clothes, but
also those who are not covered by the grace of Christ, That He offers for free to those who
believe in Him and accept to live in Him)
*And not hide yourself from your own flesh( do not hide from anybody that shares your
humanity, regardless to their color, language, religion. The Lord did not praise the Levi priest
who left the wounded man between life and death, but praised the Good Samaritan) Again I say that if we applied this divine recipe in our lives, the beasts and monsters that are within oneself will starve, and eventually will fall and die with the power of Christ who said to us” without Me you can do nothing” ( John 15:5).