My beloved, we'll take a moment to share some reflections on the day of Monday of the Holy Pascha. There are two major events that the Church places before us today that we should get accustomed to understanding their meanings.
The first event that we see is that after the Lord has entered into Jerusalem, after His triumphant entry into the great city, as He is walking in, He encounters a fig tree. And Scripture says that the Lord at this point in time approached the fig tree, because he wanted to eat of its fruit. Now let’s understand that this is given to us as an example before we get into the discussion of whether or not the tree deserved the final consequence that was given to it or whether or not it deserved to be cursed. Let’s understand that this was done for us and had nothing to do with the irrational creature which was the tree itself.
The Lord approaches it, because it was filled with leaves. The Lord approaches it because, from far, it looked like it was properly arrayed, it was perfectly healthy. And because it was filled with these beautiful leaves and it looked very plump and right and ripe, He approached it thinking that surely, surely this tree that looked so beautiful and was adorned with all of these beautiful leaves, surely it had fruit to offer, but when He approached it, He realized that there was no fruit within it.
Now again, God forbid that we should say that the Lord did not know that it did not have any fruit and that He foolishly approached it thinking that it did, even though it was out of season. But He does this so that we can learn from this example. He does this so that disciples can notice and see how it is that He curses the tree. And He curses the tree so that we can take the message that... What benefit is it to us if we are properly arrayed with all of those things that make us look healthy, but on the inside we produce no fruit? What benefit do I have if I am a person who wears my cross proudly, who has a cross that is hung in his vehicle, who has icons put on the walls of his house? What benefit even is it to me to come and to sit even in the pews of this church, if on the inside, the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the virtues that the Lord wants me to be able to demonstrate are not growing within me?
And He curses the tree because of its hypocrisy. He curses the tree as a sign of how it is that the Lord does not look for external manifestations of righteousness, but rather, He wants to see the inner man grow, the inner man produce fruits worthy of the Holy Spirit. St. Augustine, he comments on this and he says:
''This message was to the Pharisees who, from the outside, were adorned with the law.'' (St. Augustine)
Whoever looked at the Pharisees saw that they followed the law perfectly. They wore the right clothes, they walked in the right way, they worked on the right days, they did every single one of the laws, they followed all six hundred commandments of Moses, but yet on the inside, they lacked the fruits of mercy, St. Augustine says. They lacked the fruits of those things that the Lord wants to see manifested in the life of the person. And so, here we have the first message of the Monday of Pascha where we are told: Do not be like the fig tree who is adorned only with leaves, but in reality does not produce fruit.
The fig leaves are also a reminder of what it is that we read in the book of Genesis, of how it is that our forefathers Adam and Eve, when they first fell away from the glory of God and realized their nakedness, what did they use to cover themselves? They used fig tree leaves. These fig leaves that they used were supposed to cover their nakedness, but you cannot hide yourself from God using these leaves, if you wish, these external manifestations of things that are not in and of themselves fruit. We cannot hide ourselves from God the way that Adam thought that he could.
And what good is it to hide from the living God? What good is it for us to think that we can just adorn ourselves with external leaves, where in reality, what we are trying to hide is the fact that we are barren, the fact that we do not produce any fruit? And so, our mind is brought back to our forefather and our foremother Adam and Eve and how it is that they used these very leaves to try to hide the fact that they produced no fruit. And so, the Lord curses hypocrisy today as the message that we receive on Monday of Pascha.
The second thing that we are reminded of and is the theme of the day is how it is that the Lord enters into the temple and He cleanses it. And I want you to notice how it is that the Lord does not hesitate in any way to demonstrate that He has righteous and holy anger towards evil. And the evil that He sees before Him is that His Father’s house was meant to be a house of prayer, a house that offers repentance, a house that is a hospital to the sick, but rather, they have turned it into a den of thieves. Why does He say this, my beloved?
You need to understand that what they had done at this point is that they had set up a marketplace. And what they were selling, the pigeons, the ox and the lambs... they were selling to the people the very things that the people should have come prepared to offer to the Lord. And so they, thinking to themselves: We can make a profit off of the commandments of God.
And what is even worse is that the Church Fathers actually tell us that those very animals that they were selling within the temple did not even meet the requirements of God. And so, they were supplying to the people animals that were not befitting of sacrifice. They were actually encouraging the people, trying to say: If you want a perfect animal that you can offer and is acceptable before the law, it costs this much, but if you want, I can sell you one that is of lesser value and lesser acceptance according to the law. They defiled the house of the Lord. They turned it into a marketplace. And what does He do? He cleanses the temple. He turns
over the tables. He throws out the money changers. He does all of these things why? Because He cannot tolerate that even within the house of God the Father, that we would see this kind of evil and unrighteousness.
My beloved, the message of the Church to us is that we want to welcome Him also into our hearts; that there is a marketplace in my heart. There is exchanges that are happening within me. There’s a marketplace of lust. There's a marketplace of greed. There is a marketplace of different kinds of passions, of anger, of jealousy, of selfishness. All of these things have been set up as marketplaces within my heart.
And I ask Him to come and to cleanse the temple of my heart, to turn over those tables, to renew it back to what it’s supposed to be, so that it may be a temple that glorifies God, a temple within my heart that is truly a temple of prayer where I can encounter the living Lord, not a temple that is simply overtaken by these demons who have set up their tables, these demons who come and they sell to me their sinful passions that I accept so easily, these things that have led me to my addictions and my fallenness and my sinfulness. I ask Him to come and to turn over those tables, to destroy the marketplace of sin, to chase away these demons that have set up these tables and to renew me all over again, to cleanse me.
The message of the Church today, my beloved, is that Lord does both of those things. He calls out hypocrisy and curses those things which give a false impression of bearing fruit. And He also cleanses the temple. And in cleansing the temple, He rids us of those things that hinder us from being able to truly become temples of the Holy Spirit.
So today, as we meditate, today, as we remember the day of Monday, let us all pray together a very short but powerful sentence where we come to the Lord and we tell Him: Lord, please, cleanse me from within, cleanse me from within, rebuke my hypocrisy and make me back what I am supposed to be, according to Your image and likeness.
To God be all glory now and forever and unto the ages of all ages. Amen.