Fish, Fridays and the Frivolous
We recently cleaned out a storage bin that we had rented for over a decade, hoping to save a little money each month. It didn’t take long to realize the boxes were filled with the frivolous. We opened every container, browsing through Legos and Ninja Turtles, Barbies and My Little Ponies, and McDonald’s toys and cartoon character jars that used to hold Welch’s grape jelly. In one container we found a stack of newspapers reminding us of the monumental days of our lives: walking on the moon, the Challenger explosion, the attack on 9/11, and the day the Ohio River froze over in Cincinnati.
These items were symbols – storing floods of memories, hinting at lessons learned, peeking at glimpses of hope. We held a child’s toy and suddenly we were wisked back in time some twenty-five years. The kids were young, the house was old, and our dreams were new.
God has provided those same types of symbols and pictures for our faith: a loaf of bread, a cup of juice, the ritual of baptism. As we walk on a journey toward Resurrection Sunday, I am struck today by several symbols.
The Role of Symbolism
Numbers play a significant role in the Bible. “Forty” often paints a picture of waiting and preparation. Noah and his family are shut up in the ark, enduring the deluge of water from the heavens for 40 days and nights (Genesis 7:17). Moses spends another 40 days and nights on top of Mount Sinai, without food or drink, as he experiences the presence of God (Exodus 34:28). Later God’s patience with Israel has worn thin and he sentences them to wandering in the desert for 40 years, punishment for their grumbling and idol worship.
Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness, preparing for the beginning of his earthly ministry by a time of prayer and fasting. It is also very telling that during this time of physical sacrifice and spiritual reflection and renewal, Satan chose that opportune moment to throw everything that he could at Jesus.
Lent is the Christian tradition of preparing for celebrating Easter, dating back to the second century. Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent. Occurring 46 days before Easter, it can fall as early as February 4th or as late as March 10th. The 40 day period (not counting Sundays; they are considered a “mini-Easter” in the Catholic Church) is to be reflective of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert.
Fish and Fridays go hand in hand during the Lenten season, don’t they? Under current Roman Catholic Church decree, Christians are to abstain from eating meat on Ash Wednesday and on every Friday, the day when Christ suffered and allowed his body to die. Many Catholics do not realize that church teaching encourages abstinence on all Fridays, not just during Lent.
In honor of Jesus’ sacrifice on Friday, Christians were required to sacrifice – abstain – from eating meat on that day. Meat was defined as coming from warm-blooded animals that roamed the earth. Whether birds of the air fit that definition was a matter of theological debate, though most agreed that birds were warm-blooded and were to be among the meat abstained.
But why fish? Some say it was because the church was trying to support the fishing industry when the economies for many people were struggling. There is some historical evidence supporting this theory dating back to the second century. Others say that fish was safer to eat than meat. There is historical evidence of this as well, going back to the seventh century.
It struck me that there was another incredible important distinction. Meat was food for the wealthy. It was available for sale in the market place. Fish, on the other hand, was food for the masses. It wasn’t sold in the market often because it was so difficult to keep fresh. It was the poor man’s meal – cheap food that you had to catch yourself.
Sacrificing the Frivolous
That of course reminds us of the humility of Christ – but only if you pause to remember it. If we aren’t focusing on Jesus and his sacrifice when we eat fish, then we might as well be eating at Outback or Ruth’s Chris. Somehow Lent is more than a veggie pizza or a grilled cheese sandwich. The sacrifices we make should mean something to us, it should become symbolic – reminding us of the reason we abstain. Giving up frivolous things – like chocolate or Netflix – doesn’t make us think.
It also brings to mind that Jesus was bringing God’s grace, not just to the spiritually wealthy but to the masses. God wanted a relationship with all people, not just the Jews.
When I go through an incredibly minor act of abstaining from meat – or anything – on Friday, it points me back to that terrible but Good Friday. By abstaining from something, I am somehow putting my body under my control. Considering how often my body leads me into sin and away from God, it seems like a fitting chance and choice to do the opposite.
So during the forty days of Lent, my altar will have strapped upon it Fish, Fridays and the Frivolous.
Post first published on March 4, 2017 in News-Tribune, Jeffersonville, IN.
