Глава шестая. Первый период служения Христова: лето Господне благоприятное

And Jesus walked throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching gospel of the kingdom, and healing all things illness and all kinds of infirmity in people. And rumors about Him spread throughout Syria. § 23. The teaching and works of Christ during this time The path we have traveled has revealed to us all the elements that made up the life of Christ during His public ministry. Now it remains to show how these elements were connected with each other, forming in connection and consistency the history of His ministry, which ended with His death on the cross. Let's consider the first period of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ (according to Matthew 4:12, 9:31). During this time, according to the evangelist, already quoted above, “Jesus walked throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every disease among the people” (Matthew 4:23). During this time, the Lord’s teaching is characterized primarily from its essential side; it has hardly yet entered the whirlpool of history; it manifests itself in a form that is most consistent with its essential content, and not with the attitude of the people towards it. He teaches about what spiritual life consists of, how to “enter life,” what its laws are. His teaching is now actually the gospel of the kingdom of God, good news, joyful news. He blesses the poor in spirit, the weeping, the meek; He calls to Him those who are toiling and burdened, in order to calm them down, promising them a good yoke and a light burden. This general tone is not in the least violated by the fact that He pointed to persecution for the righteousness of the kingdom of God - it does not violate it because this is the path leading to life, bringing joy and gladness to the persecuted. This was the true gospel of freedom of the spirit, not only from the bonds that entangled him with sin, unclean thoughts, attraction to the earth, attachment to its blessings, but also from those shackles with which the law weighed on him, with which the scribes and Pharisees constrained him, with which the traditions of the elders oppressed him. He preached the kingdom of God, blessed for the spirit, in which he is light and joyful, He brought freedom and light to earth, He spread around Him an atmosphere free from the torment of brotherly anger, from the impurity of debauchery, from the embarrassment of an oath before people, from the torment of revenge and external resistance to evil, He preached the bliss of love, non-judgment and forgiveness, the bright joy of blessing enemies and prayers for persecutors, the joy of filial likeness to God, He called people to joyful service to God in the depths of the spirit, to that service that is not performed for people to see, but which really frees a person from the slavish and painful service of mammon and from worldly worries, He called people to complete filial devotion to God, trust in Him. But, of course, for those who are partial to worldly goods, the teaching of the Lord Jesus contained a lot of “sorrowful things.” Pleasing the poor and meek, he proclaimed woe to the rich, the satiated, the laughing, the venerable among men. His teaching contained much “sorrowful” for the ritual self-righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He said that the sons of the kingdom should surpass in their righteousness the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Revealing in His teaching the essence and laws of eternal spiritual life, the Lord Jesus Christ during the first period of His ministry drew less attention from His listeners to His face. Of course, it cannot be said that at this time Christ did not teach at all about His messianic dignity. It is enough to point out how He taught to make it clear that He always taught as the Son of God. He taught as one in authority, and not as the scribes, so that everyone marveled at His teaching. With precisely this power, He, in contrast to the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, established new laws of spiritual life. He said: “You have heard what was said to the ancients: do not kill, do not commit adultery, etc., but I speak to you”... And He gave a new teaching about non-anger, spiritual chastity, etc. But with all this, He did not ask the listeners then; “Who do you say that I am? What do you think about Christ? He did not insistently teach that He was the one to whom the “scriptures bear witness.” He taught about the kingdom of God as an objective good, and not about the Messiah as Its founder. This is due to the fact that He forbade those healed to testify about Himself. Of the actions of Christ, in which His teaching was revealed in terms of its essential content and which were “cruel” for Jewish popularity and ritual belief, few date back to this time: the calling of some disciples, His communication with tax collectors and sinners, and His disciples’ non-observance of fasting. According to the Gospel of John, the first disciples of the Lord Jesus were two of the disciples of John the Baptist, Andrew and, probably, the Evangelist John himself. Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus, whom He called Peter (i.e., the stone). Then Philip was called from Bethsaida, from which Andrew and Peter were, and Philip brought Nathanael to Jesus. The evangelists Mark and Matthew convey that the calling of Peter and his brother and the brothers James and John Zebedee, who were given the name: sons of Thunder, was the first action of the Lord Jesus in Galilee, where He came “after John was betrayed,” and the evangelist Luke narrates that at this calling Peter, according to the word of Christ who was in his boat, cast down the nets, and an extraordinary abundance of fish was caught, to which the Lord Jesus attached a symbolic meaning, saying to Peter: “From now on you will catch men.” Be that as it may, the Lord’s disciples were from ordinary Galileans. We are not directly informed that this circumstance was reproached to the Lord by the scribes and Pharisees, especially during the first time of His ministry; however, taking into account everything that is known about the conceit of the scribes and Pharisees and especially the Jews of Jerusalem, we must assume that the Galilean origin of His own and His disciples was of no small importance in the history of the Jews' relationship to Him. At least, the Jews said regarding Jesus: “a prophet does not come from Galilee” (Jn. 7:52), almost meaning together with the teacher and His disciples. But the Gospel directly states that the calling of one disciple, Matthew, from among the publicans and the Lord’s communication with publicans and sinners in general, as well as the disciples’ failure to observe the Jewish fasts, caused the murmur of the scribes and Pharisees. § 24. The first miracle at the wedding in Cana of Galilee Jesus began the miracles (signs) in Cana of Galilee at a wedding, which was attended by His mother and He and His disciples. When during the feast there was a lack of wine, which threatened the newlyweds with shame, “then the mother of Jesus said to Him: They have no wine. Jesus says to her, “What do I have to do with you, woman?” My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants: “Whatever He tells you, do it.” After these words from the mother, He ordered the servants to fill six waterpots with water, which became good wine. This was the first sign of Jesus. It is known how difficult it is to explain the answer of the Lord Jesus Christ to his mother, and it is unlikely that we will find a satisfactory explanation from any commentator, but for us the explanation of the circumstances of the first miracle is of particular interest, as a test of the general view expressed above on the meaning of the miracles of Christ. Christ performed miracles according to the faith of people. Already His first miracle gave birth to faith in Him (John 2:11), it caused new miracles 62, which multiplied faith, and so the number of miracles multiplied (cf. Matthew 4:23-25). But whose faith preceded His miracles? By whose faith did He perform the first miracle? According to the mother's faith: such is her significance in the history of her Son's public ministry. That she, who “kept in her heart” everything she knew about the birth of the Son and His growth (Luke 2:19.51), had, after the testimony of John, faith in the Son, this is easy to understand. But was this faith the same perfect faith with which she stood at the cross of the Son, when “the weapon passed through her soul”? We have to assume not. Before the suffering of the Son on the cross, she sometimes, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, “troubled Him untimely” 63. This was the case when she, together with His brothers, was looking for Him and when He said: Who is My mother? and who are my brothers? and added, pointing his hand at the disciples: here are my mother and my brothers (Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:31; Luke 8:19; cf. Mark 3:21) 64. So at the wedding in Cana, “Mary thought,” according to St. Ephraim the Syrian, - that the reason for His miracles is to gain glory and honor for Himself from the crowd of Jews.” This “calculation” and “thought” of hers did not correspond to the actual course of the life of Christ 65 . However, she believed, and by her faith He could not help but perform a miracle. It is significant that Christ’s answer: “My hour has not yet come” did not encourage the mother’s desires; yet she, after such an answer, commanded the servants to do whatever He said. This shows the consistency and strength of her faith. So, according to the strength of her faith, He had to initiate miracles. But the beginning led to the end, miracles prepared the miracle worker’s death on the cross, the first miracle reminded him of the “hour” of death 66. Subsequently, as this hour approached, His soul was indignant (John 12:27); before his attack, He experienced the difficult struggle of Gethsemane. But even now, in Cana of Galilee, the mother’s desire for Him to begin miracles presented Him with this hour, since the first miracle was the beginning of the path that led Him to death on the cross. Not knowing this secret of the ministry of her Son, the mother, wanting a miracle from Him, did not consciously wish for Him the same thing that His enemies had prepared for Him. “What do you and I have, wife? My hour has not yet come,” the Lord answered her. The expression “what is mine and what is yours” is used in biblical language: this is the usual appeal of one who is being attacked to his enemy, an appeal in which a request for mercy is expressed 67 . “You, without knowing it, wish for Me to die, but the hour of My death has not yet come,” this is how the Lord answered the mother. Previously, Joseph and His mother “did not understand” the words of the twelve-year-old boy Jesus (Luke 2:50). Obviously, the same thing happened now. And the Lord performed the first miracle. § 25. Cleansing the church. Conversation with Nicodemus A few days after this, Jesus came to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Although He had already begun His ministry by a miracle in Cana of Galilee, 68 although the first period of His ministry was timed by Him to Galilee, He had to solemnly open His ministry in Jerusalem, as the center of Judaism, because there He had to accept death, since “it is impossible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem” (Luke 13:33). Having solemnly opened His ministry here, He then performed its first period in Galilee, but His Galilean activity took place before the eyes of an excited Jerusalem, which vigilantly watched Him, gradually increasing its vigilance. By what actions did the Lord reveal His ministry in Jerusalem? Here he cleansed the church prophetically - by inspiredly expelling from it the merchants of sacrificial animals and money changers, who made the house of God a house of trade, and performed miracles. The expulsion of merchants from the church had symbolic meaning. This was a demand addressed to the Jews for moral purification, spiritual rebirth, in view of the approach of the kingdom of God, the onset of which was evidenced by miracles that aroused faith in the Jews (John 2:23). This demand, expressed by the symbolic cleansing of the church, was to be accompanied by an extraordinary effect on Jerusalem, in which the roots of the theocratic ritual faith and self-righteousness of the Jews were affirmed. As much as their attention was attracted by the miracles, their inquisitiveness was equally aroused by the meaning of the symbol. They, it must be assumed, understood the actual requirement contained in it 69 ; but for them, due to their national pride and ritual self-righteousness, it was not clear what this demand addressed to them would lead to. And they asked Christ: 70 - what sign are you showing us by doing this? what does it mean? where is this going? In response, Jesus said to them about the church of His body: “Destroy this church, and I will raise it up in three days,” kill Me, and I will rise again. The combination of the miracles that Christ performed with the demand from the Jews for spiritual rebirth is what brought Him to the cross. This symbolic meaning of the cleansing of the church was explained by the Lord in a conversation with Nicodemus. Although the Jews did not understand Christ’s answer, His actions aroused extremely alarming attention to Him among the Jews: their attention was drawn primarily to His miraculous power, while John did not perform any miracle (John 10:41). In view of the expectations of the time, excited to the last degree by the preaching of John, the question involuntarily arose in their minds: is this not the Messiah? The question was alarming, because Jesus, when he first appeared in Jerusalem, acted in a defiant manner towards Jewish ritualism, without confirming the privileges of the Jewish people. It was necessary to carefully examine the intentions of this person - and so the Jewish leaders, afraid to go to the light openly, send to Him secretly, at night, Nicodemus, one of their midst 71 . Coming to Jesus, Nicodemus said to Him: “Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God, for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him.” This was the immediate impression on the Jews from the works of Jesus Christ, this is the recognition they made to Him! From now on, this consciousness cannot fade away in their soul; no matter what other thoughts and feelings, contrary to this consciousness, subsequently took possession of their soul, all their later hostile actions against Christ must be considered in relation to this consciousness, so that they consciously hated Him, “of their own free will they acted maliciously towards Him” 72. In a conversation with Nicodemus, Christ revealed to this messenger of the Jews the plan of His relationship with the Jews. He demands spiritual rebirth from them, predicts His death in connection with this, and clarifies the truth of the judgment of the Jews, convicting them of hatred of the light. This, so to speak, is the program of Christ’s ministry, and this program, one must think, was exactly conveyed by Nicodemus to the Jewish leaders. § 26. Stay in Samaria Having thus opened His ministry in Jerusalem, Jesus Christ went to Galilee, because Galilee was more consistent with the character of the first period of His ministry than Judea. He had to pass through Samaria. Here, near the city of Sychar, at Jacob’s well, the Lord had a conversation with a Samaritan woman who had come to draw water. He asked her for a drink, and when she expressed surprise that He, being a Jew, contrary to custom, entered into communication with a Samaritan woman, He promised to give her such living (spring) water that forever quenches thirst and becomes in the one who receives it a source of water flowing into eternal life. The woman understood this sensually and asked Him to give her wonderful water. But the Lord, revealing her vicious family life, awakens her conscience, raises her attention to religious subjects, then reveals to her the sublime teaching about worshiping God in spirit and truth and, finally, announces to her that He is the Messiah expected by the Samaritans, as well as by the Jews. The woman believed (John 4:29‒39) in Him, goes to the city and calls on the inhabitants; they came and asked the Lord to stay with them, and many of them believed in Him according to His word. This stay of the Lord in Samaria is extremely remarkable in that the woman did not persistently demand a miracle from Him, she believed in Him for the sake of the truth that He revealed to her, and many Samaritans believed in Him only at His word. This was true and saving faith; there was a ready harvest here, and we know what fruits the apostles later reaped here (Acts 8). This case of faith of the Samaritans most clearly refutes the opinion that without miracles people would not have believed in Christ. Without miracles, only the Jews did not want to believe in Christ. And especially the faith of the Samaritans is remarkable in comparison with the unbelief of the Jews. According to St. John Chrysostom, the Jews “even after miracles remain incorrigible, but the Samaritans showed great faith in Him even without miracles; and this is precisely their honor, that they believed without miracles” 73 . Christ Himself valued such faith highly; it brought Him great consolation. When He was talking with the Samaritan woman, the apostles went away to buy food and, returning, offered Him food; but He answered them: “I have food which you do not know: to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:32-33). Having said this, He enthusiastically pointed out to the disciples the crowds of Samaritans coming to Him at the word of the woman - these “whitened fields.” The Samaritans provided fertile soil for preaching. But if so, then why didn’t He stay in Samaria for more than two days? Why didn’t He found a church here, the first society of His disciples, but later left the apostles to reap here what they did not work for? The evangelist answers this question like this: “After two days, the Lord left from there and went to Galilee, for He Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country” (John 4:43-44). When it was said that Jesus from Judea went to Galilee (John 4:3), here Galilee is contrasted with Judea; but when it is explained why He went from Samaria to Galilee, then in this case Galilee is understood, although before Judea, but not in contrast to Judea, but in their common opposition to Samaria. So, Christ went from Samaria to the Jews, and first to Galilee, in order to experience their opposition and suffer from them. What meaning did His struggle with their opposition have, this is stated above. With the opinion of those interpreters who call Judea, and not Galilee, the fatherland of Christ, and who see in the quoted words of the evangelist an explanation of why He left Judea for Galilee, i.e. attribute “lack of honor in the fatherland” to the former stay of Jesus Christ in Judea, and not to the reception awaiting Him among the Galileans - one cannot agree with this opinion, because the evangelist explains not why the Lord from Judea went to Galilee (John 4:3), but why He did not remain in Samaria (John 4:43). In addition, there is no doubt that the fatherland of Jesus Christ was Galilee, and not Judea, and the closest image was Nazareth, so the words of the Evangelist John refer to the event of the overthrow of Christ from the mountain by the Nazarenes, told by the Evangelist Luke (Luke 4:24): “no prophet is accepted in his own country”). But the following words of the Evangelist John seem to confirm this opinion: “When He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen everything that He did in Jerusalem on the feast; for they also went to the feast” (John 4:45). However, in these words, it is not the one thing that attracts full attention, that the Galileans accepted Him, but the fact that they accepted Him only for the sake of miracles, in contrast to the Samaritans, who accepted Him without miracles. “The Samaritans turn out to be better than the Galileans. For the Samaritans accepted Him only by the testimony of his wife, and the Galileans only then, when they saw the miracles He had performed” 74 . Following the above words, the evangelist tells of Christ’s new sojourn in Cana of Galilee, when He told the courtier mournful words: “You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders” (John 4:48). This attitude towards the miracles of Christ in Galilee and Judea was the reason for the persecution of Him. However, this persecution of Christ did not open immediately after His coming to Galilee, but only subsequently, and in particular the overthrow of Christ by the Nazarenes was later 75. Now the Galileans accepted Him for the sake of miracles. Acceptance for the sake of miracles was necessary in the history of Christ’s relationship with the Jews, in order to later turn into their hatred of Him. For such a joyful reception of Jesus Christ for the sake of miracles, the cheerful Galilee, inhabited by simpletons, was more capable than the Judea of ​​the scribes and Pharisees, where the denouement would have followed sooner, without a full disclosure of Christ’s relationship to the Jews. § 27. Miracles of Christ in Galilee: the healing of the son of a courtier, the mother-in-law of Peter, the leper, the centurion's servant, the resurrection of the son of the Nain widow, the healing of the Capernaum paralytic, the healing of a woman suffering from bleeding, the resurrection of Jairus' daughter, the healing of two blind men. Characteristics of miracles. Matthew's Calling The performance of the second miracle in Cana of Galilee - the healing of the son of a courtier who came to Christ from Capernaum - begins a series of numerous miracles performed by Jesus Christ during this stay in Galilee. He moved to Capernaum, probably to the house of Peter; from here He visited “other cities.” Of the miracles during this time, the evangelists mention 76: the healing of Peter's mother-in-law in his house; healing of many sick and demoniacs on the same day; healing of a leper in one city 77; upon returning to Capernaum, the healing of the centurion's servant 78; then the resurrection of the son of the Nain widow 79; upon a new return to Capernaum, the healing of a paralytic; then, after the calling of Matthew, the healing of a woman suffering from hemorrhage; resurrection of Jairus' daughter; the healing of two blind men 80, and many other, not listed by name, healings. What was the nature of the miracles of Jesus Christ during this time? These were, in fact, good deeds, the impression of which on the people was in no way weakened. Seeing the miracles of Jesus Christ, the people had to say: “He does everything well, and makes the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak.” When He left from where, the inhabitants held Him back, and when He returned, the people received Him, because everyone was waiting for Him (Luke 4:42; 8:40). According to the words of the prophet, He preached the gospel to the poor, healed the broken-hearted, preached liberation to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, set the tormented at liberty, and preached the acceptable year of the Lord (Isa. 61:1-2). When He subsequently read these words of the prophet in the synagogue and said to the people: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” then everyone testified to Him (Luke 4:17-22) 81. Both the teachings of Christ and His miracles were manifested at this time from their essential side; they served as an expression, or symbol, of the approaching kingdom of God (Is. 35:5 ff.). Everything that Christ said and did at this time was one commentary on the first words of His sermon: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Miracles were a sign of the kingdom of God. This significance of the charitable miracles of Jesus Christ was enhanced by two circumstances - their large number and the speed and readiness with which they were performed. We have already spoken about the mass healings performed by the Lord Jesus and the impression they made on the Jews; Now it remains for us to note that such healings were performed primarily in the first period of Christ’s ministry (Matthew 4:23-25; 8:16; 9:35 par.). From the individual miracles narrated in the Gospels, it is clear that they were performed at that time by the Lord Jesus with remarkable readiness and speed 82 . So, when He was in Cana, a courtier came to Him from Capernaum and asked Him to come and heal his son, who was dying. Jesus told him, “You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders.” But the courtier had faith, which was fueled by love for his son and fear for him. “Lord,” he said, “come before my son dies.” “Go, your son is well,” answered the Lord, and the healing actually took place in absentia. Other healings were also performed. Arriving at Peter's house, Jesus saw his mother-in-law lying in a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her; she stood up and served them. A leper approached Him and, bowing to Him, said: “Lord! if you want, you can cleanse me.” Jesus, stretching out his hand, touched him and said: “I want to, be cleansed.” And he was immediately cleansed from leprosy. In Capernaum, a centurion came to Jesus and asked Him to heal a servant who was lying sick. Jesus tells him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion considered himself unworthy for the Lord to enter his house; according to his faith, it would be enough for the Lord to say one word for the sick person to recover. The Lord was surprised at the centurion’s faith, which He did not find in Israel, and predicted that in the kingdom of God the pagans would lie down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the Jews - the natural sons of the kingdom - would be cast out. Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go, and as you have believed, so be it done for you.” And his servant was healed at that hour. When the Lord Jesus approached the gates of Nain, they carried out the dead man, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Seeing her, He took pity on her and said to her; “Don’t cry” and, approaching, stopped those carrying the beds, then called out to the deceased: “young man! I’m telling you, get up.” The dead man rose and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. When Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, earnestly asked Him to heal his sick daughter, the Lord Jesus stood up and followed him. During their journey, the patient died; Jairus was told not to bother the Teacher in vain, but Jesus, hearing this, said to him: “Do not be afraid, just believe, and you will be saved.” Having come to the house, He drove out all those who were crying about the deceased, saying that she was not dead, but was sleeping, so they laughed at Him; Allowing only Peter, James and John and the parents of the deceased to be with Him, He entered the house, took her hand, saying: “Maiden, stand up.” And she stood up. On the way to Jairus’s house, the Lord healed one woman who had been bleeding for twelve years: she came up from behind and touched the hem of His robe, saying to herself: “If I only touch His robe, I will be healed.” And so it was. Immediately she was healed of her illness. At the same time, Jesus felt within Himself that power had gone out of Him, and He asked: “Who touched My clothes?” Then the woman confessed everything, and the Lord said to her: “Your faith has saved you; Go in peace." – After the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter, two blind men followed Jesus, shouting: “Have mercy on us, Jesus, son of David,” and followed Him into the house. He asked them: “Do you believe that I can do this?” They say to Him: “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes and healed them. We must note one more feature in the miracles of the Lord Jesus during the first period of His ministry. Just as in His teaching at this time He did not primarily focus the attention of the listeners on His face, so in His miracles He did not expose the full significance of His face for the kingdom of God. Performing numerous miracles without any slowness, He Himself, as a miracle worker, remained, as it were, in the shadows. This turned out to be in the sheer number of miracles and the speed of their performance, and especially in the healings from one touch of Him. This is how the bleeding woman was healed. And this was not the only case. According to the Evangelist Luke, “all the people sought to touch Him; because power came from Him and healed everyone” (Luke 6:19 par.). If the people could use the power emanating from Him “without His knowledge and permission,” 83 then He appeared in His miracles rather as a conductor of divine power than as its manager. In the quoted words of the Evangelist Luke, the numerous miracles of Christ are directly connected with this. But this same connection between the numerous miracles of Christ and the speed of their performance with the power emanating from Him can be established by the following reasoning: if in some cases the power of Christ could be used without His knowledge and permission, then there was no reason in other cases to delay in working miracles, under the condition of faith, which, of course, was in the bleeding woman and in others like her. The numerous healings and the readiness with which they were performed by Hunger indicate His consent to look at His miracles in this way, i.e. so that His face may be hidden behind His miracles. In connection with this is the fact that He forbade those healed to disclose about Himself. This is all the more remarkable because in Samaria, where Christ did not perform a single miracle, He clearly proclaimed Himself the Messiah; and in Galilee, where He performed numerous miracles, He forbade those healed to proclaim Himself. Obviously, it was necessary for the people, among whom His exodus was to follow, to first be given the opportunity to relate to His teachings and deeds with complete freedom, without the need to establish their attitude towards Him personally - the opportunity to determine their attitude towards the kingdom of God as an undoubted good. The Kingdom of God has come: does man consider it the real and only good? does he desire it with all his heart and all his thoughts, or not? “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” One of the miracles of the Lord Jesus performed at this time, the healing of the paralytic in Capernaum, apparently does not fit this description. Those who brought this sick man could not enter the house in which Jesus was, because of the multitude of people who filled and surrounded the house; so they lowered him through the roof with the bed at the feet of Jesus. He, seeing their faith, says to the paralytic: “Child! Your sins are forgiven you." The scribes and Pharisees who were sitting there considered His words blasphemy, since only “God alone can forgive sins.” But the Lord Jesus said to them: “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For what is easier to say: your sins are forgiven, or to say: get up and walk? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, (then he says to the paralytic:) get up, take up your bed, and go to your house.” And he arose, took up his bed, and went to his house. Jesus performed this healing as if to prove His glory, His power to forgive sins. But in order to correctly assess the significance of this event, one must keep in mind that the power of the Son of Man to forgive sins coincided with His taking upon Himself the sins and infirmities of men, that the Son of Man had this power in His humiliation 84 . Of course, this circumstance undermines the opinion that at first Jesus did not teach about His face at all: in view of it, one can only say that He did not focus the primary attention of His listeners on His face; but, in any case, the manifestation of the power to forgive sins was not strange in the main content of His sermon, but was quite suitable to His call: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” It is worthy of special note that the manifestation of the power of the Son of man to forgive sins in the healing of the paralytic was followed by the calling of Matthew - a circumstance that irrefutably testifies that the power of the Son of man to forgive sins coincided with His humiliation, with His taking on sins. All three evangelists, who talk about the calling of the publican Matthew as an apostle, pretend that it was after the healing of the Capernaum paralytic. Matthew’s calling is remarkable not only because he himself was a publican, but publicans, i.e. The Jews equated tax collectors in favor of the hated Roman government with sinners, but also because it generally revealed the communication of Christ Jesus with tax collectors and sinners, since Matthew held a great treat in his house for Jesus and His disciples, at which many tax collectors and sinners were present. This communication of Jesus and His disciples with outcast people caused indignation on the part of the Pharisees and scribes, to which He replied: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Then (see especially Luke 5:38) the scribes and Pharisees brought another accusation against Him and His disciples: why, they answered Him, do John’s disciples fast often and say prayers, like the Pharisees’, but Yours eat and drink? The answer of Christ Jesus contained a mysterious prediction of His outcome: “Can you, He said, force the sons of the bridal chamber to fast when the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; and then they will fast in those days... It is significant that in Galilee the next miracle was performed by Jesus in Cana of Galilee, “where He turned water into wine” (John 4:46). This incident shows that “without virtue there is no benefit in carrying Christ in the womb or destroying this wondrous fruit. What is especially clear from the words of Christ: Who is My mother? He says this not because He was ashamed of His mother, or because He denied that she gave birth to Him; but by this He wanted to show that this would be of no benefit to her if she did not fulfill all that was due. In fact, her action stemmed from excessive jealousy of her rights. She wanted to show the people her power over her Son, about whom she had not yet thought highly, and therefore came at the wrong time. So, look at the indiscretion on the part of her and her brothers!” etc. St. John Zlat. conversation on Ev. Matt. 44. St. Ephraim the Syrian Interpretation of the Four, Ch. 5. About the “hour” of Christ, His “hour”, see John. 7:30; 8:20; 12:23‒27; 17:1 Without citing examples from the Old Testament, we will point to New Testament examples. The unclean spirits cast out by Christ turned to Him with these words: “What do we and You, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us” (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; also Matt. 8:29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28). When Pilate judged Christ, his wife sent him to say: nothing to you and to that righteous man, i.e. Do not do anything to that righteous man” (Matthew 27:19). In a close circle of relatives and a few students. The symbol was too clear and eloquent. The expression is quite different from John. 6:30: what are you doing as a sign, so that we can see and believe you? U In. 19:38-39 it is said about Joseph from Arimathea that he was a secret disciple of Jesus out of fear from the Jews, but this is not said about Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night: obviously, he came at night not out of fear from the Jews, and John. 3:20 applies to all leaders. St. John Zlat. per ev. John's conversation 68, although not in a psychological sense, but from the point of view of perfect knowledge of the truth, the Jews “knew not what they were doing” (Luke 23:34). St. John Zlat. conversation in ev. John 85. In the introduction it is stated that it is not possible to restore a strictly historical, objective sequence of gospel events. This provides a basis for being guided in the question of sequence by their considerations regarding the essential connection of events. However, this does not mean that we can rearrange the Gospel events completely arbitrarily. Giving room for the influence of these considerations on the sequence of only those events for which no undoubted sequence is indicated in the gospels and regarding which there is no agreement among learned theologians, we can, however, in these cases each time refer to authority, although we will not do this. If anyone wants to reproach us for “philosophical” arbitrariness, then let him first demand a strict account from “objective” historians and conscientiously compare who has more arbitrariness. In particular, in relation to the history in Nazareth (Luke 4), we can refer to V. Grechulevich “Review of the Four Gospels,” part II, pp. 12–13, although in “Additional Notes,” pp. 9–19, he already changes his opinion, which once again proves that on these issues no one has any ground under their feet. About the healing on Saturday of the demoniac Mk. 1:23‒28; OK. 4:33–37 and the healing of the Gadarene demoniacs will be discussed below. In this regard, the first miracle of Christ is noteworthy, the turning of water into wine for the joy of those who feasted; this is Luxuswunder, as Strauss puts it, in which the general nature of Christ’s miraculous activity during the first period was clearly expressed. This circumstance will be assessed again below, in § 39. As Metropolitan puts it. Filaret, “Words and Speeches,” I, 74 ‒76; II, 202‒203. Wed. § 13; also “The Humiliation of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” pp. 183‒187. You might be interested in: