13. Низкий человек, усыновленный высоким лицом

It happens that a high person accepts a low person as his son, takes off his rags, washes him, dresses him in clothes befitting his honor, and so makes him his son and heir. This is what God, the Heavenly King, does with a poor and vile person. This is done at Holy Baptism. Man does not see this with his bodily eyes, but this Sacrament is comprehended by faith. Then God accepts the poor man into His highest mercy, does not remember his former sins and iniquities, and leaves him every crime. The righteous anger that he had against him, as a child of wrath, is put aside. He takes off his stinking sinful rags, washes him with clean water, clothes him with the beautiful purple of Christ’s justification, makes him His son and heir to the eternal heavenly kingdom. To the baptized person the priest speaks from God’s word: “I was washed, I was sanctified, I was justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11). Oh, God’s inexpressible love for us, poor and outcast people! O incomprehensible goodness! God accepts man - His criminal and apostate, His enemy - into such great mercy and the highest dignity, which cannot be higher! The holy apostle is worthily surprised at this great and incomprehensible love: “Look what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God. The world does not know us because it has not known Him. Beloved! We are now children of God; but it has not yet been revealed what we will be. We only know that when He is revealed, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is” (1 John 3:1-2). We, Christians, have nothing left to do other than the following: 1) For this highest God’s mercy and love for us, always thank Him from the bottom of our hearts. 2) Love Him as the children of your Father. 3) It is unfeigned to show Him filial obedience and pleasure. 4) Beware of every sin by which He is offended, so that we do not offend Him. 5) Imitate Him as children imitate a father, according to the apostolic exhortation: “Imitate God as beloved children” (Eph. 5:1). He accepted us into His highest mercy - we too will remember this mercy of Him. He created us as His children - we too will be true, and not hypocritical, His children, that is, we will do deeds befitting the children of God. He is holy - let us also imitate His holiness, creating holiness in the fear of God. He is good and merciful - let us “be kind to one another, compassionate, and forgive one another, just as God in Christ forgave” us (Eph. 4:32). “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), - we too will do good to everyone, acquaintances and strangers, our own and strangers, those of the same faith and those of other faiths, friends and enemies, who do us good and do us evil. For a long time He endures the sins of the whole world, waiting for everyone to repent - we too will be patient with those who sin against us. Let us do all this and so on, not for our sake, but for the sake of His glory, according to the admonition of the Savior: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). If the aforementioned vile man, honored by his benefactor, had indulged in dishonorable deeds, and thus stripped himself of honor and decent attire and dressed himself again in vile and shameful rags, then this deed would be worthy of surprise, regret and laughter from all people. And indeed, this would be a considerable insult to the benefactor who honored him! And some people would regret, others would be surprised, others would laugh at the madness of this stupid man. This happens to a Christian who is accepted into such high mercy of God and honored by God in holy Baptism. For such a Christian, I say, who indulges in lawless deeds and fearlessly violates God’s law, the proverb befits: “A dog returns to his vomit, and a washed pig goes to wallow in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22). The beautiful and sacred clothes in which the soul was dressed are removed from it. He is deprived of the highest honor of adoption as sons of God and an eternal inheritance. He dresses himself in dishonest and shameful sinful rags and becomes the basest slave. There is sadness and weeping for the holy Angels and all God’s chosen inhabitants of heaven, who all before rejoiced at his bliss. Laughter begins, and ridicule, and the joy of the evil spirits who were previously jealous of him. Every Christian who commits lawlessness after holy Baptism falls into such a poor state! Again, the same soul falls into the same calamity and terrible state that it was in before Baptism, and even worse. About such the apostle wrote: “The last thing is worse for such than the first. It would be better for them not to know the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:20-21). Such a poor person, to his misfortune, does not see both the bliss that he is deprived of and the disaster that he finds himself in, because both are not on the body, but inside, in the soul. True Christian bliss and misfortune are one - that is, that which is in the soul. Oh, if a person saw what bliss he is deprived of after Baptism through sin and what calamity he falls into, he would weep and weep incessantly and inconsolably! Poor sinners will see this when the glory of the sons of God is revealed and the ugliness of themselves appears. They will see, but to their greater grief. Then they will cry and sob, but it’s no use. The reason for such a disastrous state after Baptism is: 1) Weakness and corruption, which lies within, in the human heart, and is born with it. 2) Bad upbringing. This is also caused by parents who do not care about themselves or their children, and so they themselves go and are led to destruction. 3) Pastoral negligence of those who do not care about the gift and the flock of Christ. 4) The temptations of unkind parents and other evil people, looking at whom young people are tempted and corrupted. 5) The machinations of the common enemy of Christians - the devil, who walks “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). 6) Neglect and carelessness about oneself of a person who, listening to the word of God read in churches, is careless and careless about it, and walks like a blind man into a pit, into eternal destruction. And from here it follows: 7) How young children need good upbringing and guidance! Not to speak French, not to speak German, not to dance in Italian, not to dance, which is what people today are most concerned about, but to live like a Christian - this is what Christians are obligated by the law of God to teach their children. Even if the children do not know any language, but live like Christians, they will not be deprived of true bliss. 8) How carefully young people need to guard against temptations by which the evil hidden in their hearts is aroused! 9) For a sinner who has strayed from the true path after Baptism, only one hope remains - true repentance. To do this, turn, sinful soul, to the Heavenly Father, as the prodigal son did, and fall before His merciful eyes, and with contrition and heartfelt groaning cry out to Him: “Father! I have sinned against heaven and before You and am no longer worthy to be called Your son; make me one of your hired servants" (Luke 15:18-19). And believe without a doubt that He will accept you and clothe you in the best clothing, and so there will be joy in you before the Angels of God. You might be interested in: