145. Слово в неделю шестую по пятдесятнице

(Printed in the collections of 1844 and 1848) 593 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the weakened one: be of good cheer, child, your sins will be forgiven. (Matthew 9:2). To teach a believer about faith, doesn’t it mean to teach a scientist, and isn’t this unnecessary work? This may seem so with a superficial comparison of words: but not so with a thorough examination of the matter. And the scientist needs to renew acquired knowledge and acquire new ones, in a word, to study: otherwise, one must be afraid that what he has learned will be obscured by oblivion, and, stopping, he will lag behind science, which is constantly moving forward. In the same way, or even more, the believer needs to constantly learn faith, both speculatively and actively: for otherwise, one must be afraid that the light of faith that shone in the heart, without prudent observation and support, will not go out, like the lamps of the holy fools known in the parable of the virgins. “The righteousness of God” in the gospel of Christ “appears from faith to faith,” as the Apostle explains (Rom. 1:17). That is: in the Christian teaching, the path to righteousness and holiness, bestowed from God, opens through faith, ascending from degree to degree, from perfection to perfection, always setting itself new ascents, always extending into the previous one; because it strives for the infinite. Therefore, it is fitting for us, Christians, every time we hear any word of scripture about faith, to “test,” according to the command of the Lord, this “scripture” (John 5:39), and to seek out what teaching and guidance is taught in it for our own faith. Now in the Gospel we have heard an instructive story in many respects, how the paralytic was brought to the Lord Jesus on his bed, and received from Him forgiveness of sins and healing from illness. At the same time, some scribes, people supposedly learned, but in fact blinded by the pride of the book title 594, having heard the remission of sins proclaimed by Jesus, mentally accepted this as Blasphemy: and with such a judgment they themselves fell into the crime that they wanted to condemn, blaspheming Him who Himself is God: an amazing example of what the tendency to gossip can lead to! But this insult to the Divine dignity of our Savior gave Him a reason to reveal His Divine omniscience: because He immediately gave an answer to the innermost, heartfelt thoughts of the scribes. He used the opinion of the scribes that God alone can forgive sins to teach the deep teaching that so-called physical evil, that is, suffering, illness, corruption, depends on moral evil, that is, sin, as a consequence, born with it and destroyed with it; why the same Divine action, which, extending to the soul, is expressed by the words: “Your sins are forgiven,” extending to the body of the weakened, is here expressed by the words: “Rise and walk” (Matthew 9: 2, 5), that is, be healed. By actually healing the weakened man, Jesus justified this teaching, proved His Divine power to forgive sins, and showed in Himself the true Son of God. The incident ended with the fact that the common people, following common sense and an unprejudiced conscience, accepted the miracle with better feelings than the scribes, and glorified God. As if in passing, among this narrative, the name of faith appears: “And Jesus seeing their faith, said to the paralytic: Be of good cheer, child, your sins will be forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). But upon careful examination, important and edifying truths are revealed here regarding faith. The first truth: faith has a beneficial effect on a sinner to receive forgiveness of sins. For it is not in vain that the Evangelist notes that the Lord pronounced remission of sins, “having seen faith.” Apparently, the Lord acted not simply according to His will, not only because he had the sick person before his eyes, not even because he had compassion for the needy, although this is also characteristic of the Source of mercy, but because he saw faith. It is clear that if faith had not been provided for, the remission of sins would not have followed. God alone truly gives forgiveness of sins: faith alone accepts it. Another truth: faith has a beneficial effect on a person in need, leading to his deliverance from disaster. In announcing to the weakened man the remission of sins, the Lord did not intend this alone, but at the same time, his healing from illness. The Divine definition: “those sins are forgiven” already included something else: “get up and walk.” Only the evil thoughts of the scribes demanded that the latter be spoken again, expressively and separately. Consequently, the Lord began to heal, “seeing faith.” If there were no faith, then miraculous healing would not have followed, as the Evangelist clearly noted this on another occasion: “And thou shalt not do that many mighty things, because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58). The Lord, in His mercy, grants grace-filled and miraculous healings, and creates others deliverance from troubles; and without a doubt, the matter will not become a matter of His mercy: it is necessary that the matter does not become a matter of our faith. Third truth: One person's faith can work beneficially for another. The Gospel narrative says: “When Jesus saw their faith, he spoke to the paralytic.” From this it is clear that it was not the faith of the weakened man himself, or at least not his faith alone, that attracted him to forgiveness of sins and healing; but the faith of some other people helped him: “Jesus saw their faith.” We learn who these extraordinary helpers were from the Evangelist Mark, who, narrating the healing of the paralytic, agrees with Matthew in the essence of the matter, adding some details. He says that the weakened man was carried on his bed by four people; that, due to the crowded conditions of the multitude of people, they could not bring him into the house in which the Lord was; that, not yielding to this obstacle, they dismantled the roof or ceiling of the house, and lowered the bed with the sick into the church, into the space that was left between the Lord and the people who had gathered to Him by the reverence of this people. The Lord saw their faith, and through their faith, or at least with the assistance of their faith, the faith of the paralytic, and forgave the sins of the paralytic, and healed him of his illness. Here, brethren, I would not be curious, if it were possible, to “see the thoughts” (Matthew 9:4) of yours. Do you simply “marvel”, like the best of the ancient Jews, “and glorify God,” “who gave such power to man” (Matthew 9:8), that by their faith they can attract the gracious and miraculous power of God not only to themselves, but also to others who lack their own similar faith, or, like the ancient scribes, and among you, some “think in their hearts that this says" (Mark 2:6–7)? One believes, and another is healed: what consistency is there? One believes, and the other is freed from sins: what is the truth here? I don’t know whether such thoughts enter your hearts: but since they circulate among people, and sometimes disturb those who would not “think evil in their hearts” (Matthew 9:4): what will we say in response to the spirit of doubt and questioning? – It will not be rude or offensive if we tell him what the Lord said to the Apostle Peter when he raised an objection to one of the mysteries of faith: “Follow me Satan, for you do not think the things of God, but the things of men” (Mark 8:33). You think about human truth, and do not understand God’s truth; you think about natural, material conformities, but you often don’t understand even these and are surprised when you meet them where you didn’t expect them, and don’t find them where you expected them; and is it surprising that you cannot comprehend spiritual conformities, grace-filled communications, without grace-filled experience? The spirit is higher than the flesh; grace is above nature; faith is higher than reason: therefore, it is not surprising that the flesh does not understand how the spirit operates; for nature it is not clear how grace works; It is not clear to reason how faith works. However, from the very rebuke of the Lord against “those who do not think what is the essence of God,” one can notice that there is some possibility of thinking what is the essence of God: because it would not be fair to condemn for not doing the impossible. And if, according to the Apostle, one can “understand by faith” (Heb. 11:3): then one can somewhat understand both faith itself and its saving actions, and make sure that there is no untruth or inconsistency in them. Strict truth alone would not allow sins to be forgiven in any case; For this we need the help of mercy; and mercy does not require merit that would be given in truth, but only a willingness to accept the grace given. A soul without faith is a closed vessel for grace, but a believing soul is an open vessel. Faith opens the soul to receive grace. To be convinced of this action of God's faith, let us look at the action of human faith. In a relationship with a person to whom we have neither trust nor devotion, do we not notice that our soul is locked for him; that its effect on us glides, so to speak, on the surface of our heart, without penetrating inside it; that his reasoning does not convince us, and his feelings do not touch us, although they are not without force? On the contrary, to whom we trust and are devoted: a light thought and a simple word bows our mind, penetrates our heart, moves our soul; and such communication of souls is sometimes so close that we find it appropriate to call it unity. Apply this earthly to the heavenly, this earthly to the heavenly, this human to the Divine, and you will be able to partially understand how faith opens the soul to receive grace, and also how one soul, having attracted grace by faith through sincere communication with another soul, can also be impressed by the action of faith and facilitate the acceptance of grace. So the souls of the carriers of the Gospel of the weakened, on the one hand, by faith, strove towards Christ, on the other, with love for mankind and compassion, they clung to the soul of the weakened: “and Jesus saw their faith,” and a current of grace flowed from Him through their souls onto the soul and body of the weakened. Oh, if only, brethren, these reflections on the beneficial and powerful action of faith would help us in any way, so that our faith would not be either weaker or more ineffective than the faith of these unknown inhabitants of Capernaum, not famous for their faith, who, having brought a weakened man to the Lord, suddenly pulled out several miracles from the treasures of His grace, and moved the whole people to glorify God! This would be good for us at all times, in all sorrow from the present, in all fear from threatening evil, in all immaculate desire for necessary and true good. Sorrow crying out to the Lord, and desire looking to Him, would naturally turn into a prayer of faith; and faith would bring about the fulfillment of prayer. For the Lord’s promise is true: “Everything you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). Amen. In the index in General Readings. love spirit. Ave. listed as spoken in 1839. In collection 1844: knowledge,... You might be interested in: