181. Слово в неделю шестую по Пятдесятнице

(Printed in the Works of the Holy Father and in the collection of 1848) When they saw the people, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to man. (Matthew 9:8). The Gospel, in the story of the healing of the weakened man, brings to our attention and reflection the Divine actions of Christ the Savior, and the various judgments about them of people who witnessed them. Consideration of Divine actions should provide imperishable food for the spirit, and consideration of various judgments about these actions can constitute a protective remedy against judgments that are daring and false, and therefore harmful. The first in the narrative now under consideration is the Divine action of Christ the Savior is the manifestation of His Divine power in the forgiveness of sins. “Say to the paralytic: be of good cheer, child, your sins will be forgiven” (Matthew 9:2). He not only showed this power by word, but also proved it by word and deed. He based his proof on the following question: “What is more convenient, saying: your sins are forgiven, or saying: get up and walk?” (Matthew 9:5) The answer to this was not pronounced: it remained in the conscience of those who heard the question. They could not help but admit that human power and strength are not sufficient to say to the weakened: “get up and walk,” and thereby bring about healing; they had to admit that this requires Divine power and strength, as well as in order to say to the sinner: “Your sins are forgiven,” and thereby truly cleanse the soul. The Divine power in both cases is the same, with the difference that it is not as obvious in the action of forgiveness of sins, which extends to the soul, as in the healing of the body, which is subject to the senses. And so Christ the Savior healed the weakened man with a word, and thereby revealed and proved His Divine power to forgive sins. One may ask: what was more joyful for a weakened person, to hear: “your sins are forgiven,” or to hear: “get up and walk”? - I think that the word of forgiveness was so much more joyful for him as the soul and its health are more important than the body and its health. And I offer this highest joy, brothers, to you too. For this is why the Lord so solemnly revealed His Divine power to forgive sins over the weakened, so that not only he would use it, but all of us. Whoever you are, listening to this, are you sinless? I don't think you can say the same about yourself. And if someone said this about himself: general surprise would not be slow to refute the absurdity. And if you are not sinless, then of course you are sinful; if sinful, then guilty; if he is guilty, then he is worthy of punishment, in any case not small or short, because the majesty of God, which is offended by sin, is immeasurably high and eternal. What should you do? Stop sinning? – Even if you can, and you decide, you won’t save yourself. And before a human court, a thief or murderer who has ceased to kidnap and kill does not cease to be worthy of punishment. What should you do? Do good? - Fine. Only the good that you do today, you are obliged to do today, and therefore you do not make up for the evil done yesterday, although, perhaps, you partially correct it. Strengthen efforts to do good? Wonderful. Only in this way you will not fully pay for the evil done before: because every day you are obliged to do good to the full extent of the forces given to you, and consequently you cannot do anything unnecessary against the lesson given to you, which you could turn into a merit beyond your duty, and in atonement for your previous sins. Moreover, people who are more experienced than we are in the struggle against sin and in the feat for virtue say that a person, damaged by sin from his forefathers, and who has increased the damage by arbitrary sins, does not have sufficient strength of his own to free himself from sin and do good perfectly. “I am,” confesses the Apostle Paul, “I am carnal, sold under sin. “Even though I want to, I do not find what I want to do,” (Rom. 7:14, 18). And as the same Apostle says that “the price of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23); that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18): then isn’t it sad, isn’t it scary, isn’t even the situation of the sinner in itself desperate? It would be truly, and sad, and scary, and desperate if God, the Word, had not appeared with the word of forgiveness: “Your sins are forgiven.” This was said to a sinner, and a weakened one at that, and he was healed: so that the sinner would understand that Christ not only grants forgiveness of past sins, but at the same time strength to resist sin and do good in the future. What a consolation! What a joy! May those wounded by the sorrow of sin be comforted! Let them raise their heads, struck by the fear of God's judgment! May the desperate receive hope! Let the believers rejoice! May our hearts cling inexorably to Christ the Savior with grateful love! Another Divine action of Christ the Savior in the Gospel narrative we are considering is a manifestation of omniscience. When some who did not know His Divinity heard His words: “Your sins are forgiven”; then they thought that He was ascribing to Himself power that did not belong to Him, and, what’s even worse, they strengthened this ignorant thought in themselves to the point of reproach: “This one blasphemes.” They probably did not dare to say this openly in front of the multitude of people who were in awe of the teachings and miracles of Jesus. But the Lord did not allow their injustice and insolence to be hidden behind the fence of cunning. “What evil thoughts do you think in your hearts?” (Matthew 9:3-4) He said, and with this very reproof he refuted their unjust opinion, and imparted to them the knowledge that they lacked, namely, that He is God who knows the heart. Think what this manifestation of omniscience was like for those over whom it marked itself. It seemed unsafe to them to reveal their unseemly thoughts to the people. How they must be confused and amazed when what they wanted to hide suddenly became obvious; when not only their thoughts were revealed, but also the humiliating circumstance for them that they were insincere and cowardly; when at last it was proved by the wonderful words and actions of the Lord Jesus that their thoughts were not only unfounded, but also criminal! Brethren! Christ and the Gospel are now dealing not with the scribes and the people of the Jews, but with us. Let us think about the effect of omniscience for ourselves. Do not sometimes such thoughts enter our hearts, the discovery of which would humiliate us in the eyes of the right-minded - thoughts of unrighteous or biased judgment, hatred, envy, pride, illegal lust, and do we not ensure ourselves that these are not discovered? How we deceive ourselves in this case! If we have allowed an evil thought into our hearts and have not rejected it, or are still nourishing it, then we are already humiliated in ourselves, before the mirror of human and Christian dignity internal to our conscience. But this is not enough: there is a witness to the hidden, incomparably more important and formidable. God's omniscience is present in our most secret thoughts. With eyes that are brighter than the sun, it pierces us, and then says: “What evil do you think in your hearts?” If we do not hear this reproof, nevertheless it is true, and so much the worse for us, deafened by the noise of an evil thought. The time will come when convicting omniscience will appear to everyone and before everyone, when, that is, the Lord will come, “who will bring the secret of darkness into light and declare the counsels of the heart” (1 Cor. 4:5). Then it will be too late to hide from eternal shame, and in vain “then” the shamed and frightened “will begin to say to the mountains: fall on us, and with the hill: cover us” (Luke 23:30). Let us now begin more decisively to expel from our hearts thoughts that would finally shame us before the face of heaven and earth. “Lord, do not become stubborn” (Ps. 69:6), with the gaze of Your omniscience, not only convict us, but also remove from us thoughts that are unworthy of Your sight! The third in the narrative we are considering is the Divine action of Christ the Savior, a miracle of healing. In this discussion, it is worthy of note that the healing word of the Lord appeared and acted not before, as after the word of the Lord forgiving sins. Apparently, there is a connection between the illness of the soul and the illness of the body; apparently, the healing of the body would be prevented by sin in the soul if the person were not cleansed of it. It was necessary to take away the disease of the soul so that it would stop infecting the body. It was necessary to remove the impure darkness of the soul so that the all-pure Divine light could approach and heal the body. Doesn't it sometimes occur to you to regret that in our time, grace-filled healings and similar special blessings of God are not as frequent or as obvious as we see in the Gospel? “Now we have the opportunity to indicate where this regret should be directed.” It should be directed at ourselves, at our lack of faith and cleansing from sins. “Your sins separate you and God” (Is. 59:2), says the Prophet. The all-merciful God wants to come closer to you and do good to you: but your sins, like darkness, surround you and do not accept the beneficial light of God. Strive zealously to cleanse your soul from sin; achieve that in the depths of your soul the life-giving word is spoken: “your sins are forgiven”: then other special blessings of God will not fail to appear to you, often, clearly, wonderfully. It remains for me to pay attention to the different judgments of people about the actions of Christ the Savior, which we have now examined. Here is one judgment: “When they saw the people, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to man.” Here is another judgment: “this one blasphemes.” And whose judgment is this? - “Scribes”, people who, according to today, should be called educated, enlightened, scientists! What an accident! The common people, although they do not yet know God in the face of Jesus, nevertheless recognize the power of God in His miraculous actions and glorify God: and educated people, seeing the same actions, accuse Jesus of blasphemy. What is this from? Because the people, although not enlightened, sincerely followed the suggestions of common sense and good conscience; and the enlightened were blinded by pride. They did not try to draw true knowledge from the essence of God’s works, but wanted to subordinate the works of God to their imaginary knowledge; they dreamed that God should not and could not act otherwise than according to the laws that the wisdom of the Jewish scribes would please Him to prescribe. Do you think, brethren, that this unfortunate example should simply pass by us, and we do not need to take any lesson from it? – I don’t think so. Who doesn't love light? Who would envy the darkness? – But what does the truth say? - “Beyond the true light that enlightens.” Consequently, there is also a false light that shines superficially and does not enlighten internally. And so, could it not happen among us, as it once happened in Judea, that those who are seduced by the light that shines on the surface will not recognize and will not accept the light that enlightens us internally? Can we not meet today people who are not called, it is true, and probably would not want to be called scribes, but who, over some dark book, in the fog of the imagination, having seen the ghost of truth, consequently consider themselves capable of pronouncing judgment on the sacraments of faith, on the wisdom of the Church, on the works of the Providence of God in the human race? – That such fears are not unnecessary, and the caution they inspire is beneficial, the Apostolic Word assures me of this. Not to the Jewish scribes, but to the Christian wise men, and therefore to me and to you, the Apostle extends the admonition: “I say by the grace that was given to me, let everyone who is in you not philosophize any more than it ought to philosophize, but philosophize in chastity,” that is, with prudent caution, without going beyond the limits of humility, “as God hath divided unto every one the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3). Christ, true Light! Enlighten us with Your light, admonish us with Your word, guide us with Your wisdom, grant us the Spirit of humility, “that He may lay down in us every arrogance that is charged to the mind of God” (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Let us know how insufficient and unreliable the wisdom of the world is, which cares to decorate the mind, but does not improve the heart, which is rich in thoughts and words, but poor in deeds, which easily judges and condemns everything, but cannot save anyone. Let us confess to You, let us follow You, Let us marvel at Your saving deeds, Let us glorify You, O Christ, God's power and God's Wisdom! Amen. You might be interested in: