9. Слово в неделю двадесять четвертую

(Spoken in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra; printed in the collections of 1820, 1821, 1844 and 1848). And Jesus said: Who is it that touched Me? (Luke 8:45). The Gospel tells that once Jesus Christ, walking in the midst of a crowd of people, received a certain “touch”, which forced him to ask who touched Him, and when the disciples walking with Him answered that this touch could have been accidental, occurring from close quarters and therefore not requiring further investigation, then He added that it was not a simple and ordinary touch, but one in which He felt the power from Who came from Him: “Someone will touch me: I felt the power that came out of Me” (Luke 8:46). When, during this story, we imagine that this research is being done by Jesus Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom, out of surprise comes the desire to mutually ask Him: Do You, Lord, the Wisdom of God, not know who touched You? And one more thing: are You, this Divine Power, so betrayed into the power of men that they can draw and, so to speak, steal this Divine power from You without Your knowledge and permission? The Apostle Paul will help us resolve the first of these questions, who says that Christ Jesus, “Who was in the form of God not to be equal with God by admiration” (Phil. 2:6), for Whom, that is, to be and to be considered equal to God was not the theft of another’s dignity, since He is the essential image of God, that this Christ Jesus “has made Himself a little lower, taking on the form of a servant, in the likeness of humanity being and found in the form of man” (Phil. 2:7), that is, he truly and completely took upon Himself the small and servile image of man, just as immutably and unchangeably the great and glorious image of the Lord and God was and is in Him. In this “decline” of His, or, according to the most precise application of Paul’s saying, “in His exhaustion,” Jesus Christ, as the same Apostle says, “was tempted in every way, in the likeness” of human shortcomings and infirmities, “unless sin” (Heb. 4:15), which actually does not belong to the image of man, but to the image of the devil. So, if the incarnate Son of God exhausted Himself 101; if He was tempted in every way in the likeness of men, then it is not surprising that He was pleased to be tempted by the fact that He took upon Himself the likeness of human ignorance, in which He hid the light of Divine Wisdom 102, and through which this light shone only when it was necessary, for the illumination of people. From this we can understand that it was not indecent for the Divine Jesus to ask those around Him: “Who is it that touched Me?” Although the Divinity itself saw Him, knew Him and secretly proclaimed Him to humanity, “who is the one who touched,” He was pleased to externally propose this question in order to draw general attention to the extraordinary touch and the consequence of this touch. Therefore, we can say that Jesus Christ Himself brings back to our attention and reflection the second question we asked: is He who is the Divine Power truly so betrayed into the power of men that with just one touch they can extract from Him this Divine power for themselves? – Let us strive, as much as we can, to explore this question, not so much following our own desire to know, but in accordance with the intention of the Savior Himself, who wants to instruct us and bring us into a grace-filled approach to Him. First of all, in this study we must establish for ourselves, as much as possible, the true and correct concept of that incomprehensible power with which Jesus Christ is so filled that with one touch, and even then not on His body itself, but only on the hem of his clothing, it already spills out and produces a miraculous effect. The Apostle gives us this concept when he says about Jesus Christ that in Him “lives all the fulfillment of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). Let us delve more carefully into this brief but very significant depiction of the God-Man. The Apostle represents the Divinity as the fulfillment or fullness of all perfection, goodness and blessedness. But since the Divinity is infinite, no finite being can accept and accommodate this fulfillment. Since the Divinity and all its fulfillment are spiritual, no mortal creature can naturally partake of this fulfillment. Since the Divinity is holy and righteous, how can a sinner, especially, begin to fulfill It without being consumed by the all-consuming fire of God’s strict judgment? What does “the sinner do not want to die?” do? “He “deigned,” says the Apostle, “for all” the Divine “fulfillment” of His “dwelling” in Christ the God-Man, “and thereby to reconcile all things to Himself, having pacified through Him the blood of His cross, whether earthly or heavenly” (Col. 1:19-20). Thus, the infinity of God dwells in Christ and becomes touchable to finite beings; the highest spirituality of God dwells in Christ and not only draws closer to the lower spirituality of the human soul, but penetrates, embraces and fills the very corporeality of His humanity with Divine powers - “lives bodily in Him”; This “unapproachable Light,” this “consuming fire,” as His very word represents God to us nowhere (1 Tim. 6:16; Heb. 12:29), dwells in Christ and, tempered by His Divine humanity, is in Him an open source of light and living water for a nature darkened and killed by sin. The humanity of Jesus Christ is a complete vessel of Divine gifts, which at a single touch flow from him; there is the mouth of the Divine source, in which all the inner and hidden fullness of the life-giving power of God becomes accessible and acceptable; there is one, seen by the prophet Isaiah in a mysterious revelation, a “burning coal” (Is. 6:6), which, through one touch to the lips of the Prophet, penetrated his entire being with its fiery power, and cleansed and sanctified him 104. Let us apply these concepts to the actions of Jesus Christ described in the Gospel - and we will definitely find in these actions the fulfillment of Divine powers proclaimed by the Apostle, filling the very physicality of the God-man, and overflowing from it to everything. He takes the loaves into His hands, and His unfailing fulfillment makes the five loaves sufficient for five thousand people. He takes the clay, and His all-effective fulfillment imparts to this clay the power to open the eyes of the blind. He touches the dead, and His life-giving fulfillment awakens extinguished life. He receives from the bleeding woman a touch only on the hem of His robe, and His boundless fulfillment reaches her with its miraculous power, “and a hundredfold flow of her blood” (Luke 8:44) - she was healed. You see from this, Christians, that God in Christ does not keep, so to speak, imprisoned, but “opens His generous hand” to everyone who requires; that every fulfillment of God's grace through Christ is constantly ready to fill every lack, to heal every weakness, to cleanse every sin of men. However, the gospel story shows that not everyone who outwardly approached Christ accepted His fulfillment. She presents us at one time with a multitude of people, accompanying, surrounding, constraining Him; and only one wife, touching Him in such a way that He felt this touch not with his body, but with His Divine power. “Master,” says Peter and those with him, “the people will conquer and oppress You.” Jesus answers: “Someone will touch me” (Luke 8:45–46). “There must be some mystery in this touch.” For this mystery, Christians, the Lord proposed His question: “Who is it that touched Me?” He was pleased that we all knew this secret and knew how to touch Him for our salvation. Let us direct our attention to the end of this gospel adventure, and let us not reject the instruction that the heavenly Teacher himself gives to all of us in the person of the bleeding woman. This wife touched Christ secretly, ashamed to publicly explain her illness to Him; but when His double question: “Who is he who touched?” showed her that her act could not be hidden, then she, although not without embarrassment, revealed both the intention and the consequence of her touch. “I came trembling, and fell before Him, even for the sake of guilt I touched Him, telling Him before all the people, and that I had healed him” (Luke 8:47). Then the Lord, teaching her not to be ashamed of her previous illness, but to be comforted by the healing she received, at the same time reveals for everyone’s instruction the secret of her miraculous touch: “Be of good courage, daughter, your faith will save you” (Luke 8:48). Faith, Christians, is the corresponding instrument of a saving touch with Christ; with it, he who touches His vestments reaches even to the inside of His Divine fulfillment; she is a spiritual magnet that attracts heavenly forces. This mystery is known, perhaps some say when they hear this. Oh, if it were so, Christians! Oh, if only we knew the faith that the true followers of Christ have! Oh, if only we knew this truly “universal” faith, which in Abel made a greater sacrifice than Cain; which in Noah pleased God and saved the human race from final destruction by the flood; who in Abraham sacrificed her only begotten son to God and, through the distance of many centuries, saw the day of Christ; who in Moses cut off the sea with a rod and led the people of God through the abyss; which opened the eyes of the Prophets and made them contemporaries of hereditary events; who, as disciples and witnesses of Jesus Christ, left everything to follow in His footsteps, and then by His power healed every ailment and every ulcer, walked with Him on the waters, did not die in the terrible days of His death, received the promise of the Holy Spirit upon His ascension, commanded the whole of nature in His name, defeated with its patience the whole world of its persecutors! -What am I saying? – If we actively knew faith, even though it was as small as a mustard seed, what would we be then? “We could imagine mountains.” “If you have faith like the grain of a mountain, you say to this mountain, move from here, and it will pass away, and nothing will be possible for you” (Matthew 17:20). If, however, in the faith that some of us so vainly ascribe to ourselves, we do not find not only the opportunity to act with miraculous and Divine powers, but also sufficient help for restoring the scattered and suppressed powers of our own spiritual nature; If this imaginary faith does not heal us either from spiritual blindness of mind, or from the current inconstancy of heart desires, or from double-minded limping in the paths of law and truth, and does not save us from dead works, then should we not admit, faithful ones, that true faith, which the heavenly Teacher calls “the faith of God,” is still a mystery for us, which we must learn, so that it may be revealed in us? And since this mystery, although it is hidden within ourselves, cannot be revealed by anyone except the Author and Finisher of faith, Jesus: should we not ceaselessly cry to Him with His first disciples: Lord, “add us faith” (Luke 17:5)? Or perhaps our faith does not reach communication with the power of God revealed in Christ, because He had already left the earth and ascended into heaven? – If any soul thirsting for the Lord is indignant at this thought, then let it remember the last promise of Jesus Christ given to the Apostles before His departure to heaven: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). The apostles did not remain on earth “until the end of the age”: who does not see that the promise given to them extends to those who through them successively enter into the same rights of faith and constitute one Church “until the end of the age”? The fulfillment of the Godhead living in Christ is not concluded by heaven; and the exaltation of His flesh does not take away from us His Spirit and power. We dare to say more: it does not so much divide, but rather unite Him even more with His Church. For why did He ascend “above all the heavens”? For this, the Apostle teaches, “that all things may be fulfilled” (Eph. 4:10). And therefore, the fulfillment of the Divinity now lives no longer in His single personal body, but also in the entire mystical body of the Church, “which is” all - His one “body, fulfilling all things in all” (Eph. 1:23). Oh, since Christ is near us everywhere, and especially in his Church! Only creatures, surrounding us from everywhere and, like in that Gospel adventure, crowding between Him and us, do not allow us to touch Him. But dare, soul seeking your salvation! Do not give in to this confused crowd, which itself does not know where it is taking you. Make every effort to pave a direct path for yourself to your longed-for Savior; extend to Him either strong cries of repentance, or quiet sighs of prayer, or ardent desires of love. Strive, as much as you can, to even reach the edges of His garments: He will not hesitate to open for you the current of His life-giving power. Approach Him primarily in this house of prayer and sacraments, where, although He also hides His presence with some external appearances, at the same time He reveals it in the most solemn way. Here His verbs are heard daily, which although for sensual people are sensual sounds and writing 105, but for believers “they are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Here His body functions in secret, the holy communion of which not only brings believers closer to Him, but also completely unites them with Him, according to His word: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I am in him” (John 6:56). Immerse yourself, believing soul, with all your thoughts and hearts in the depths of these mysteries of faith and in them, above all, find your Savior, approach Him, touch Him, unite with Him! “Be of good cheer, your faith will save you.” Amen. In collection 1820 and 1821 further follows: “and he abolished all Divine greatness: then, of course, He exhausted Himself in some way and in His Divine omniscience.” In collection 1820 and 1821 further follows: “like fire in flint, or like a precious stone in simple...” consequence - In collection. 1820 and 1821: “a marvelous consequence...” In collection 1820 and 1821 further follows: “just like natural ignited coal extends the power of the fire contained in it beyond the limits of its woody substance.” In collection 1820 and 1821 followed by: “dead.” You might be interested in: