Беседа 35

“Do not think that I came to bring peace to earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) Explanation 10:34–42. Unity of mind is not always useful. – The reason for the warfare carried out by Christ is human malice. – Unity and agreement of the Old and New Testaments. – One must obey one’s parents in that which is not contrary to piety. – For the sake of Christ one must be ready for any death. - Reward for those who receive the apostles. - We must accept anyone who needs help. - One should not reproach a person asking for alms. -Necessity excuses the shamelessness of the beggar. – He who reproaches a beggar shows greater shamelessness. - Blame on those who refuse alms out of laziness and pride. 1. Again the Savior predicts great tribulations, much more numerous, and what the disciples could object to Him, He Himself tells them in advance. Precisely, so that when they heard his words, they would not say: “So, You have come to destroy us and our followers, and to kindle a general war on the earth?” – He Himself warns them, saying: “I did not come to bring peace” to earth (Matthew 10:34). How did He Himself command them, entering every house, to greet them with peace? Why, in the same way, did the angels sing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace” (Luke 2:14)? Why did all the prophets preach the same thing? Because then especially peace is established, when what is infected with disease is cut off, when what is hostile is separated. Only in this way is it possible for heaven to unite with earth. After all, the doctor then saves other parts of the body when he cuts off an incurable member from them; Likewise, the military leader restores calm when he destroys the agreement between the conspirators. It was the same during the pandemonium. The bad peace is destroyed by good disagreement, and peace is restored. So Paul also created discord among those who agreed against him (Acts 23:6). And agreement against Naboth was worse than any war (1 Kings 21). Unanimity is not always good: even robbers agree. So, the war was not a consequence of Christ’s determination, but a matter of the will of the people themselves. Christ Himself wanted everyone to be of the same mind in the matter of piety; but as people were divided among themselves, a battle took place. However, that is not what He said. What does he say? “I did not come to bring peace,” this is the most consoling thing for them. Don’t think, he says, that you are to blame for this: I do this because people have such dispositions. So, do not be embarrassed, as if this abuse arose beyond your expectations. This is why I came to make war; This is exactly My will. So, do not be dismayed because there will be strife and evil on earth. When the worst is cut off, then heaven will be united with the best. This is what Christ says in order to strengthen the disciples against the bad opinion of them among the people. Moreover, he did not say: war, but, what is much more terrible, the sword. If what is said is too heavy and threatening, then do not be surprised. He wanted to accustom their ears to cruel words so that they would not hesitate in difficult circumstances. That’s why he used such a way of speaking, so that no one would say that He convinced them with flattery, hiding difficulties from them. For this reason, even what could have been expressed more softly, Christ represented as more terrible and formidable. And indeed, it is better to see ease in reality than in words. That is why He was not content with this expression, but, explaining the very image of the battle, shows that it will be much more terrible even than internecine warfare, and says: “He came to divide a man with his father, and a daughter with her mother, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law” (Matthew 10:35). Not only, he says, friends and fellow citizens, but also relatives themselves will rebel against each other, and discord will occur between consanguineous people. “For I came,” he says, “to divide a man with his father, and a daughter with her mother, and a daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law”; that is, the fight will not just be between family members, but even between those who are united by sincere love and the closest ties. This especially proves the power of Christ that the disciples, hearing such words, accepted them themselves and convinced others. And although it was not Christ who caused this, but human malice, he nevertheless says that He Himself does this. This mode of expression is characteristic of Scripture. So in another place it is said: God gave them eyes so that they could not see (Isa. 11:9; Ezek. 12:2). This is what Christ says here too, so that the disciples, as I said above, having previously become accustomed to this way of speaking, would not be embarrassed even in the midst of reproaches and insults. If some find this painful, then let them remember ancient history. And in ancient times it was the same thing, which especially shows the unity of the Old Testament with the New, and what is said here by the same One who then gave the commandments. And among the Jews, precisely when they merged the calf, and when they communed with Beelphegor (Ex. 32:28; Num. 25:3), as soon as each one killed his neighbor, God ceased his anger against them. So, where are those who claim that that God was evil and this one is good? So this God filled the universe with the blood of his relatives. However, we say that this too is a matter of great mercy. Therefore, showing that He Himself approved of what happened in the Old Testament, He also recalls the prophecy, which, although not written for this case, nevertheless explains the same thing. What kind of prophecy is this? “A man’s enemies are his own household” (Matthew 10:36). And something similar happened among the Jews. And they had prophets and false prophets; There were also disagreements among the people, and houses were divided. Some believed one, others another. Therefore, the prophet, exhorting, says: “Do not trust a friend, do not rely on a friend; From her who lies in your bosom keep the door of your mouth. ... a man’s enemies are his own household” (Mic. 7:5–6). And he said this in order to place those who accept the teaching above all else. Not death, after all, is evil, but bad death is evil. That’s why he said: “I have come to bring down fire on the earth” (Luke 12:49). By saying this, He showed the strength and fervor of the love that He demanded. Since He Himself loved us a lot, He wants us to love Him just as much. And such words strengthened and elevated the apostles in spirit. If your disciples, He said, will leave their relatives, children and parents, then think what kind of person you, teachers, should be! These disasters will not end with you, but will spread to others. Since I came to bestow great benefits, I demand great obedience and diligence. “Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). “And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:38). Do you see the dignity of the Teacher? Do you see how He, commanding that everything be left behind and love for Him preferred over everything, shows by this that He is the only begotten Son of the Father? And what can we say, He said, about friends and relatives? Even if you prefer your soul to love for Me, you are still far from being My disciple. What then? Isn't this contrary to ancient law? No, on the contrary, I quite agree with him. And there God commands not only to hate idolaters, but also to stone them; and in Deuteronomy, praising such zealots, he says: “Who says of his father and mother: “I do not look at them,” and does not recognize his brothers, and does not know his sons; for they [the Levites] keep Your words” (Deut. 33:9). If Paul commands many things about parents, and commands us to obey them in everything, do not be surprised. He orders us to obey them only in that which is not contrary to piety. It is a holy thing to give them all other respects. When they demand something more appropriate, one should not obey them. That’s why the Evangelist Luke says: “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). The command is not just to hate, because it is completely illegal; but if one of them wants you to love him more than Me, then hate him for it. Such love destroys both the beloved and the lover. 2. He spoke thus in order to make both the children more courageous and the parents, who would begin to hinder piety, more compliant. Indeed, the parents, seeing that Christ has the power and strength to tear away even children from them, had to give up their demands as impossible. That is why, having passed the parents, He turns to the children, teaching them not to use useless efforts. Then, so that they do not become annoyed or grieve at this, look to what extent the speech extends. Having said: “Who... does not hate his father and mother,” he added: “and his own life.” And what, he says, do you think about your parents, brothers, sisters and wife? For everyone there is nothing closer than his soul; but if you don’t hate her too, then you will act completely differently from someone who loves you. Moreover, he commanded not only to hate the soul, but even to be subjected to war and battles, and not to be afraid of death and bloodshed. “And whoever does not bear his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:27). He didn’t just say that he should be ready to die; but ready to die violently, and not only violently, but also blasphemously. At the same time, he does not say a word about His sufferings, so that after such lessons they can more easily listen to what he has to say about His sufferings. Shouldn’t it be surprising how, with such words, their soul was kept in their body, when troubles were before their eyes from everywhere, and rewards were only waiting? How did you resist? Great was the power of the Speaker, great was the love of those listening; That is why, having heard much more painful and regrettable things than what those great men heard - Moses and Jeremiah - they remained obedient and did not contradict at all. “He who saves his life will lose it; but he who loses his life for My sake will save it” (Matthew 10:39). Do you see how harmful it is to love a soul more than it should be, and how beneficial it is to hate it? Since Christ’s demands were difficult, since He commanded them to rebel against parents and children, against nature and kinship, against the universe and even against their own soul, he promises the greatest reward for this. This, he says, not only will not cause harm, but will even bring the greatest benefit; the opposite will be harmful. This is what He does everywhere: what is desirable for people, He convinces. Why don't you want to hate your soul? Is it because you love her? That’s why you will hate her, and then you will bring her the most benefit and prove that you love her. And notice what indescribable wisdom is here! He speaks of neglecting not only parents and children, but also the soul, which is closest, so that the necessity of the first will be more clearly revealed from the need of the other, and so that they will know that they will bring the greatest benefit and benefit to their neighbors when the same thing is acquired for the soul that is closest. So, this was enough to convince people to accept those who would contribute to their salvation. Indeed, who would not accept with all zeal those men so valiant and undaunted, who flowed around the universe like lions and neglected everything so that others could be saved? And yet, the Lord also offers another reward, showing that in this case He cares more about those who receive than about those who are received. Although He gives the latter the first honor, saying: “Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (Matthew 10:40), what can compare with the honor of receiving the Father and the Son? - but at the same time He promises another reward: “Whoever accepts,” he says, “a prophet, in the name of the prophet, will receive the prophet’s reward; and whoever receives the righteous in the name of the righteous will receive the reward of the righteous” (Matthew 10:41). Above he threatened punishment for those who do not accept, but here he assigns a reward to those who accept. And so that you know that the Lord cares more about these latter, he did not just say: he who receives the prophet, or: he who receives the righteous; but he added: “in the name of the prophet” and “in the name of the righteous.” That is, if he receives someone not out of worldly hospitality, or not for any other worldly calculations, but because he is a prophet or a righteous man, he will receive the reward of a prophet, the reward of a righteous man, either what he who receives a prophet or a righteous man is worthy to receive, or what the prophet or a righteous man himself will receive, just as Paul says: “Your abundance is to [make up for] their lack; and afterward their abundance will [make up for] your lack” (2 Cor. 8:14). Further, so that no one would make an excuse with poverty, he says: “And whoever gives one of these little ones to drink only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, will not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42). And if you give only a cup of cold water, which does not require any cost, then you will be given a reward for that; for you who receive, I will do everything. 3. Do you see what kind of convictions He used, and how He opened the entrance to them into houses throughout the entire universe? In all His conversation He showed that people are their debtors. Firstly, he said: “The worker is worthy of food” (Matthew 10:10); secondly, he sent them with nothing; thirdly, he subjected them to hostility and abuse for those who received them; fourthly, he gave them the power to perform signs; fifthly, He gave the power by His word to bring down peace, the source of all good, to the homes of those receiving; sixthly, he threatened those who did not accept them with punishment more severe than Sodomy; seventhly, he showed that those who receive them accept Him and the Father; eighth, for acceptance he promised the reward of a prophet and a righteous man; ninth, and appointed a great reward for a cup of cold water. Each of these reasons in itself was sufficient to convince people. In fact, tell me, who would not readily open all the doors of his house for a military leader returning from battle and battle after many victories, seeing him covered with countless wounds and stained with blood? And who should be accepted, you say? To show this, He added: “in the name of the prophet, the disciple and the righteous,” letting those know that He assigns a reward not only according to the merit of the acceptable, but also according to the disposition of the recipient. So here He speaks of the prophets, the righteous and the disciples; and in another place he commands to accept even the most despised, and for those who do not accept them, he determines the punishment: “Because you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (Matthew 25:45); and about the same lesser ones he again says that he who receives them receives Himself. Let the one you accept be neither a disciple, nor a prophet, nor a righteous man; but he is a man who lives in the same world with you, sees the same sun, has the same soul, the same Lord, partakes of the same sacraments with you, and is also called to heaven and has absolutely the right to demand charity from you, being poor and in need of necessary food. Meanwhile, now, when people come to you in bad weather with flutes and pipes, wake you from sleep, bother you in vain and uselessly, they leave you with considerable gifts; Likewise, those who wear swallows, rub themselves with soot, and make everyone laugh, receive a reward from you for their mischief. And if a poor person comes to you and asks for bread, then you will say a lot of curses to him, you will slander him, reproach him for idleness, shower him with reproaches, offensive words and ridicule, and you will not think about yourself that you also live in idleness, but God gives you His blessings. Don’t tell me that you yourself are doing something, but show me what you are doing that is practical and necessary. If you tell me that you are engaged in trade, innkeeping, trying to save and increase your property, then I will tell you that this is not business; real deeds are alms, prayers, protecting the offended and other virtues that we completely neglect in life. And yet God never told us: since you live in idleness, I will not shine the sun on you; because you do not do what is necessary, I will extinguish the moon, shut up the bowels of the earth, stop lakes, springs, rivers, take away the air, and not give rain at the right time. On the contrary, God provides us with all this in abundance, allowing us to use all this not only for those living in idleness, but also for those who do evil. So, if you see a poor person and say: I’m annoyed that this young, healthy man has nothing, wants to feed himself while living in idleness, or maybe he’s still a runaway servant who has left his master, then apply everything I’ve said to yourself, or better yet, let him tell you with all the courage. And he can tell you with great right: and I am annoyed that you, being healthy, live in idleness and do nothing of what God commanded you, but like a slave who fled from the commands of his master, you wander as if in a foreign land, spending your life in vices, in drunkenness, in intemperance, in theft, in predation and in the destruction of other people's houses. You reproach you for idleness, but I reproach you for bad deeds, when you plot, when you swear, when you lie, when you kidnap, when you do a thousand similar things. 4. However, I say this not to defend idleness. Not at all, on the contrary, I really want everyone to do business, because idleness has taught everyone vices; but I only admonish you not to be merciless and cruel. So Paul, having expressed a strong condemnation of idleness and said: “If anyone does not want to work, let him not eat” (2 Thess. 3:10), did not stop at these words, but added: “But you, brethren, do not lose heart in doing good” (2 Thess. 3:13). But here, apparently, there is a contradiction: if you do not even allow the idle to eat, then how do you exhort us to give to them? I do not contradict myself, says the apostle: although I commanded to move away from those living idlely and not to communicate with them, I said again: do not consider them enemies, but admonish them (2 Thess. 3:15). Consequently, there is no contradiction in my instructions, but they completely agree with each other. Just be ready to show mercy, then the poor person will immediately leave idleness, and you will stop being cruel. But you will say: the beggar lies and pretends a lot. And in this case, he is worthy of regret, because he has reached such an extreme that he is not even ashamed to lie like that. And not only do we have no pity, but we also add such cruel words: didn’t you get both once and twice? So what? Does he really not need to eat again because he ate once? Why don’t you lay down the same rule for your belly, and say to it: you were full yesterday and the day before, so don’t ask now? On the contrary, you satiate your belly excessively, and refuse the beggar, when he asks you for even a little, although you should give him alms for the fact that he is forced to come to you every day. If you don’t feel any other motives, then for this alone you should give him alms. After all, extreme poverty forces him to do this. You have no pity for him, because he, hearing such words of yours, is not ashamed; but need is stronger than shame. But not only do you not have pity for him, but you also mock him, and while God commanded to give alms in secret, you publicly revile the visitor, while you should show him compassion. If you don’t want to give, then why else do you reproach the poor and crush his sad heart? He came to you, as if to a pier, and asks for a helping hand; Why do you raise waves and make the storm fiercer? Why do you abhor his poverty? Would he have come to you if he knew that he would hear such words from you? If, knowing this in advance, he came to you, then for this reason you need to take pity on him and be horrified by your cruelty, because of which, at the sight of the most extreme need, you do not become more compassionate, you do not imagine that the fear of hunger alone serves as a sufficient justification for his shamelessness, but you reproach him for his shamelessness, although you yourself have often been incomparably more shameless in the most important matters. In need, shamelessness is forgivable. Meanwhile, we often, when we do something for which we should be punished, are not ashamed, and while we, thinking about such things, should have humbled ourselves, we attack the poor: they ask us for healing, and we add to their wounds. If you don’t want to give, then why are you hitting? If you don’t want to show mercy, then why do you offend? But he won’t leave without that? Do as the wise man commanded: “Answer him kindly, with meekness” (Sir. 5:8). It is not of his own free will that he acts so shamelessly. Truly, there is no person who would want to become shameless without any need; and even if thousands of proofs were presented, I would never believe that a person living in abundance would decide to beg for alms. So, no one can convince us otherwise. If Paul says: “If anyone does not want to work, neither should he eat,” then he says this to the poor, and not to us; He tells us on the contrary: “Do not lose heart in doing good.” We do the same in household chores; When two people quarrel with each other, we take each one aside and give them opposing advice. God did the same, and so did Moses, who said to God: “Forgive them their sin, and if not, then blot me out too” (Ex. 32:31–32). And he ordered the Israelis to kill each other, not even sparing their relatives. Although these actions are opposite to one another, nevertheless, both tended towards the same goal. God also said to Moses: “Leave Me alone... and I will destroy them” (Exod. 32:10), - which the Jews also heard (although at the time when God said this, they were not here, but they had to hear about it later), and secretly instills in them the opposite, which Moses was later forced to discover, saying this: “Did I carry all this people in my womb, and did I give birth to him, that you say to me: carry him in your arms, as a nanny carries a child” (Num. 11:12) )? The same thing happens in family life. Often a father privately reprimands a teacher for harsh actions with his son: don’t be harsh and cruel; and meanwhile he says something else to his son: even if you are punished unjustly, be patient; and with these two nasty pieces of advice he achieves one useful goal. So Paul says to those who are healthy and asking for alms: “If anyone does not want to work, let him not eat,” in order to force them to work; and to those who are able to do good, he says: “Do not lose heart in doing good,” in order to encourage them to show mercy. So in the Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 11:17), when he urges those who believed among the pagans not to be proud before the Jews and presents a wild olive tree as an example, apparently he says this to some, and another to others. So, let us not be hard-hearted, but let us fulfill what Paul said: “Do not lose heart in doing good” (2 Thess. 3:13); Let us fulfill what the Savior himself said: “Give to everyone who asks you” (Matthew 5:42), and: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). While giving many other commandments, the Lord did not add such words, but used them when speaking only about almsgiving. Nothing makes us more like God than charity. 5. But there is no one more shameless than the poor, you say. Why, tell me? Is it because he screams when he runs up to you? But do you want me to prove that we are much more shameless and brazen than beggars? Remember how many times it happened during this Lent, when in the evening the table was already set and the servant you called did not come soon, you upset everything, pushing, scolding and scolding him for a slight delay, although you knew for sure that if not immediately, then a little later, you would satisfy your hunger. However, you don’t call yourself shameless when you get furious from a little thing; and you call the beggar, who fears and trembles at greater evil (because he fears not slowness, but hunger), impudent, insolent and shameless, and you give him all sorts of defamatory names. Isn't this extreme shamelessness? But we don’t talk about that; That’s why we consider beggars intolerable to us. But if we examined our actions and compared ourselves with beggars, we would not say that they are a burden to us. Don't be a cruel judge. Even if you were clean from all sins, even in this case the law of God forbids you to judge strictly the misdeeds of others. If the Pharisee died through this, then what excuse will we have? If people of blameless life are prohibited from strictly judging the misdeeds of others, then even more so are sinners. So, let us not be cruel, inhuman, unforgiving, insensitive; Let us not be more evil than the beasts. I know many who have reached such atrocities that, out of sheer laziness, they leave the hungry without help, making the excuse: now I don’t have a servant; It’s a long way to go home, but there’s no one to exchange money with. What cruelty! You promised more, but did not do less. Is it possible for him to starve because you don’t want to walk a few steps? What pride! What arrogance! If you had to go through ten stages, then why be lazy? Don't you think that you would have received more reward for that? When you give, you will receive a reward only for alms; and when you go yourself, you will receive another reward for this. So we marvel at the patriarch because he, having three hundred and eighteen household members, himself ran into the herd and took the calf (Gen. 14:14, 18:7). And now some are so inflated with arrogance that they use servants for this without shame. But another will say: are you ordering me to do this myself? Will they consider me vain? And even now you are also driven by vanity, only in a different way - when you are ashamed to talk to a beggar in front of others. But I won’t argue about that - whether on my own, through others, as you wish - just give alms, and don’t reproach, don’t hit, don’t scold; a beggar, coming to you, hopes to receive healing, not wounds, alms, not beatings. Tell me: if they throw a stone at someone and he, with a wound on his head, covered in blood, runs past everyone else under your protection: will you really throw another stone at him and inflict another wound on him? I don't think you would do that; on the contrary, you will truly try to heal the wound inflicted on him. Why are you doing wrong to the poor? Don’t you know how much one word can either encourage or depress? “The word,” it is said, “is better than giving” (Sir. 19:16). Don't you realize that you are raising a sword against yourself and inflicting a severe wound on yourself when the beggar you cursed leaves you silently, sighing and shedding tears? God sends a beggar to you. So, when you offend him, think about who you are offending, when God himself sends him to you and tells you to give, but you not only don’t give, but also scold the person who came. If you don’t understand how bad this is, then look at others, and then you will clearly understand the full importance of your crime. If your servant, at your order, went to another servant to take your money from him, and returned to you not only empty-handed, but also complaining of an insult, then what would you not do to the offender? What kind of punishment would you subject him to, being, as it were, personally offended by him? So judge God accurately: He himself sends the poor to us, and when we give, we give from God. If, having given nothing, we still drive away from ourselves with abuse, then think, how much thunder and lightning do we deserve for such a thing? Thinking about all this, let us bridle our tongues, stop being hard-hearted, stretch out our hands to give alms, and let us not only provide the poor with property, but also console them with words, so that we may avoid punishment for slander, and inherit the kingdom for blessing and alms, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen. You might be interested in: