Беседа 83

“Then Jesus comes with them to a place called Gethsemane and says to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray there.” And, taking Peter and both sons of Zebedee with him, he began to grieve and yearn. Then Jesus said to them: My soul is sorrowful unto death; abide here and watch with Me." (Matthew 26:36–38) The image and purpose of the Savior's prayer. – The suffering of Christ is not a consequence of His guilt or necessity, but a matter of divine providence. – The condescension and meekness of Christ increases the guilt of the traitor. – The love of money exposes you to dangers and sorrows, deprives you of pleasures and intensifies physical and mental illnesses. – What is the true decoration and the true ugliness of a house. 1. Since the disciples were inseparable from Christ, He said to them: “Sit here while I go and pray there.” He used to pray without them. He did this in order to teach us how to bring ourselves silence and perfect peace during prayer. He takes only three with Him, and says to them: “My soul is grieved to death.” Why didn't He take everyone? So that they would not fall, and took only those who were spectators of His glory. But he leaves these too. “And going away a little,” he prays, saying: “My Father! if possible, let this cup pass from Me; however, not as I want, but as You want. And he comes to the disciples and finds them sleeping, and says to Peter: Could you not watch with Me for one hour? Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into temptation: the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:39–41). It is not without reason that He turns especially to Peter, while the other disciples were also asleep; but here he reproaches him for the same reason that I indicated earlier. Then, since others also said the same thing - when Peter said: “Even though I had to die with You, I will not deny You,” the evangelist testifies: “All the disciples said the same,” he turns to everyone and exposes their weakness. Those who had previously decided to die with Him were now unable to stay awake and sympathize with Him in His sorrow, but were overcome by sleep. He diligently prays that this action does not seem like a pretense. For the same reason, sweat flows out of Him, so that the heretics do not say that His grief was hypocritical. Therefore, sweat flows from Him in the form of drops of blood, and an angel appeared to strengthen Him; and there were many other signs of fear, so that no one would say that these words were false. For the same reason He prays. And when he says: “If it is possible, let him pass by Me,” he thereby shows His human nature; with the words: “However, not as I want, but as You want,” He shows His courage and firmness, teaching us to obey God, despite the opposition of nature. And since it is not enough for the foolish to express grief on one face, He also adds words. Again, since words alone were not enough, but actions themselves were required, He combines the deed itself with words, so that the most pretentious opponents would believe that He both became man and died. If even with all these signs there are people who do not believe this, then even more so they would not believe it if nothing of the sort had happened. Look, what signs does He prove the truth of grace-filled construction? Both words and suffering. Then, coming to the disciples, he said to Peter: “Could you not watch one hour” with Me (Mark 14:37)? Everyone was asleep, meanwhile He denounces Peter, reminding him of his previous words. He used the word: “with Me” here not without reason, and as if he were saying: you cannot stay awake with Me; How can you lay down your soul for me? The same thing is expressed in the following words: “Watch and pray, so that you do not fall into temptation.” Look how here He teaches them not to be proud, but to humble their thoughts and hearts, and surrender everything to God! First he turns to Peter, then to everyone together. It is he who says to one: “Simon! Simon! Behold, Satan asked to sow you... but I prayed for you” (Luke 22:31–32). And to everyone: pray “so as not to fall into temptation,” crushing their pride everywhere and forcing them to take care of themselves. Further, so that His reproof would not seem cruel, he adds: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Although you, He says, want to despise death, you cannot until God helps you, because everything carnal humiliates the spirit. And again he prayed about the same thing, saying: “My Father! if this cup cannot pass from Me, lest I drink it, Thy will be done” (Matthew 26:42), showing that He is completely in agreement with the will of God, and that in everything we must conform to it and seek it. “And when he came, he found them sleeping again” (Matthew 26:43). Besides the fact that it was deep night then, their eyes were still burdened with sadness. And going away from them, he prayed a third time, saying the same thing, to confirm that He was a perfect man. The words: for the second time and for the third time are used in Scripture to mean the undoubted certainty of something. So Joseph says to Pharaoh: The dream appeared to you the second time for the sake of the truth and to assure you that it will really come true (Gen. 41:32). Therefore, Christ says the same thing the first, second and third time, in order to assure of His economy. Why does He come a second time? In order to convict them that they were so immersed in sadness that they did not even feel His presence. However, He did not reprove any more, but withdrew somewhat from them, thereby revealing their great weakness when, despite the reproof, they could not stay awake. But he did not wake them up and reprove them again, so as not to strike even more those who were already struck, but departed from them, prayed again, and returned, saying: “Are you still sleeping and resting” (Matthew 26:45)? Although at this time it was necessary to stay awake, Christ, wanting to show that they will not endure the spectacle of disasters and will be scattered in horror, that He has no need of their help, and that He must necessarily be betrayed, says: “Are you still sleeping and resting? behold, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is being delivered into the hands of sinners.” By this He again shows that everything that happened to Him was a matter of economy. 2. Not only the first words, but also the following ones - “into the hands of sinners” - serve to encourage their spirit, showing that what is happening to Him is a work of sinners’ malice, and not His guilt in any sin. “Rise, let us go: behold, he who betrayed Me is approaching” (Matthew 26:46). With all this He teaches them that what happened was not a matter of necessity or weakness, but of some highest providence. He foresaw that His traitor would come, and not only did not run, but even went to meet him halfway. “And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great crowd with swords and staves, from the high priests and elders of the people” (Matthew 26:47). The priests' weapons are good! They come with swords and drecolium. And Judas, it is said, was with them, one of the twelve disciples. The Evangelist again calls him one of the twelve, and is not ashamed. “The one who betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying: Whoever I kiss is the same, take Him” (Matthew 26:48). Oh, what a crime Judas took upon his soul! With what eyes did he look at the Teacher then? With what lips did he kiss Him? O criminal soul! What did he intend, what did he dare to do? What was the sign of betrayal? “Whom will I kiss,” he said; he hoped for the meekness of the Teacher; and yet, most of all, it should have disgraced him and deprived him of any excuse that he had betrayed such a meek Teacher. But why, you say, did he give the sign? Because Jesus often, when they took Him, moved away from them invisibly. And in this case it could have been the same if He himself did not want to surrender. Wanting to reason with Judas, He blinded those who came to take Him and He asked them: “Who are you looking for” (John 18:4)? But they did not recognize Him, although they had torches and lamps and had Judas with them. Then, when they answered: “Jesus,” then He said to them: “It is I,” you are looking for him; and, turning to Judas, says to him: “Friend, why have you come” (Matthew 26:50)? Thus, he allowed himself to be taken when he showed his power. And the Evangelist John narrates that at that very hour Christ tried to reason with Judas, saying: “Judas! Do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss” (Luke 22:48)? Aren't you ashamed to betray in this way? However, since He did not forbid him even this, he allowed the kiss and voluntarily betrayed Himself. And the enemies laid their hands on Him and took Him on the very night on which they celebrated the Passover. They were so irritated, so furious. However, they could not have done anything if He himself had not allowed it. But this does not free Judas from terrible punishment, but exposes him to much greater condemnation, because he, seeing such great evidence of the power, condescension, humility, and meekness of his Teacher, turned out to be fiercer than any beast. So, knowing this, let us avoid covetousness. It was then that Judas was driven into a frenzy; it teaches extreme cruelty and inhumanity to those it possesses. In fact, if it forces one to abandon one’s own salvation, then all the more it encourages one to neglect the salvation of others. And this passion is so strong that sometimes it overcomes the strongest carnal lust. Therefore, it is with great shame that I mention that many refrained from debauchery only because they were sorry for money, and yet did not want to live chastely and honestly out of the fear of Christ. Let us flee from covetousness - I will never stop talking about this. Why do you, man, collect gold? Why do you impose such heavy slavery on yourself, such difficult care, such strong care? Suppose that you owned all the gold hidden both in the mines and in the royal palaces. Possessing so much gold, you would only take care of it, and not use it; If even now you do not use what you have, but take care of it as if it were someone else’s, then all the more would you do so if you had more. Usually, money lovers, the more they have, the more they protect their property. But, I know, you say, that this is mine. Therefore, your acquisition consists only in thought, and not in use. But with wealth, you say, others will be afraid of me. On the contrary, through this you will become more accessible to both the rich and the poor, to robbers, slanderers, slaves and generally all treacherous people. If you want to be scary, then destroy the reasons why everyone who strives for this can catch and insult you. Have you not heard the proverb: even a hundred people cannot rob the poor and the needy? Poverty serves as a strong protector for him, which even the king himself cannot take and conquer. 3. Meanwhile, everyone causes grief to the lover of money: not people, but moths and worms arm themselves against him. And what do I say - moth? Time alone, without other reasons, can cause the greatest harm to a money lover. So, what pleasure is there in wealth? I see only sorrows; show me the pleasure of it! But what sorrows, you say? Worries, slander, enmity, hatred, fear, insatiable greed and sadness. If someone had a lust for some girl dear to him, and yet could not satisfy his lust, he would suffer cruel torment as a result; This is what happens to a rich man: although he has countless treasures and lives only on them, he cannot satisfy all his desires; the same thing happens to him that the Wise One says: “the desire of a eunuch to corrupt a maiden” (Sir. 20:4), and “like a eunuch who embraces a maiden and sighs” (Sir. 30:21), - so are all rich people. But who can count the other troubles associated with wealth? How is the lover of money intolerable to everyone: servants, farmers, neighbors, rulers, the offended, the unoffended, especially his wife, and most of all his children? He raises them not as freeborn, but worse than slaves and captives. He has countless occasions to incur anger, insults, rage, and the laughter of others, serving as an object of ridicule for everyone. That's how much trouble he's in! And there may be even more, because it is impossible to count them all, but experience alone can show them. Tell me now: what pleasure do you get from wealth? You will say: I am considered rich. But what pleasure is it to be considered rich? After all, the name of the rich is an object of envy; and wealth is just a name that has nothing substantial. But does the rich man enjoy such an opinion of himself? He enjoys what should be mourned. Why, you say, should I mourn? Because this makes him worthless, cowardly, unmanly in travel and in death. Preferring wealth to everything, he loves money more than sunlight. Neither the sky makes him happy, because it does not bring him gold, nor the sun, because it does not emit golden rays. But there are those, you say, who enjoy property, satisfying their whims and belly, indulging in drunkenness and spending enormous costs on it. You point out to me the rich who are even worse than those, since they are the ones who do not enjoy their wealth the most. The rich man of whom I spoke, being devoted to one passion, is at least free from other vices; and these are worse than him, because, in addition to that passion, they are enslaved to many others: they serve every day, as if they were cruel masters, the belly, voluptuousness, drunkenness and other types of intemperance; they keep harlots, throw magnificent feasts, buy themselves parasites, flatterers, humiliate themselves to unnatural lust, and thereby cause countless illnesses to the soul and body. They spend their wealth not on what is necessary, but on what harms the body, and with it corrupts the soul, and act in exactly the same way as if someone, while decorating his body, thought that he was spending property for his own benefit. Thus, only the one who enjoys his wealth and becomes its master is the one who uses it properly. And those about whom we spoke are his slaves and slaves, since they intensify bodily ailments and mental illnesses. What kind of pleasure is there where oppression, hostility and indignation are fiercer than any sea storm? If wealth goes to stupid people, it makes them even stupider; if dissolute, then more dissolute. But what, you say, is the benefit of prudence to the poor? It is natural for you not to know: after all, even a blind person does not know what benefit light brings. Listen to what Solomon says: “The advantage of wisdom over foolishness is the same as the advantage of light over darkness” (Eccl. 2:13). But how can we enlighten a person who is in darkness? And the love of money is true darkness, since it prevents us from seeing things as they are in themselves and presents them in a different form. Just as someone in darkness, even if he had before him a golden vessel, or a precious stone, or a purple robe, would consider all this to be nothing, because he does not see their beauty, so the lover of money does not, as he should, see the beauty of the desired goods. Dispel the darkness that comes from this illness, and then you will see things in their essence: they are never revealed as much as in poverty; The insignificance of something that seems to exist, but, in fact, is nothing, is never so revealed as during a strict and moderate life. 4. But, oh, senseless! - you who curse the poor and say that it is shameful to look at their houses, at their way of life, that poverty makes everything vile, tell me what constitutes shame for a house? Is it really true that there is no ivory bed or silver vessels in it, but everything is made of clay and wood? But this is what constitutes the greatest glory and nobility of the house. When one does not care about the things of life, then often all care and concern are turned to the benefit of the soul. Therefore, when you notice great concern for appearance, then be ashamed of it as a great disgrace. The houses of the rich are especially ugly. In fact, when you see a house in which the tables are covered with carpets, the boxes are decorated with silver, like in a theater, like on a stage, what can compare with such ugliness? Which house is more like the part of the theater intended for dancing, or what happens here: the house of the rich, or the house of the poor? Isn't it obvious that the house is rich? Thus this house is full of ugliness. And what house is like the house of Paul, or Abraham? Without a doubt, the house of the poor. That is why he is especially handsome and noble. And in order for you to be convinced that poverty especially serves as a decoration for a home, enter the house of Zacchaeus and find out how he decorated it when Christ wanted to visit him: he did not run to his neighbors to ask them for carpets or ivory seats, he did not take precious bedspreads out of the storerooms, but he decorated the entire house with decorations befitting Christ. What kind of decoration is this? "God! “I will give half of my property to the poor,” he says, “and if I have offended anyone in any way, I will repay him fourfold” (Luke 19:8). So we must decorate our homes so that Christ can visit us too. These are precious carpets; they are prepared in heaven, they are woven there. Wherever this is present, the King of heaven is also present. If you decorate with anything else, then you invite the devil and his servants to you. Christ was also in the house of the publican Matthew (Matthew 9:10). What did this one do? First of all, he adorned himself with zeal, then by leaving everything and following Jesus. So Cornelius decorated his house with prayers and alms; and therefore to this day it shines more than the royal palaces. Truly, the ugliness of the house lies not in the fact that the vessels in it are in disorder, the bed is not cleaned, the walls are smoked with smoke, but in the sins of those living in it. Christ clearly shows this: He was not ashamed to enter such a house when an honest man lived in it; on the contrary, he will never enter another house, even if it had a golden ceiling. Therefore, the house that receives the Lord of all is more brilliant than the royal chambers; and this one, with a golden ceiling and golden pillars, is like unclean drains and water pipes, because it is decorated with devilish vessels. However, what I said does not generally apply to the rich, who use their wealth as it should, but to stingy and money-loving people who do not care about what is necessary, but about the satiety of the belly, about wine and other similar abominations, while in a poor house they care only about a strict life. This is why Christ never entered the resplendent house, but was in the house of the publican, the chief of publicans, and the fisherman, leaving the royal chambers and those who were clothed in costly garments. So, if you also want to call Him to your home, then decorate it with alms, prayers, all-night vigils and fervent prayer. This constitutes an adornment for the King Christ, and external pomp is an adornment for Mammon, the enemy of Christ. So, let no one be ashamed to have a poor house if it has such decorations; equally, let none of the rich be proud of a magnificent house, on the contrary, let him be ashamed, and, leaving it, let him be jealous of the first, so that he may receive Christ both on earth and in heaven to be worthy of eternal settlements 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: