Беседа 84

“And behold, one of those who were with Jesus, stretching out his hand, drew his sword, and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him: Return your sword to its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword; or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels? How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, that this must be so?” (Matt. 26:51–54) Why did Christ command the disciples to have swords and furs? - Why did He forbid the disciples to defend themselves? – Evidence of voluntary surrender. - The lawlessness of the trial of Christ. – Why did they want to put Christ to public death? - Deceit exposes itself. – You shouldn’t always look for victory. – True victory comes from patience. - Example of Joseph. 1. Who is this one who cut his ear? Evangelist John says that this is Peter (John 18:10). Such an act was a matter of his ardor. But we need to examine why Jesus' disciples carried knives? And that they carried them with them is evident not only from the present circumstances, but also from their answer that they have two swords. Why did Christ allow them to have swords? Evangelist Luke narrates that when Christ asked them: “When I sent you without bag and without scrip and without sandals, did you lack anything?” and when they answered: “Nothing,” then He himself said to them: “But now, whoever has a bag, take it, and also the bag; and whoever doesn’t have it, sell your clothes and buy a sword”; and when they answered this: “Behold, here are two swords,” then He said to them: “It’s enough” (Luke 22:35–36, 38). So why did He allow them to have swords? To assure them that he will be loyal. That’s why he says to them: “buy a knife,” not so that they can arm themselves; no, but to indicate betrayal. Why, again you ask, did He command to have a sword? He taught them to be sober, to stay awake, and to take great care of themselves. At first He kept them, as inexperienced, under the protection of His power, and now, having released them like chicks from a nest, He commands them to fly on their own. Further, so that they do not think that He is leaving them because of His weakness, commanding them to act independently, He reminds them of the past, saying: “When I sent you without a bag, did you lack anything?” He wants to assure them of His power both by the fact that He previously supported them and by the fact that He does not suddenly abandon them now. But where did they get their swords? They walked straight from supper after the meal; This is probably why there were knives for the lamb; when they heard that Jesus would be attacked, they took these knives with them to protect their Teacher; but they did this only of their own free will. That is why Christ reproaches Peter, and moreover with a terrible threat, because he used the sword in revenge on the visiting slave, although he acted so ardently in defense not of himself, but of his Teacher. But Christ did not allow any harm to come from this. He healed the slave and performed a great miracle that could reveal His meekness and power, as well as the tenderness of love and the obedience of the disciple, because that act was evidence of his love, and this one of obedience. When he heard: “Put your sword in its sheath” (John 18:11), he immediately obeyed and subsequently never did it. Another evangelist tells that the disciples asked Him: “Should we strike with the sword” (Luke 22:49)? But Christ forbade this, and healed the slave, and forbade the disciple even with a threat, in order to further enlighten him: “for all,” He says, “those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” And he gives the reason, saying: “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels”? But “how will the scriptures be fulfilled”? With these words He stopped their ardor, showing that what happened to him was in accordance with Scripture. Therefore, He prayed there too that they would humbly endure what happened to Him, knowing that this was happening according to the will of God. So, for two reasons He wanted to reassure the disciples: firstly, by threatening punishment to those who begin the attack: “for all,” He said, “those who take the sword will perish by the sword”; secondly, by the fact that He endures this voluntarily: I can, He says, “beg My Father.” But why didn’t He say: Do you really think that I cannot destroy them? Because His first words were much more convincing; and His disciples did not yet have a proper understanding of Him. Some time ago He said: “My soul is grieved unto death,” and again: “Father, let the cup pass from Me,” and He was in sorrow and sweat, and was strengthened by the angel. So, due to the fact that He showed much humanity in Himself, they would not have believed Him if He had said: Do you really think that I cannot destroy them? That’s why he says: “Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father”? But here again he shows humility when he says: “He will present to Me more than twelve legions of Angels.” If one angel smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand armed men (2 Kings. 19:35), then did Christ really need twelve legions of angels against a thousand people? No! He said this because of the fear and weakness of His disciples, since they were deadened by fear. That is why He also refers to the Holy Scriptures: “how then will the scriptures be fulfilled”? and thereby frightening them. If what is happening to Me is confirmed by the Holy Scriptures, then why are you resisting? 2. This is what Christ spoke to His disciples, and to the enemies who attacked Him, He said: “It is as if you came out against a robber with swords and staves to take Me; Every day I sat with you, teaching in the church, and you did not take Me” (Matthew 26:55). Look how many things He does that could bring them to their senses: sometimes he throws them to the ground, sometimes he heals the ear of a slave, sometimes he threatens to kill them. “Those who take the sword will perish by the sword,” He says, “which is what He confirmed by healing the ear; everywhere, both in the present and in the future, He reveals His power and shows that the Jews did not take Him by their own force. That is why He adds: “I sat with you every day, teaching in the church, and you did not take Me,” showing by this that they took Him by His permission. Without mentioning miracles, He speaks only about teaching, so as not to seem vain. When I taught you, then you did not accept Me; and when I became silent, then they attacked Me. I was in the church, and no one restrained Me; and now, untimely, in the middle of the night, you approached Me with weapons and stakes. What need is there for this weapon against the One who was always with you in the church? This teaches that they could never have taken Him if He had not given Himself up voluntarily, because if before, having Him in their hands, always in their midst, they could not take Him, then now they also could not do this if He did not want to. Further, he resolves the confusion as to why He wanted to betray Himself. “All this happened,” He says, “so that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled” (Matthew 26:56). Look how He, until the last hour, and at the very time of betrayal, does everything to correct His enemies: admonishes them, prophesies, threatens them: “with the sword,” He says, “they will perish,” and when He says: “every day I sat with you, teaching,” then this shows His voluntary suffering; with the words: “let the writings of the prophets be fulfilled,” he proves His submission to the will of the Father. Why didn't they take Him in the church? Because they didn’t dare to do this in the church in front of the people. Therefore, He left the city, giving them complete freedom in terms of both place and time and, even until the last hour, depriving them of justification. Could He who, in fulfillment of divine prophecies, betrayed Himself, teach contrary to the divine will? “Then all the disciples,” says the evangelist, “left Him and fled.” When they took Jesus Christ, the disciples still remained with Him; but when He spoke the words mentioned to the crowd that attacked Him, they fled. They finally saw that it would no longer be possible for Him to leave after He voluntarily gave Himself up, and declared that this was being done in accordance with the prophetic scriptures. After the disciples were scattered, Jesus Christ was brought to Caiaphas: “And Peter followed Him from afar, to see the end” (Matthew 26:58). Great was the love of this disciple: having seen how the other disciples ran away, he still did not run away, but stayed and entered with Christ into the courtyard of Caiaphas. No doubt John did the same (John 18:15), but he was known to the high priest. Why did they bring Christ to such a place where everyone was gathered? In order to do everything according to the will of the bishops. Caiaphas was then the high priest, and everyone was gathered there with him: so they stayed awake and did not sleep the whole night for this. They did not celebrate Easter then, as the evangelist writes, but they did not sleep on this very matter. The Evangelist John, having said that it was morning, adds: “they did not enter the praetorium, so as not to be defiled, but so that they could eat the Passover” (John 18:28). What does this mean? The fact that they ate Passover on another day, and in seeking to destroy Christ, violated the law. Christ would not have missed the time of Easter, but His murderers dared to do anything and violated many laws. Since they were tormented by cruel rage against Him, and, having often attempted to kill Him, could not do this, now, having taken Him unexpectedly, they decided to leave even Easter in order to fulfill their bloodthirsty intention. That is why everyone gathered and, forming a host of destroyers, sought false testimony in order to give their insidious plans the appearance of a legal trial. They did not even have true evidence (Mark 14:56): their judgment was so lawless, so everything was perverted and confused! “False witnesses came and said: He said: I can destroy the church of God and build it in three days” (Matt. 26:60–61; Mark 14:58; John 2:19). And He really said that in three days He would erect the Church, but He did not say: “I will destroy”, but: “destroy”; and, moreover, he spoke not about the Church, but about his own body. What did the high priest say to this? Wanting to encourage the accused himself to defend himself in order to catch Him through this, he says: “Do you not hear that they are testifying against You? Jesus was silent” (Matthew 26:62–63). The answer was useless when no one listened, and their trial had only the outward appearance of a trial, but in fact it was nothing more than an attack by robbers who rush at those passing by from their den. That is why Christ was silent. Meanwhile, the high priest continued to say: “I adjure You by the living God, tell us, Are You the Christ, the Son” of the living God? He said: “You said; I even say to you: from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He is blaspheming” (Matthew 26:63–65). He did this in order to strengthen the accusation and confirm his words with his actions. And since his words brought fear to his listeners, they stopped their ears, just as during the condemnation of Stephen. 3. But what is this blasphemy? After all, even before Christ said to those gathered to Him: “The Lord said to my Lord: sit at My right hand” (Matthew 22:44; Psalm 109:1), and explained these words; and then they did not dare to speak, but were silent, and from that time on they did not contradict Him in anything. How now did they call His words blasphemy? Why did Christ give such an answer? In order to take away from them any excuse, since He taught them until the last day that He is the Christ, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the universe - which itself testified to His perfect agreement with the Father. So, the high priest, tearing his vestments, said: “What do you think?” He does not announce his opinion, but demands it from his advisers, as if about obvious crimes and obvious blasphemy. But since the high priests knew that if the case was investigated and carefully considered, then Christ would turn out to be completely innocent, they condemn Him themselves and, warning the listeners, say: “you heard blasphemy,” almost forcing, almost forcibly extorting the sentence. What did these listeners answer? “Guilty of death” - so that, as if already accused, all that remained was to present Him to Pilate’s trial. Realizing this, they say: “guilty of death”! They themselves accuse Him, they themselves judge Him, they themselves pronounce judgment—they do everything themselves. Why didn't they accuse Christ of His work on the Sabbath? Because He had often previously stopped their mouths when they began to talk about this, and moreover, they wanted to catch Him and condemn Him on the basis of His actual words. So, the high priest, having previously wrested from them this condemnation of Jesus, and by tearing his vestments, having won everyone over to his side, leads Him as a villain to Pilate. This is how he has acted until now. But in Pilate they don’t say anything like that, but what? “If He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you” (John 18:30), wanting to kill Him as guilty of a crime against the public good. But why didn’t they kill Him secretly? Because they wanted to destroy His very glory. Since there were many who heard His conversations and were greatly amazed at Him, His enemies tried to put Him to death publicly, in front of everyone. And Christ, for his part, did not interfere with this, but used their malice to confirm the truth, since through this His death became known to everyone. Thus, what happened was not at all what they wanted. His enemies wanted to expose Him to public shame in order to disgrace Him, and through this He glorified Himself even more. And just as they said before: if we kill Him, “the Romans will come and take possession of both our place and people” (John 11:48); and when they killed Him, this is what happened to them - so here too they wanted to harm His glory with a public crucifixion, but it turned out the opposite. And that they had the power of their own to put Him to death is evident from the words of Pilate: “Take Him, and judge Him according to your law” (John 18:31). But they did not want this in order to show that He was put to death as a lawbreaker, as an impostor, as a rebel. That is why they crucified the thieves with Him; That’s why they said: “Do not write: King of the Jews, but what He said: I am the King of the Jews” (John 19:21). All this was done to establish the truth, so that there would not be even a shadow of shameless justification left for the enemies. In the same way, the seal and the guard at the tomb only contributed to the clearest discovery of the truth; the same should be said about ridicule, slander, and reproach. This is usually the case with deceit: the fact that it plots evil is thereby destroyed. So it happened here: those who thought to gain the upper hand remained the most disgraced, defeated and deposed; and whoever seemed defeated became especially famous and gained the upper hand. So, we will not always seek victory, and we will not always avoid defeat. Sometimes victory brings harm, and defeat benefits. Thus, among irritated people, the one who inflicted more offense is usually considered victorious; but this one, in fact, remained defeated by the cruelest passion and offended; and whoever suffered the insult indifferently won and gained the upper hand. He could not even heal his own illness, but this one suffered someone else’s; that one was defeated on his own, and this one triumphed over the other, and not only did not burn himself out, but also extinguished the high-rising flame of the other. And if he had wanted to win an imaginary victory, then he himself would have been defeated, and, having set fire to the other, he would have caused him the most severe suffering and thus both, like women, would have been subjected to shameful and pitiful disgrace. But, having acted as befits a wise man, he avoided shame and, having complacently allowed himself to be conquered in himself and in his neighbor, he erected for himself a brilliant trophy of victory over anger. 4. So, we will not always seek victory. Of course, the one who insults usually wins over the insulted; but this is a bad victory, since it causes death to the winner. Meanwhile, the offended and supposedly defeated, when he endures the insult generously, undoubtedly receives a brilliant crown. In many cases it is better to fail; and this is even the best way to win. If someone robbed someone, or struck someone with blows, or was jealous of someone, then the one who endured this and did not resist would remain the winner. But what about robbery and envy? He who is drawn to torment also becomes a winner when he endures chains, beatings, beatings and painful death. Just as in an ordinary battle a fall is considered a defeat, so with us it is a victory. We are never victorious when we do evil; on the contrary, we always win when we endure evil. In the same way, a brilliant victory occurs when we overcome those who offend us with patience. From this it is clear that this victory is from God, because it has a property opposite to ordinary victory, which serves as proof of power. So sea stones are cut by the waves hitting them; so all the saints then became glorified and received crowns and erected brilliant trophies for themselves when they won such a victory, alien to resistance. Don't worry, don't worry; God has given you the strength to win not by fighting, but through patience alone. Don’t take up arms, don’t go out on your own, and you will win; do not fight, and you will receive the crown. You are far stronger than the most powerful of your opponents. Why are you embarrassing yourself? Don't let him tell you that you won through battle; but let him be amazed at your invincible strength and tell everyone that you defeated him without a battle. Likewise, blessed Joseph is glorified for the fact that with patience he defeated those who did evil to him. Both the brothers and the Egyptian woman plotted against him, but he defeated them all. Do not tell me about the prison where he was imprisoned, nor about the royal chambers where this wife lived; but show who was defeated and who remained victorious, who is in sorrow and who is in joy. The Egyptian woman could not defeat not only this righteous man, but even her own passion, but he defeated both her and the cruel illness. If you want, then listen to her very words, and you will see victory: “he brought a Jew to us to mock us” (Gen. 39:14, 17). It was not the youth who scolded you, unhappy and pitiful woman, but the devil, who inspired you to believe that you could crush adamant. It was not your husband who brought to you the Jewish youth who was plotting against you, but an evil demon who put unclean lust into you; he abused you. What does Joseph do? He is silent and is just as condemned as Christ, because everything that happened to Joseph serves as an image of what happened to Christ. Joseph was in bonds, and this woman was in the royal palace. But so what? He was more glorious than any crown-bearer, although he languished in chains; and she was more unhappy than any prisoner, although she lived in the royal palace. However, one must look for victory and defeat not only here, but also at the very end of the matter. In fact, who achieved what they wanted? A prisoner, not a queen. He tried to maintain chastity, but this one wanted to deprive him of it. Who now got what he wanted: the one who suffered the evil, or the one who did the evil? Obviously, the one who suffered evil. Thus, he remained the winner. So, knowing this, let us seek the victory that is obtained through enduring evil, and avoid the victory that is achieved through inflicting evil. Then we will spend our present life serenely and completely calmly, and we will achieve future blessings through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You might be interested in: