Беседа 24

John 2:23. And when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many believed in His name. 1. Those who were attracted to Jesus Christ by His teaching were more firm and stable in the faith than those who were attracted by signs. - Why didn’t He perform more miracles? – 2. Nicodemus, the weakness and imperfection of his faith. – The Condescension of Jesus Christ. – 3. One should not penetrate into sacred secrets with excessive curiosity. – Without subordinating their minds to faith, people fall into many absurdities. – The human mind, not illuminated from above, produces only darkness. – Riches are thorns that scratch and wound us. 1. Among the people of that time 20 some were carried away by errors, others held to the truth; but even of these latter, some accepted the truth only for a short time, and then fell away from it. Christ understood such people in the parable, likening them to seeds that do not lie deep, but have roots on the surface of the earth, which is why, He said, they soon perish. The evangelist also points to them here when he says: “And when He was in Jerusalem at the feast of Passover, many, seeing the miracles that He performed, believed in His name. But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them” (John 2:23–24). Much more faithful were those disciples who were not only attracted to Christ by signs, but also by His teaching; signs carried away the rude ones, and the more intelligent - prophecies and teachings. Therefore, those who were captivated by the teaching were stronger than those attracted by signs; It was them that Christ blessed when he said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). And that the latter were not among the true disciples is shown by the addition of the following words: “But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them.” Why? “For He knew everyone and did not need anyone to testify about man, for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25). The meaning of these words is this: He did not pay attention to words alone, penetrated into the hearts themselves and entered into thoughts; clearly seeing only their temporary fervor, He did not trust them, as they were already determined disciples, and did not preach to them the whole teaching, as if they had already become firm in the faith. And to know what is in the hearts of people is characteristic of Him who “created the hearts of them all” (Ps. 32:15), i.e. only God, as it is said: “You alone know the heart” (1 Kings 8:39). He did not need witnesses to know the thoughts of his own creatures: therefore he did not trust them in their temporary faith. People who know neither the present nor the future often speak indiscriminately and tell everything, even to those who cunningly approach them and then quickly leave them. But Christ is not like that; He knew everything secret about them. And now there are many who bear the name of believers, but are fickle and easily carried away by everything; Therefore, even now Christ does not entrust Himself to them, but hides very much from them. Just as we entrust ourselves not to every friend, but only to sincere ones, so does God. Listen to what Christ says to his disciples: “I no longer call you slaves... but I have called you friends.” How and why? “For I have told you everything that I heard from My Father” (John 15:15). Thus, He did not give the Jews who asked for signs, because they asked, wanting only to tempt Him. And now, as then, asking for signs doesn’t mean tempting? Meanwhile, even now there are people who are looking for signs, and they say: why are there no signs now? But if you are a believer, as you should be, if you love Christ as you should be, then you have no need for signs: they are given to unbelievers. Why were they not given to the Jews? - you ask. No, they were given the most. If in some cases the Jews, while demanding signs, did not receive them, this is because they demanded them not in order to abandon their unbelief, but in order to become even more confirmed in their malice. “Among the Pharisees there was a certain man named Nicodemus, one of the leaders of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night" (John 3:1-2). This Nicodemus, as can be seen from the Gospel, later raised his voice for Christ; he said: “Does our law judge a man unless he is first heard” (John 7:51). But the Jews indignantly told him: “Look and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee” (John 7:52). And after crucifixion, he also showed a lot of care when burying the body of the Lord. “Nicodemus also came, who had previously come to Jesus at night, and brought a composition of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred liters” (John 19:39). So now he was well disposed towards Christ, but not as much as he should have, and not with the proper thought of Him: he was still subject to Jewish weaknesses. That's why he came at night, afraid to do it during the day. However, God, the lover of mankind, did not reject him, did not reproach him and did not deprive him of His teaching, but with great meekness talks with him, reveals to him very high objects of faith, although guesswork, but still reveals. This man was much more worthy of leniency than those who did it out of deceit. The latter did not deserve any forgiveness; and he, although worthy of reproof, was not to that extent. Why didn't the evangelist say any of this about him? He says in another place that “many of the rulers believed in Him; but for the sake of the Pharisees they did not confess, lest they should be put out of the synagogue” (John 12:42). Here he expressed all this with one remark about his arrival at night. What does Nicodemus say? “Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). 2. Nicodemus is still spinning down; Humans still have a concept of Christ and speak of Him as a prophet, without supposing anything special about Him based on signs. “We know,” they say, “that You are a teacher who came from God.” Why do you come at night and secretly to Him who speaks divine things and comes from God? Why don't you talk to Him openly? But Jesus did not tell him this either and did not rebuke him: “He will not break a bruised reed,” says Scripture, “and he will not quench the smoking flax; He will execute judgment according to the truth” (Is.42:3); and He himself says: “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). “No one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him.” So, Nicodemus also expresses a heretical thought when he says that Jesus accomplishes His works with outside assistance, and needs the help of others. What about Christ? Look, what extreme condescension! He did not say: I have no need at all for the help of others, but I do everything with My own power, because I am the true Son of God and have the same power as the One who gave birth to Me. He did not say this because it was not yet available to the listener. I always say, and now I will say, that Christ’s intention at that time was not so much to reveal his own dignity as to convince that He did nothing against the will of the Father. Therefore, He is constantly meek in words, but not so in deeds; but when he works miracles, he does everything with power. So He says: “I want to, be cleansed” (Mark 1:41); “maiden, I tell you, get up” (Mark 5:41); “stretch out your hand” (Matthew 12:13); “Your sins are forgiven you” (Luke 5:20); “Be silent, cease” (Mark 4:39); “Get up, take up your bed and go to your house” (Mark 2:11); “Be silent and come out of him” (Luke 4:35; Mark 1:25); “let it be done to you according to your desire” (Matthew 15:28); “If anyone says anything to you, answer that the Lord needs them” (Matthew 21:3); “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43); “We heard that it was said to the ancients: do not kill; whoever kills will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother without cause will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22); “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). And in all cases we see His great power. In the works, no one could condemn Him for what happened. And how was this possible? If His words had not come true and were not carried out in accordance with His command, then one of the Jews could have said that His commands came from vanity; and since they were all being fulfilled, the fulfillment of events involuntarily blocked their lips. As for the words, the Jews could, in their shamelessness, accuse Him of vanity. So now, in a conversation with Nicodemus, He clearly does not express anything lofty, but mysteriously lifts him up from humiliating thoughts, teaching that He in Himself is able to work miracles, since the Father gave birth to Him perfect, omnipotent in Himself and having nothing imperfect. But let's see exactly how He proves this. Nicodemus says: “Rabbi! we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). He thought that in speaking of Christ he had said something great. What about Christ? Shows him that he has not yet reached the threshold of true knowledge, does not even stand before its gates, but is still wandering somewhere outside the kingdom - both he himself and anyone who would speak in this way; that he who has such a concept of the Only Begotten has not yet penetrated into true knowledge. What exactly does Christ say? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). T. That is, if you are not born again and do not receive accurate knowledge about the objects of faith, then you will wander and remain far outside the kingdom of heaven. However, He does not speak so clearly, but in order not to make His words too painful, He does not directly address Him, but says vaguely: “unless someone is born,” as if to say: if you or anyone else thinks about Me in this way, then you are outside the kingdom. If this exact meaning were not contained in His words, then the answer would not correspond to the words of Nicodemus. If the Jews had heard this, they would have gone away laughing; but in this case Nicodemus shows his curiosity. This is why Christ often spoke unclearly, in order to encourage his listeners to ask questions and make them more attentive. What is clearly said often falls on deaf ears, but what is unclear makes the listener more attentive and diligent. So, the words of Christ have the following meaning: if you are not born again, if you do not partake of the Spirit through the bath of rebirth, then you will not be able to receive the proper concept of Me; and this (your) concept is not spiritual, but spiritual. However, he speaks in this way not in order to amaze Nicodemus, who was expressing his own opinion, as much as he could contain, but in order to imperceptibly raise him to a higher understanding: “unless,” He says, “anyone is born again.” By the word - from above, some here mean: from heaven, others: again. For anyone, He says, who was not born in this way, it is impossible to see the kingdom of God, meaning here Himself and showing that He was not only what was seen in Him, and that other eyes are needed to see Christ in Him. Nicodemus, hearing this, said: “How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3:4). How? You call Him a teacher and say that He came from God, but you do not accept His words and express to the teacher a thought that expresses strange bewilderment? It’s like - there is an expression of people who are not very religious, there is bewilderment of those who think earthly. So Sarah laughed when she said: how? So many others, with similar questions, fell from the faith. 3. Likewise, heretics persist in heresy, offering the same questions. Some of them say: how did you become incarnate? Others: how was you born? And thus, with their weak minds, they subjugate the infinite Being. Knowing this, we should avoid such misplaced curiosity. Those who raise such questions will not know how, and will fall away from Orthodoxy. So Nicodemus asks in bewilderment about the method. He realized that what was said also applied to him; that is why he is confused, hesitant, and comes into difficulty - because having come (to I. Christ) as to a man, he hears something superhuman, which no one has ever heard before; On the one hand, he rises to the height of the proposed teaching, on the other, he is surrounded by darkness and does not know where to stop, being carried away here and there and falling away from the faith. That is why he continues to present this as an impossible matter, in order to call Him to the clearest presentation of the teaching: “Can it really be,” he says, “another time he can enter his mother’s womb and be born?” (John 3:4). You see how funny a person speaks when he subordinates the spiritual to his own concepts; he is, as it were, delirious and intoxicated, as soon as he begins to examine what is said more than God pleases, and does not accept it in the simplicity of faith. He hears about spiritual birth, but does not think about the spiritual, but reduces what is said to the humiliation of the flesh, and brings such a great and lofty teaching under the natural order of things. That's why he invents questions and funny perplexities. This is why Paul says that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:14). However, Nicodemus even after this respected Christ: he did not laugh at His words, but only, considering the matter impossible, remained silent. Two subjects were incomprehensible to him: such a birth and a kingdom. The Jews had never heard even the name of such a birth and such a kingdom. However, Nicodemus stops at the first for now, since this subject most struck his mind. Knowing this, let us not experience with our minds the Divine Mysteries, let us not bring them under the order of things common to us, and subordinate them to the laws of nature; but let us understand everything godly, believing what is said in the Scriptures. An overly curious researcher does not gain any benefit, and in addition to not finding what he is looking for, he is also subject to extreme condemnation. Do you hear what (the Father) gave birth to? Believe what you hear: but do not experience how (you gave birth), lest through this you reject the birth itself, which would be extremely foolish. If Nicodemus, having heard about the birth, not about this ineffable, but about the birth by grace, fell into darkness and bewilderment, because he did not imagine anything lofty in it, but thought only about the human and earthly, then those who experience and experience a terrible birth that surpasses all word and understanding - what kind of punishment can they deserve? Nothing produces so much darkness as the human mind, which thinks about everything in an earthly way and does not accept insight from above. Earthly thoughts contain a lot of impurity. That is why we need heavenly streams, so that, after the destruction of the mud, our spirit, to the extent of its purity, ascends to the mountain and joins the heavenly teaching. And this can happen when we show in ourselves both a well-meaning soul and a right life: maybe, truly, our mind can become darkened not only from inappropriate curiosity, but also from a corrupt way of life. That is why Paul said to the Corinthians: “I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for you were not yet able, and even now you are not able, because you are still carnal. For if there is envy, strife, and disagreement among you, are you not carnal?” ( 1 Cor. 3:2-3 ). Also in the letter to the Hebrews and in many other places, as anyone can see, Paul considers this very reason for incorrect teachings, because a soul given over to passions cannot comprehend anything great and noble; but, as if darkened by festering from the eyes, she suffers from the most severe blindness. So, let us purify ourselves, let us be enlightened by the light of knowledge, and let us not sow among thorns. And you know what this thorn means, although we will not talk about it: you have often heard that Christ calls the cares of life and the deceptions of wealth by the name of thorns; yes and fair. As the first (thorns) is barren, so is the last; just as it hurts those who touch it, so do these passions; just as thorns are easily consumed by fire, and hateful to the farmer, so are worldly affairs; just as wild beasts, vipers and scorpions hide in thorns, so in the deceptions of wealth. But let us accept the fire of the Spirit, so that we may consume the thorns, drive out the wild beasts, and clear the fields for the Farmer; and after cleansing we will water it with spiritual streams; let us plant a fruitful olive tree, the most tender plant, always blooming, luminous, nutritious and health-promoting. All this contains mercy, which is, as it were, a seal for those who acquire it. This plant does not wither even when death approaches, but always stands, enlightening the mind, feeding the soul and making its strength stronger. If we constantly have it, then we will be able to boldly see the Bridegroom and enter the bridal chamber - which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to the ages of ages. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” That is between contemporaries of Jesus Christ. You might be interested in: