Беседа 37

John 5:6–7. Jesus says to him: Do you want to be healthy? The sick man answered Him: Yes, Lord; but I don’t have a person who would lower me into the pool when the water is troubled... 1. The great benefit derived from the Holy Scriptures. – The difference between the self-sacrifice of the paralytic and the self-sacrifice of the saint. Matthew. – 2. Faith of the paralytic. – 3. The greatness of the evil produced by vice. – Image of envy: the envious have no excuse; their sin does not deserve forgiveness. 1. Great is the fruit of the divine Scriptures, great is the benefit from them. Paul, showing this, says: “What was written before was written for our instruction, that through patience and encouragement from the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). The divine word is a treasury of all kinds of healing; So, whether it is necessary to humble arrogance, or curb lust, or suppress the addiction to money, or overcome sorrow, or instill complacency and dispose to patience, for this everyone can find great help there. Who among those who are struggling with prolonged misery, who have been overcome by a serious illness, will not, after reading the passage now proposed, receive great consolation? Here is a paralytic, remaining in this position for thirty-eight years, seeing every year how others were healed, and he himself was still obsessed with the disease, however, he did not lose heart and did not despair, although not only the bleak past, but also hopelessness in the future could quite shake him. Listen to what he says and understand the greatness of his suffering. When Christ said: “Do you want to be healthy,” he answered: “Yes, Lord; but I don’t have a person who would lower me into the pool when the water is troubled.” What could be more pitiful than these words? What is more sad than this situation? Do you see a broken heart from prolonged weakness? Do you see how all impatience was curbed in him? He does not express any blasphemy, as we hear from many in similar circumstances; does not curse the day of his birth; is not offended by such a question; did not say: “You probably came to laugh and joke at us when you ask if I want to be healthy,” but meekly and with great humility he says: “So, Lord.” Although he did not know who the questioner was and whether he intended to heal him, despite this he tells everything with meekness and does not demand anything, as if he was talking to a doctor and only wanted to talk about his illness. Perhaps he hoped to receive from Christ only the help that he would cast him into the water, and for this he wants to win him over with such words. What about Christ? Showing that He can do everything with one word of His, He says: “Rise, take up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). Some think that this paralytic is the same one mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 9:2-7); but this is not so, as is clear from many circumstances. And, firstly, from the fact that none of the people serving were present with this paralytic. He had with him many people who cared for him and carried him, but this one had no one; That’s why he said: “I have no man.” Secondly, from the answer itself: he says nothing, but this one tells everything that concerns him. Thirdly, from the time of this case: this one was healed on a holiday and on Saturday, and that one on another day. Also, the place of both is different: the one was healed in the house, and the other at the font; and the method of healing is different: there (Christ) said: “child! your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2), and here he first strengthens the body, then takes care of the soul; there is forgiveness: “your sins are forgiven,” he says, “and here there is an exhortation and a threat, to warn him for the future: “sin no more,” he says, “sin no more.” Moreover, the accusations from the Jews are different: here they condemn what was done on the Sabbath, and there they accuse Him of blasphemy. But look how great is the wisdom of God. Christ does not immediately heal him, but first predisposes him to himself with a question, paving a ready path for faith in him, and not only heals him, but also commands him to take his bed, so that the miracle that has taken place will have all the more authenticity, and so that no one will consider this event a ghost or a deception. After all, if the members (of the body) were not strengthened firmly and completely, he could not carry the bed. This is what Christ often did in order to completely stop the lips of the shameless. So during the miracle over the loaves, so that no one could say that the people were filled in the usual way, and that the miracle was only apparent, according to His dispensation there were still many remains of bread. And to the cleansed leper, He says: “Go, show yourself to the priest” (Matthew 8:4), in order through this to give more accurate proof of cleansing, and together to block the shameless lips of those who called Him an opponent of the law of God. He acted in a similar way when turning water into wine: He not only showed the wine, but also ordered it to be taken to the master of the feast, so that he, admitting his ignorance of what had happened, thus presented undoubted evidence of the miracle. That is why the evangelist said: “the steward... did not know where this wine came from” (John 2:9), thereby expressing the incorruptibility of his testimony. And in another case, having raised the dead, Christ “ordered that she should be given something to eat” (Luke 8:55), and in this he makes it possible to see a sign of the true resurrection. With all this He convinced the senseless that He was not some deceiver or a magician, but came to save the common nature of mankind. 2. But why does Christ not demand faith from the paralytic, as he did in relation to the blind, to whom he said: “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Because the paralytic still did not know exactly who He was. Christ usually did this not before miracles, but after them. Those who saw His power on others rightly heard such a question from Him, and those who did not yet know Him, but should have known Him by signs, are asked about faith after the miracles. That is why Matthew imagines Christ asking this of people, not at the beginning of his miracles, but when He had already healed many, then he asks about this, and only two blind men. But you can already see the faith of the paralytic. Having heard the word: “Take up your bed and walk,” he did not laugh and did not say: what does this mean? An angel descends and troubles the waters, and only heals one, but you, man, do you really hope to make more angels with one command and a word? This is pride, vanity, ridicule. But he didn’t say anything like that, didn’t even think, and as soon as he heard it, he immediately got up, and, having received health, did not disobey the command given to him: “Rise, take up your mat and walk” (John 5:8). What is also surprising is that the subsequent circumstances are even more surprising; or better to say: that he believed in Christ from the very beginning, when no one prevented him from doing so, is not so surprising; and that after that, when the Jews went mad, attacked from all sides, besieged and condemned him and said: “You should not take up bed” (John 5:10), he not only despises their fury, but with great boldness, among the assembly of the people, proclaimed his Benefactor and silenced their shameless tongue - that I recognize as great courage. When the Jews surrounded him, with reproach and insolence they said to him: “Today is Saturday; You should not take your bed,” listen to what he says: “He who healed me said to me, Take up your bed and walk” (John 5:11); as if he were saying this: you are talking nonsense and going crazy, forbidding me to consider as a teacher the One who healed me from such a long and serious illness, and to obey Him in everything that He commands me. And if he wanted to act insidiously, he could have said differently - for example, that I am doing this not of my own free will, but on the orders of another; if this is a sin, then blame the one who ordered me, and I will leave my bed. He could have hidden the miracle of healing. He clearly saw that they were annoyed not so much for breaking the Sabbath as for healing the disease. But he did not hide the miracle, and did not say such words, and did not ask them for forgiveness; with a loud voice he acknowledged and proclaimed the benefit shown to him. This is what the paralytic did; but look how wickedly they acted, they do not ask: who is He who healed you? They were silent about this, but in every possible way they expose the apparent crime: “Who is the man who said to you: take up your bed and walk? But he who was healed did not know who He was, for Jesus was hidden among the people who were in that place” (John 5:12-13). Why did Christ hide? Firstly, so that in His absence the testimony would be free from any suspicion: the one who received the feeling of health was, of course, a reliable witness of the good deed. Secondly, in order not to further inflame their anger: He knew that the mere sight of a hated person does not a little inflame the haters. Therefore, having declined, He leaves the matter to act on its own before them, so that it is no longer He himself who says anything about Himself, but those healed by Him, and along with them the accusers themselves. And they, for their part, also give evidence of the miracle, because they did not say: why do you command to do this on Saturday? a: why are you doing this on Saturday? They are not indignant because of the crime, but they envy the healing of the paralytic. Meanwhile, if there was a human matter here, it was in what the paralytic did; but on the part of Christ there was only a word and a command. Thus, here Christ commands another to break the Sabbath, and in other cases He himself does it, for example, when he anoints his eyes with clay from spitting. But He does this not by breaking the law, but by acting above the law. However, more on that later. He is not justified in the same way in all cases when He is accused of violating the Sabbath, and this must be carefully noted. 3. Meanwhile, let us see how great an evil envy is, and how it blinds the eyes of the soul, contrary to the own benefit of the one obsessed with it. Just as those who are enraged often turn their swords on themselves, so the envious, having only one thing in mind - harm to the one they envy, lose their own salvation. They are worse than wild beasts; animals attack us, either because they lack food, or because they themselves are irritated in advance; and those, even being benefited, often treat benefactors as enemies. So they are worse than wild animals and similar to demons, and maybe even worse than them. Demons have irreconcilable enmity only against us, and do not make intrigues against those similar to themselves by nature; This is why Christ stopped the lips of the Jews when they said that He was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. But the envious do not respect the unity of nature, nor do they spare themselves: even before they harm the one they envy, they torment their own souls, filling them in vain and needlessly with all sorts of anxiety and discontent. Indeed, why do you grieve when you see the well-being of your neighbor? Of course, we should mourn when we ourselves suffer evil, and not when we see the well-being of others. Therefore, this sin cannot have any excuse. A fornicator can still point to lust, a thief to poverty, a murderer to irritation: although these excuses are empty and unfounded, they can still have the appearance of justification. And tell me, what reason can you imagine? Absolutely nothing, except for one extreme anger. If we are commanded to love our enemies, and we hate those who love us, then what punishment will we be subjected to? If he who loves those who love him is no better than the pagans, then he who is angry against people who have not offended him in any way, what forgiveness, what mercy can he receive? Listen to what Paul says: “If I... give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:3). And that where there is envy and hatred, there is no longer love at all, this is clear to everyone. Envy is worse than fornication and adultery; these vices are limited to those who do them, and the prevalence of envy has overthrown whole churches and brought evil to the whole universe; she is the mother of murder. So Cain killed his brother; so Esau wanted to kill Jacob; so Joseph are brothers; so all people are the devil. You do not kill: yes, you do much worse than murder, when, for example, you want your brother to suffer dishonor, when you lay snares for him on all sides, you upset his labors, which he has undertaken for the sake of virtue, you are annoyed that he is pleasing to the Lord of the universe. Thus, you are no longer at enmity against him, but against the One whom he serves; You insult Him when you put your own honor above His honor; and what’s most terrible of all is that you consider this sin to be indifferent, whereas it is heavier than all others. Even if you gave alms, even if you led a sober life, even if you fasted, you are the most criminal of all if you envy your brother. This is obvious from the following: among the Corinthians, someone fell into fornication, but, having been exposed, he soon reformed; Cain envied Abel and did not correct himself, but even when God constantly reminded him of his illness, he was even more tormented by envy, became irritated and rushed to kill. So there is nothing more persistent than this passion, and it does not easily yield to healing if we are not careful. Therefore, let us uproot it from ourselves, imagining that just as we offend God by envying the good of others, so we please Him by rejoicing with others, and we make ourselves participants in the blessings prepared for virtuous people. That is why Paul exhorts us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, so that we may receive great benefit from both (Rom. 12:15). So, remembering that, even if we ourselves did not work, but only sympathized with the worker, we can share his crowns with him, we will leave all envy and plant love in our souls, so that, rejoicing in the well-being of our brothers, we can be worthy of present and future blessings, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory now and ever and ever forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: