Беседа 38

John 5:14. Then Jesus met him in the church and said to him, “Behold, you are made well; Don’t sin anymore, lest something worse happen to you. 1. God punishes the body for the sins of the soul. – Most diseases come from sin. – 2 and 3. Recognition of a paralytic. – Jesus Christ compares himself with God the Father and declares himself equal to him. – 4. Perfect equality and perfect unity of the Father and the Son. – Against ambition and passion to exalt yourself over others. – We must avoid vanity and the evils it produces and seek the glory that comes from God. – The difference between human glory and the glory of God. 1. Grave evil - sin, evil and destruction for the soul; and when this evil intensifies too much, it often touches the body. We remain insensitive when our soul suffers greatly, and when the body receives even the slightest damage, we use all our efforts to cure it of its illness, because we feel pain. That is why God often punishes the body for the sins of the soul, so that from punishing the lower part the higher part will receive some kind of healing. Thus, among the Corinthians, Paul corrected the fornicator, restraining the illness of the soul by executing the body; he stopped the evil by attacking the body, just as a good doctor, if water sickness or pain in the liver is not inferior to internal medicine, does cauterization externally. This is what Christ did with the paralytic. This is how He himself expresses it when he says: “Behold, you are healed; “Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.” What can we learn from here? Firstly, that his illness arose from his sins; secondly, that the doctrine of Gehenna is true; and thirdly, that the punishment in it will be long-lasting, endless. Where are those who say: I committed murder in one hour, I committed fornication for a short time, and will I really be punished forever? So the paralytic did not sin for so many years as he suffered punishment, and spent almost his entire human life in continuous torment. Sins are judged not by time, but by the very essence of the crimes. At the same time, we must also take into account the fact that, even if we have suffered severe punishment for our previous sins, if we fall into the same vices again, we will be subjected to again and even more severe punishment; and this is absolutely fair. Whoever does not become better even from punishment, as insensitive and contemptuous, is given over to even greater execution. And one punishment in itself should be enough to restrain and admonish the fallen one; but if he, not having come to his senses from the punishment he has suffered, again dares to do the same thing, then in fairness he is again subject to the punishment that he brings upon himself. If we, too, here, after being punished for our sins, fall again into the same sins and are already subjected to the most severe punishment, then shouldn’t we all the more fear and tremble in anticipation of future unbearable torment, when, even though we sin, we do not suffer any punishment here? Why, you say, is not everyone punished in this way? After all, we see many vicious people who have good health and enjoy prosperity in the strength of their strength. But we should not rely on this, and that is why we need to mourn such people more. The fact that they do not tolerate anything here is the guarantee of the heaviest punishment there. Explaining this, Paul says: “having been judged, we are chastened by the Lord, lest we be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32). Here there is only admonition, there there is punishment. Well, you say, are all illnesses really from sins? Not all, but most. Some are also due to carelessness. Gluttony, drunkenness and inactivity also produce disease. There is only one thing that must always be observed, so that every blow can be endured with gratitude. There are illnesses for sins; so we see in the books of Kings that someone suffered from a disease of the legs precisely for this reason. Illnesses also happen to test us in goodness, as God says to Job: “Do you want... to accuse Me in order to justify yourself” (Job 40:3)? But why does Christ expose their sins to these paralytics? And to the one Matthew mentions, He says: “Be of good cheer, child! your sins are forgiven you” (Matthew 9:2), and to this: “behold, you are healed; sin no more." I know that some say in condemnation of this paralytic, that he was later among the accusers of Jesus Christ, and that is why he heard such words from Him, but what can we say about the one who, according to the testimony of Matthew, heard almost the same words? And he was told: “Your sins are forgiven you”; but he did not hear this for the same reason, as can be seen more clearly from what follows. The Evangelist says that after the healing, “Jesus met him in the church” (John 5:14) - and this is a sign of great piety: he did not go to the market and the festivities, did not indulge in overeating and carelessness, but spent time in the church; although he had to endure violence and persecution from everyone there, this did not in the least prompt him to move away from the church. So, Christ, having met him after talking with the Jews, did not make any hint of anything like that; If He wanted to reprove him, He would say to him: Are you going back to your old ways, and after your healing you have not become better? But He did not say anything like that, but only warned him for the future. 2. Why, when healing the lame and crippled, did He not remind them of this? It seems to me that the illnesses of the paralytic came from sins, and that of others - from natural weakness. If this is not so, then through them what was said to them was also said to others. Since this disease is more severe than all others, the smaller ones are also treated through the larger one. Just as, having healed someone else, Christ commanded him to give glory to God, inspiring this not to him alone, but through him to all others, so here, through the paralytic, he exhorts all others, and instills in him the same thing that he told them. In addition to this, it must be said that He saw great patience in the soul of the paralytic, and therefore gives him instruction, as a person who can accept admonition, protecting his health with both good deeds and fear of future evils. And look how Christ was a stranger to vanity. He did not say: Behold, I have made you well. And he said: behold, you are healthy now; sin no more. He also does not say: do not sin, lest I punish you; but only: “so that nothing worse happens to you.” Both are expressed impersonally; and, moreover, shows that health was returned to him more by grace than by merit. He does not pretend that he is exempt from punishment due to his merit, but expresses that he is saved due to his love for mankind. Otherwise, I would have said: behold, you have already suffered sufficient punishment for your sins: be careful in the future. But He didn’t say that, but how? “Behold, you are cured; sin no more." We must repeat this more often to ourselves, and when we are punished and freed from punishment, then let everyone say to himself: “Behold, you have recovered; sin no more." And if, while continuing to sin, we are not subject to punishment, then we will repeat the following apostolic saying: “The goodness of God leads you to repentance. But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you store up wrath for yourself” (Rom. 2:4-5). But Christ, not only by strengthening the body, but also in another way, showed the paralytic an important proof of His deity. With the words: “sin no more,” He showed that He knows all of His past sins, and therefore one should believe Him regarding the future. “The man went and declared to the Jews that the one who healed him was Jesus” (John 5:15). Look how he maintains the same feeling of gratitude in this case. He does not say that Jesus is the man who said to him: “Take up your bed,” because the Jews constantly exposed this as a crime, but he continues his justification, declaring his Healer, trying to attract others and bring them closer to Him. He was not so insensitive that, after such a great benefit and admonition, he would betray his Benefactor and say this with evil intent. Even if he were a wild beast, if he were inhuman and made of stone, then this good deed and fear would be sufficient to restrain him. The threat still sounded in his ears, and therefore he was afraid not to suffer something worse, having such great evidence of the Physician’s power. Otherwise, if he wanted to slander, then, keeping silent about the healing, he would only speak about the crime of the law and begin to accuse. But this is not the case; on the contrary, with great boldness and gratitude he glorifies his Benefactor no less than the blind man. What did the blind man say? “I made clay and anointed my eyes.” And the paralytic also: “He who healed me is Jesus. And the Jews began to persecute Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done such things on the Sabbath” (John 5:15-16). What about Christ? “My Father,” He says, “is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17). When he needed to protect His disciples, then He pointed to David as a servant similar to them: “Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry” (Matthew 12:3)? And when it comes to Himself, He turns to the Father, showing His equality with Him in two ways - both by calling Him in the proper sense His “Father”, and by presenting Himself as doing the same thing with Him. Why didn't He mention what happened in Jericho? Because he wanted to raise them up from the earth, so that they would listen to Him no longer as a man, but as God and the Lawgiver. But if He were not the true Son and Consubstantial, then the justification would be even worse than the accusation, similar to what if some boss, having broken the royal law and then, being accused, began to justify himself by saying that the king himself was violating it; By doing so, not only would he not have avoided condemnation, but he would have also increased his guilt. But here the dignity is equal, and therefore the justification is presented completely solid. What, He says, you do not blame God for, you cannot blame Me for. That is why, warning them, He said: “My Father,” in order to force them, and against their will, to allow for Him the same thing (as for God the Father), out of respect for His perfect unity with the Father. If anyone says, “As the Father does, when He rested on the seventh day from all His work,” let him know the image of His work. How does He do this? Industry, the preservation of everything created. When you see the rising sun, the running moon, lakes, springs, rivers, rains and the movement of nature - in seeds, in our bodies and in dumb animals, and everything else that holds the universe together, then recognize in this the incessant work of the Father; He, says Christ, “commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45); and again: “If the grass of the field, which exists today, is thrown into the oven tomorrow, God so clothes it” (Matthew 6:30); also, talking about birds, he says: “Your Father in heaven feeds them” (Matthew 6:26). 3. So, in this case, His whole work on the Sabbath consisted only in words alone, and He added nothing more, and by the very fact that is done in the church, and what they themselves do, He refuted the accusations. And if He commanded the task to be done, namely, to take the bed, which, however, in itself does not contain any important work, but seemed only a clear violation of the Sabbath, then He at the same time turns the word to a higher subject, wanting to more strongly amaze them with the dignity of His Father and raise them to higher concepts. That is why, when the Sabbath was discussed, He defended Himself, not only as a man and not as God only, but sometimes as God, sometimes as a man: He wanted to assure them of both - both in the humiliation of His incarnation and in the dignity of God. In the present case He defends Himself as God; if He began to constantly speak to them only as a man, then they would remain forever with the thought of only humiliating Him. But to prevent this from happening, He shows them His Father. Although the creation itself acts on the Sabbath - this is how the sun runs its course, rivers flow, springs overflow, wives give birth - but so that you know that He does not belong to the creation, He did not say: I do as the creation does; and how? “I do” because “My Father does.” “And even more,” says the Evangelist, “the Jews sought to kill Him because He not only violated the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). But this equality was not only apparent; He does not prove it with words alone, but mainly with deeds. Why is this so? Because words alone could refute and accuse Him of vanity, and seeing the truth revealed in events and His power revealed by deeds, they could no longer say anything contrary to Him. But those who do not want to allow this out of thoughtlessness say that Christ did not make Himself equal to God, but only the Jews suspected Him of this. But let's reconsider all of the above. Tell me: did the Jews persecute Him, or did they not persecute Him? It is clear to everyone that they were persecuted. Was they persecuted for this, or for something else? Everyone also agrees what it is. Did He break the Sabbath, or did He not break it? And, of course, no one will deny this. Did he call God his Father, or did he not? And that's true. In a similar way, we can draw a conclusion about what follows. Just as the fact that He called God His Father, violated the Sabbath and was persecuted by the Jews for the latter, and mainly for the former, is not just a false suspicion, but the real truth, so the fact that He made Himself equal with God was expressed in the same sense. And this can be seen even more clearly from the words spoken before. The words: “My Father works, and I work” express precisely equality with God; At the same time, He does not show any difference, does not say: the Father does, and I serve Him in deeds; He says: as the Father does, so do I, and thus expresses perfect equality. If He himself did not want to express this, but only the Jews thought so in vain, then He would not have left them in such a sinful opinion, but would have corrected it; and the Evangelist would not have remained silent, but would have said clearly that the Jews thought so, but Christ himself did not make Himself equal to God, as we find in other places, when the Evangelist saw that what was said was said differently, and what was said was understood differently; for example: “Destroy this church, and I will raise it up in three days,” said Christ, meaning his own body; and the Jews, not understanding this and thinking that He was talking about the Jewish church, said: “This church took forty-six years to build, and in three days You will raise it up” (John 2:19-20)? He said this, and they assumed something else; He spoke about His body, but they thought that this was said about their church. The Evangelist, noticing this, or better, correcting their opinion, added: “And He spoke of the church of His body” (John 2:21). So here, if Christ did not make Himself equal to God and did not want to prove this, but only the Jews thought so, then the Evangelist would correct their thought here too and would say: the Jews thought that He was making Himself equal to God, but He was not talking about equality. And not only this Evangelist in this place, but also another, on another occasion, does the same thing. When Jesus Christ commanded his disciples: “See, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But they thought within themselves and said, “This means that we did not take the loaves” (Matthew 16:6–7). He said one thing, calling teaching leaven, but the disciples meant something else, thinking that He was talking about bread. And this is corrected not by the Evangelist, but by Christ himself, saying this: “How do you not understand that I did not tell you about bread” (Matthew 16:11)? There is nothing like it here. But Christ himself, they will say, refutes this when he adds: “The Son can do nothing of Himself” (John 5:19). No, beloved, He does the exact opposite; He does not refute, but confirms equality with these words. Listen more carefully, this is an important subject. The expression: “from Himself” is often found in Scripture about both the Son and the Holy Spirit, and therefore one must understand the power of this saying so as not to fall into the greatest errors. If you accept it as it is and as it appears from the first time, then look at the absurdity that will come out of it. Yes, He did not say that the Son can do other things on his own, but cannot do others; but he said in general: “The Son can do nothing of Himself.” 4. Let us ask the objector: so, tell me, is the Son already unable to do anything on his own? If you say that “nothing,” then we will notice that He performed the greatest good deed on His own, just as Paul exclaims, saying: “He, being in the image of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:6–7). And again Christ himself says in another place: “I have power to lay down” My life, “and I have power to take it up again. No one takes it away from Me, but I myself give it” (John 10:18). Do you see that He has power over death and life, and He Himself accomplished such a great economy? What am I saying about Christ? And we, people, whom nothing can be more weak, do a lot on our own, choose evil on our own, follow virtues on our own. And if we are not on our own, and we do not have power in that, then it means that we will no longer be cast into Gehenna for our sins, and we will not inherit the kingdom for our virtues. So the words: “He can do nothing of Himself” only mean that He does nothing contrary to the Father, nothing alien to Him, nothing incongruous, and this further shows equality and perfect agreement between Them. Why didn’t He say that He didn’t do anything nasty, but said: “He cannot” do? In order to again show the immutability and perfection of equality. This expression does not mean His powerlessness, but, on the contrary, testifies to His great power, just as Paul says about the Father in another place: “so that in two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong consolation” (Heb. 6:18); also: “if we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). Here the expression “cannot” does not at all mean powerlessness, but means strength, and ineffable strength. It is the words of the apostle that have such a meaning that the divine being is inaccessible to any such weaknesses. When we say that God cannot sin, we are not attributing weakness to Him, but we are testifying to some ineffable His strength; Thus, when He himself says: “I can do nothing of Myself,” he expresses that it is impossible and unusual for Him to do anything contrary to the Father. And in order to be convinced of the accuracy of this meaning of His words, let us turn to the following words and see whose opinion Christ himself confirms, whether ours or yours. You say that this expression excludes power and His inherent independence, and shows the weakness of power; but I say that it means equality, immutability and, as it were, the action of one will, power and strength. So, let us ask Christ himself and see from His subsequent words whether He explains what was said according to your thoughts or ours. What is He saying? “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does also” (John 5:19). Do you see how He completely overthrows your opinion and confirms what we have said? If He does nothing of Himself, then it means that the Father also does nothing of Himself, because the Son does everything the way the Father does. And if this is not so, then another absurdity will result. He does not say that He only does what He sees the Father doing, but: “unless He sees the Father doing” (John 5:19), He does not create, extending the power of the word to all time, and thus, according to you, it will be that He is constantly only learning to do what the Father does. Do you see how His thought is lofty, and humility in His words forces even the most shameless to involuntarily abandon concepts of Him that are humiliated and completely incompatible with His dignity? Who would be so pitiful and unfortunate as to claim that the Son daily learns what He needs to do? How, in this case, will the saying be true: “But You are the same, and Your years will not end” (Ps. 101:28); or: “all things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:3) - if the Father does it, and the Son, seeing it, only imitates Him? You see, both what was said above and what was said after that confirms His independence. If He utters some words about Himself in the form of self-abasement, do not be surprised. Since the Jews, hearing His lofty teaching about Himself, persecuted Him and called Him an adversary of God, He condescends somewhat only in the form of expression, then again raises the teaching to higher concepts, then again turns to debased expressions, and thus diversifies His teaching in order to make it acceptable to the foolish. Look here. Having said: “My Father does, and I do,” and thereby showing His equality with God, He then says: “The Son cannot do anything of Himself unless he sees the Father doing.” Further, the word again exalts: “for whatever He does, the Son also does also”; and then more humbly: “The Father loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself does; and will show Him greater works than these” (John 5:20). Do you see how much humility there is here? This is how it usually is for Him. What I said before, I will not stop saying, and now I will say, namely, that when the Son says something humiliating and humble about Himself, then he expresses it with some exaggeration, so that the very humility of the expressions convinces the foolish to accept the thoughts contained in them in a pious spirit. And if this is not so, then imagine how absurd what was said would be, judging by the expressions alone. From the words: “He will show Him greater works than these,” it will follow that He still does not know much, which cannot be said about the apostles. They, having once received the grace of the Spirit, suddenly knew and were able to do everything that they needed to know and do; and He will still turn out to be ignorant of much that He needs to know! Could anything be more ridiculous than this? What does this saying mean? He healed the paralytic and intended to resurrect the dead, and therefore he said so, as if saying this: you are surprised that I healed the paralytic; you'll see more of this. But He did not say that, but expressed himself somewhat more humbly in order to tame their fury. And in order for you to be convinced that the word “will show” is not said in its proper sense, listen to what He adds further: “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomever He will” (John 5:21). But the words: “he cannot do anything of himself” are the opposite of the words: “whom he wants”; if He lives “whoever He wants,” then without a doubt “He can create from Himself.” To want means power. If He cannot “create from Himself,” then He does not live “whoever He wants.” But the words: “as the Father raises” show the equality of power; and the words: “whom he wants” - equality of power. Do you see that with the words: “he cannot create on his own” power is not destroyed, but on the contrary, the equality of strength and will is shown? Understand the words in the same way: “he will show Him.” And in another place He says: “I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40), and again, showing that He acts without borrowing power from another, says: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). But lest you say that He only raises the dead and gives life to whomever He wants, yet He does everything else wrong, then, warning and refuting any such objection, He said: “For whatever He does, the Son also does likewise,” and thereby expressed that He does everything that the Father does, and in the same way as the Father, whether this means the resurrection of the dead, or the creation of bodies, or the remission of sins, or anything other; He does everything just as His Father does. 5. But those who are careless about their own salvation do not heed any of this. Such is evil - the passion for superiority over others. She produced heresies; she increased the wickedness of the Hellenes. God was pleased that His invisible properties should be knowable from the creation of this world (Rom. 1:20), but they, abandoning this and not wanting to follow the path of this teaching, paved a different path for themselves, and therefore deviated from the true one. Likewise, the Jews did not believe because, seeking glory before each other, they did not seek glory from God. But we, beloved, will avoid this disease with all our might and with all our zeal. Even though we have countless perfections, the infection of vanity can destroy everything. So, if we desire praise, we will seek praise from God. Praise from people, no matter what it is, no matter how quickly it appears, immediately disappears, and if it does not disappear, it does not bring us any benefit, and often comes from a wrong judgment. What is important about the glory from people, which is enjoyed by dancing youths 31, and depraved women, and covetous people, and robbers? And the one who is glorified by God is glorified not with such people, but with the saints, that is, with the prophets, apostles, who have shown in themselves the life of an angel. If we want a crowd of people to surround us, so that their eyes are turned to us, then we will delve into the essence of this, and we will find that it has no value. In a word, if you love to be in society, then attract a host of angels to yourself, be afraid of demons, then you will not care at all about human rumors; You will trample down every shine like dirt and dust; Then you will see clearly that nothing makes the soul more inglorious than love of fame. And it is impossible, in no way impossible, for someone who loves glory not to live a life of suffering; but on the contrary, he who suppresses the love of fame cannot help but suppress at the same time many other passions: he who conquers this passion will overcome envy, the love of money, and other serious illnesses. But how, they will say, can we overcome this passion? We will overcome if we have in mind another glory, the heavenly glory, which the earthly one is trying to deprive us of. That glory will also glorify us here, and will accompany us in the future life, and will free us from all slavery of the flesh, which we now so miserably serve, having completely devoted ourselves to the earth and its deeds. Whether we go to the marketplace, whether we enter some house, whether we are on the road, or on the pier, in an inn, or in a strange house, on a ship, on an island, in royal palaces, in courts of justice, or in civil councils, everywhere you will see concerns about temporary and everyday affairs; everyone and everyone only cares about them, both those who leave and those who come, those who set off on the journey and those who stay at home, those who swim and those who cultivate the land, those who are in the fields and in cities - everything in general. What hope of salvation will we have if, while living on God’s earth, we do not care about divine things? While we are commanded to be strangers here, we are rather strangers for heaven, and residents for these places. What could be worse than such insensitivity? Hearing every day about judgment and the kingdom, we imitate the contemporaries of Noah and the inhabitants of Sodom and expect to be enlightened by the same experiences. But everything is written about them so that whoever does not believe in the future will receive clear evidence from past events regarding the future. So, thinking about all this, past and future, let us rest at least a little from this heavy slavery and take some care of our souls in order to achieve both present and future blessings through the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: