Беседа 42

John 6:1–4. After this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of ​​Galilee, in the vicinity of Tiberias. Many people followed Him because they saw the miracles He performed on the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat there with His disciples. Passover, the Jewish holiday, was approaching. 1. It is useful to sometimes move away from persecution. – 2. The miracle of the multiplication of loaves. – Marcionite fallacy. – 3. With what care Jesus Christ edifies his disciples by performing miracles. – 4. One must despise the glory of man and the riches of the earth. – The honors and riches of this world are incomparable with the honors and benefits promised to us by God. – One must love not this transitory glory, but immortal glory. – The difference between serving the world and serving Jesus Christ. - Against spectacles. – It is criminal to spend money on women of bad life, instead of distributing it to the poor. 1. There is no need, beloved, to enter into competition with evil people; but let us learn, unless it harms our virtue, to give way to their evil slander. In this way all insolence is tamed. Like arrows, hitting something elastic, hard and opposing, they bounce back with greater force - at those who launched them; when the swiftness of their flight does not meet with opposition, it soon loses strength and ceases - this is what happens with daring people. When we go against them, they become even more ferocious; when we give in to them and lag behind them, we can easily tame their fury. Thus, Christ, having learned about the rumor that had reached the Pharisees that He was acquiring disciples for Himself and baptizing more than John, went to Galilee in order to quench their envy and by His removal to tame their rage, which, of course, was born in them from these news. However, having retired again to Galilee, He no longer goes to the same places - He came not to Canna, but to the other side of the sea. “Many people followed Him, because they saw the miracles that He did.” What miracles? Why doesn't the Evangelist talk about each of them? Because this Evangelist takes care to fill most of the book with the words and conversations of Christ to the people. Look: for a whole year, even on Easter, the Evangelist does not mention a single miracle, except for the healing of the paralytic and the courtier’s son. The evangelist is not concerned about retelling everything: that would be impossible; but out of many and great things, only a few. “A lot of people followed Him,” he says, “because they saw the miracles that He performed.” This following of Christ was not a matter of very firm conviction; the Jews were carried away more by miracles than by the height of the teaching they heard; and this was a sign of rude souls: signs, it is said, are not for believers, but for unbelievers (1 Cor. 14:22). But this was not the kind of people mentioned in Matthew, but listen to what they were like: “The people were amazed at His teaching,” says Matthew, “for He taught them as one who had authority” (Matthew 7:28–29). But why does Christ now ascend the mountain and sit there with his disciples? To perform a miracle that is about to happen. And that only the disciples ascended the mountain is the fault of the people who did not follow Him. But not only for this purpose does He ascend the mountain, but also in order to teach us to always avoid noise and popular rumor, because solitude promotes wisdom. However, He often climbed the mountain alone and spent the night there in prayer, teaching us that especially those who approach God should move away from all noise and seek a silent time and place. “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was approaching” (John 6:4). Why, you say, does He not go to the holiday, but, while everyone is rushing to Jerusalem, goes to Galilee, and not only himself, but leads his disciples with Him, and from there to Capernaum? This is because He was gradually beginning to dissolve the law, having the reason for this in the deceit of the Jews. “Jesus lifted up his eyes and saw... the multitude” (John 6:5). Here the Evangelist shows that He never sat idle with the disciples, but explained something to them, probably with particular thoroughness, taught them and attracted them to Himself. From this you can see how much concern He had for them, and how meekly and condescendingly He treated them. They were probably looking at each other as they sat with Him. Then, looking up, Christ sees the people coming to Him. Other Evangelists say that the disciples, approaching Him, asked and begged Him not to let the people go hungry (Matthew 14:15; Luke 9:12); and John notes that Christ asked Philip about this question. It seems to me that both are true; only it did not happen at the same time, but one happened before the other: therefore one was one way, and the other another. Why does He ask Philip? Because He knew which of His disciples were most in need of teaching. And this is the same Philip who later said: “Show us the Father, and it will be enough for us” (John 14:8). That’s why Christ instructs him in advance: if the miracle had happened without preliminary, it would not have seemed so wondrous; but now Christ first urges Philip to admit that there is poverty (in food), so that, realizing how great it was, he would understand all the better the greatness of the miracle that was about to happen. And this is what Christ says to Philip: “Where can we buy bread to feed them” (John 6:5)? So in the Old Testament, God said to Moses (and did not perform a miracle before asking him): “What is this in your hand?” ( Exodus 4:2 ). Since extraordinary events, unexpectedly occurring, usually lead to oblivion of previous circumstances, God first bound Moses by recognizing his present situation, so that, being then struck by surprise, he could no longer forget what he himself recognized, and thus, through comparing one with the other, he would know the greatness of the miracle. The same thing happens here. When asked, Philip replies: “Two hundred denarii will not be enough bread for them, so that each of them gets at least a little... He said this, testing him; for He Himself knew what He wanted to do” (John 6:6–7). What does it mean: “testing him”? Didn't Christ know what Philip would say to Him? This cannot be thought. 2. What is the meaning of this saying? It can be understood from the Old Testament. It also says: “And it came to pass after these things that God tempted Abraham, and said unto him, Take thy son whom thou lovest Isaac” (Gen. 22:1–2). But God appears to be saying this there not because he wanted to find out the consequence through temptation, that is, whether Abraham will obey Him or not (is this necessary for the One who knows “all things before his being” (Dan. 13:42)). But in both cases it is said in a human-like manner. In the case when Scripture says that God tests the hearts of men (Rom. 8:27), it shows a test that is not characteristic of ignorance, but rather of perfect knowledge; and when he says: “tempted”, he expresses nothing more than perfect knowledge. This can be explained differently, namely, that God makes a person more tested through temptation, and just as Abraham then, so now Philip is led by a question to a precise understanding of the miracle. That is why, so that you, having stopped at the simplicity of the saying, do not come to any inappropriate thoughts about the above, the Evangelist adds: “for He Himself knew what He wanted to do.” Moreover, it should also be noted that, as soon as there could be any evil suspicion, the Evangelist immediately eliminates it with great diligence. And so, as here, so that the listeners would not have such suspicion, he adds a limitation, noting: “for He Himself knew what He wanted to do,” so when he said that the Jews persecuted Him “because He not only violated the Sabbath, but also called God His Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18), the Evangelist would have added a remark here too, if this had not been the intention of Christ himself, confirmed by the works Him. If the Evangelist always warns that no one should suspect the words of Christ himself, then, much more, he would be careful about this when presenting what others said about Christ, when he noticed that they were holding an inappropriate opinion about Him. But the Evangelist in the present case did not do this, because he knew that this was the thought of Christ himself and such was His unshakable determination. Therefore, having said: “making Himself equal to God,” he did not make any remark, since this was not their corrupt concept, but a true thought, confirmed by the works of Christ. Meanwhile, when Philip was asked, Andrew, Simon's brother, Peter, said: “A boy here has five barley loaves and two fish; but what is this for such a multitude” (John 6:9)? Andrey becomes taller than Philip; but he didn’t quite understand the matter either. I think that he didn’t just say this, but because he heard about the miracles of the prophets, for example, how Elisha performed a miracle on the loaves. Therefore, although Andrei climbed to some height, he could not reach the very top. From here we, devoted to voluptuousness, learn what those great and wondrous men fed on; Let us pay attention to how meager their meal was, both in quantity and quality of food, and let us imitate them. But Andrei’s last words show great weakness. Having said: “there are five barley loaves,” he added: “but what is this for such a multitude?” He thought that a miracle worker could only make small things small, and big things big. But it wasn't like that. It was equally easy for the Lord to produce an abundance of them from a larger or smaller number of loaves, because He did not need a ready-made substance for this. But so that they do not think that creation is alien to His wisdom (as the slanderers, the Marcionites, later said), He uses creation itself as an instrument to perform miracles. So, when both disciples did not know what to do, He then performed a miracle. Having previously recognized the difficulty of the matter, they thus received more benefit, precisely because when it was accomplished, they would all the more have to know the power of God. Since a miracle was about to happen, which the prophets also performed, although not in the same way; on the other hand, Christ, before performing it, had the intention of giving praise to God - this is so that the disciples would not fall into any weak thought - see how Christ elevates the miracle above all others by the very way it was performed, and shows its difference from the prophetic miracles. Even before the loaves appeared, He already performed a miracle, so that you would know that even those things that do not exist are subject to Him as if they existed, as Paul says: “calling those things that do not exist as if they exist” (Rom. 4:17). As if the meal was already ready and completely arranged, He commands the people to immediately lie down, and by this alone excites the thoughts of the disciples. And they, having already received benefit from the question he asked, immediately obeyed, were not embarrassed and did not say: what does this mean? How do You command us to lie down when there is nothing before us yet? Thus those who at first had so little faith that they said: where can we buy bread? - they began to believe even before they saw the miracle, and now they willingly accommodated the people. But why did Christ not pray before the healing of the paralytic, before the resurrection of the dead, before the taming of the sea; and here, above the bread, does it do it? By this he shows that when we start eating, we should give thanks to God. On the other hand, He usually did this in cases that were not very important, so that you knew that He did not do this out of any need. And if he needed it (in prayer), then He would rather do it in the most important miracles. But he who performed the most important miracles by His power, without a doubt, also performed prayer out of condescension. 3. Moreover, there were a lot of people here, and they had to be convinced that Christ came according to the will of God. Therefore, when He performs some miracle in private, He does not show anything like that; and when he performs a miracle in front of many, so that they believe that He is not an enemy of God, not an adversary to Him who gave birth to Him, through the offering of praise it destroys such suspicion. “He distributed... to those who reclined,... and... they were filled” (John 6:11–12). Do you see what a distance there is between the slave and the Lord? The slaves worked miracles, having only partial grace; and God does everything with complete omnipotence, in all its vastness. “And he said to the disciples: Gather up the remaining pieces. And they gathered and filled twelve baskets” (John 6:12–13). This was not superfluous proof of a miracle, but it was done precisely so that such a thing would not be considered a ghost; That is why He performed a miracle from a ready-made substance. But why did He let the disciples carry the boxes, not the people? Because I especially wanted to teach them as future teachers of the universe. And the people gained little benefit from miracles; he soon forgot them and then asked for other miracles; the disciples should have benefited greatly. This was no small condemnation for Judas, who also carried the box. And that this was done to teach them is clear from what was said later - when Christ reminded them of this incident: “Do you not yet understand... how many baskets you have collected” (Matthew 16:9)? For this reason, the number of boxes with the remains of bread was equal to the number of disciples. Subsequently, when they had already been taught, there were not so many leftovers, but seven boxes. But I am amazed not only at such a multiplication of loaves, but also, given their multitude, at a certain amount of leftovers. He produced them neither more nor less, but precisely as much as He wanted, foreseeing how much would be used, which was the work of His unspeakable power. So, the pieces themselves confirmed the effectiveness of the miracle, showing both that this event was not a ghost, and that the pieces remained precisely from the bread that the people ate. As for the miracle over the fish, it was then performed from ready-made fish; and after, after the resurrection of Christ, it is no longer made from a ready-made substance. For what? So that we know that even now He used the finished substance not out of need, not because he needed the basis, but to stop the mouths of heretics. “Then the people... said, This is truly a Prophet” (John 6:14). Oh, inordinate gluttony! Christ performed thousands of works, much more wondrous, and they did not confess it, but only now, when they were satisfied. But from their words it is clear that they were expecting some special prophet, because they also said to the Baptist: are you a “prophet”? (John 1:21), - and here: “this is the Prophet... Jesus, having learned that they wanted to come and accidentally take him and make him king, withdrew to the mountain” (John 6:15). Alas, how gluttony prevailed in them! What inconstancy there was in thoughts! They no longer defend the law, they no longer pay attention to the violation of the Sabbath, they are no longer zealous for God: they abandoned everything as soon as their belly was filled. Christ became a prophet for them, they want to make Him king; but He evades. For what? To teach us to despise worldly honors, and to show that He does not need anything earthly. He chose everything wretched for himself: his mother, his home, his city, his upbringing, and his clothes—he did not want to be famous for his earthly distinctions. What He had in heaven was glorious and great: the angels, and the star, and the Father who spoke, and the Spirit who testified, and the prophets who foretold Him from afar; and what He had on earth was all made humble, so that His power might be manifested all the more. He also came to teach us to despise the worldly and never get carried away or be amazed by the splendor of life, but, rejecting all this, strive with our hearts for the future. And whoever is carried away by what is here will no longer admire what is heavenly. That is why He said to Pilate: “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36), so that they would not think of Him as if He used fear and force to instill faith in people about Himself. But how did the prophet say: “Behold, your King is coming to you,... meek,... sitting on a colt, the son of a yoke” (Zechariah 9:9)? Here the prophet speaks of another kingdom, heavenly, and not earthly. That is why Christ also said: “I do not receive glory from men” (John 5:41). 4. Let us learn, beloved, to despise human honors and not to desire them. We are honored with the greatest honor, compared with which earthly honor is truly dishonor, laughter and buffoonery. Just as earthly wealth is wretchedness in comparison with heavenly wealth, and this life without that is death (“let,” says Christ, “the dead bury their dead” (Matthew 8:22)), so the glory here in comparison with that is shame and laughter. Let's not chase after her. If those who give it to others are more insignificant than shadows and dreams, then even more so is the glory itself. “The glory of men is like the flower of the grass” (1 Peter 1:24). And what could be more insignificant than the color of grass? But if earthly glory were long-lasting, what benefit could it bring to the soul? No. It even causes the greatest harm, making people slaves, worse than slaves - slaves who obey not one master, but two, three and countless, giving different orders. How much better is it to be free than to be a slave—free from slavery to people, but a slave to the sovereignty of God! Finally, if you want to love glory, love it, but love immortal glory, because it is both more brilliant and more beneficial from it. People tell you to please them at the expense of yourself; but Christ, on the contrary, rewards you a hundredfold for every gift you give, and also adds eternal life to it. What is better: to be glorified on earth, or in heaven, - whether from people, or from God, - whether with harm to oneself, or with benefit, - whether to be crowned for one day, or for endless centuries? Give to the needy, and do not give to the dancing, so that you do not destroy his soul with the money. Through inappropriate generosity you become the culprit of his death. If the dancers knew that their art would remain without profit, they would have stopped doing it long ago. But they see that you applaud, run to them, incur costs, spend all your wealth on them; therefore, even if they did not want to continue their business, they are nevertheless carried away by the desire for profit. If they knew that no one would praise their crafts, they would immediately abandon their labors as unprofitable. But when they see that their work is a source of surprise for many, then the praise of others becomes a bait for them. Let's leave the useless expenses aside. Let us learn how and when we should spend our wealth, so as not to anger God in both cases: by collecting where we should not, and by squandering where we should not. What kind of anger do you not deserve when you give money to a harlot but pass by a beggar without attention? If you gave from righteous labors, would it not be sinful to give reward for vice, and honor for what should be punished? When you feed your voluptuousness by robbing orphans and offending widows, then think, what kind of fire awaits those who dare to do such things? Listen to what Paul says: “not only do they do it, but they also approve of those who do it” (Rom. 1:32). Perhaps we are already reproaching you too much; but even if we did not reproach, punishment still awaits incorrigible sinners. What is the use of pleasing with words those who are actually subject to punishment? Do you approve of the dancer? Do you praise and admire him? So, you are worse than him, because he can excuse himself by saying that he is poor, although not thoroughly, and you do not have this excuse either. If I ask him why he, leaving other occupations, turned to this despicable and obscene thing, he will say that in this occupation, by working a little, he can make a lot of profit. And if I ask you why you admire a dissolute man who lives for the destruction of others, you cannot resort to the same excuse, but you will be forced to bow down, be ashamed and blush. So, if you have nothing to say to us, who demand an account from you, then how will we resist when that terrible and inexorable judgment seat opens, at which we will have to give an account of our thoughts, and our deeds, and everything? With what eyes shall we look at the Judge? What shall we say? How can we justify it? What kind of apology can we imagine - a plausible one or an unseemly one? Is it the cost, the pleasure, or the death of others whom we destroy by supporting their craft? It will be impossible to say anything, but we will inevitably be subjected to execution, which has no end, knows no limit. To prevent this from happening to us, we will henceforth be in every possible way careful, and thus, after leaving here with good hope, we will achieve eternal blessings, which we all will receive, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: