Беседа 51

John 7:37–38. On the last great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. 1. Hearers of the Word of God must have a burning thirst for it. – 2. The Holy Spirit was already given to the people of the Old Testament, but the apostles received it most completely. – 3. Consequences of anger. – By wanting to do harm to others, people cause destruction to themselves. – Evil is healed not by evil, but by good. 1. Those who approach divine preaching and are attentive to the faith must show the affection of those who are thirsty and kindle in themselves the same desire as theirs. Through this they will be able to more accurately retain within themselves what is preached. Those who are thirsty, having taken the cup, drink it with great eagerness, and then they only calm down. Likewise, those who listen to divine words, if they receive them with thirst, will never leave them before they are completely satisfied. And what one should always thirst and hunger for, it is said about this: “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). And here Christ says: “if anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” These words mean: I do not attract anyone by coercion or violence; but whoever has great zeal, whoever is burning with desire, I call him. But why did the evangelist notice that (it was) “on the last great day”? Because the first and last days were great, and the middle days between them were mostly spent in amusements. Why does he say: “to the last”? Because that day everyone was in the meeting. On the first day (the Lord) had not yet come, explaining to His disciples the reason for this. On the second and third days, He does not say anything, so as not to waste words in vain, since (the Jews on these days) indulged in amusements. But on the last day, when they were returning home, He gives them instructions for salvation and speaks loudly, partly in order to show His boldness, partly because of the large crowd. And to show that He is talking about spiritual drink, He adds: “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” Here he calls the “womb” the heart, just as in another place it is said: “And Your law is in my heart” (Ps. 39:9). But where does the Scripture say: “out of his belly will flow rivers of living water”? Nowhere. What do the words mean: “Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says”? Here it is necessary to put an end to it, so that the words - “rivers will flow from his belly” - are the saying of Christ himself. Since many said: “This is Christ” (John 7:41), and also: “When Christ comes, will he do more signs” (John 7:31), then He shows that one must have right knowledge and be convinced not so much by miracles as by Scripture. Indeed, many, although they saw Him performing miracles, did not accept Him as Christ, but on the contrary were ready to say, “Does not the Scripture say that Christ will come from the seed of David” (John 7:42)? Therefore, Christ very often turned to Scripture, wanting to show that he did not avoid evidence from Scripture; That is why he now refers them to the Scriptures. So, above He said: “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39), and also: “it is written in the prophets: and they will all be taught of God” (John 6:45), also: “Moses is your accuser” (John 5:45). In the same way, here he says: “from the belly of him, as it is said in Scripture, will flow rivers,” indicating with these words the wealth and abundance of grace. He expresses this same thing in another place with the words: “He will become in him a fountain of water flowing into eternal life” (John 4:14), i.e. (whoever believes in Him) will have great grace. So, in that place He calls it eternal life, and here living water. He calls it alive because it is always active. The grace of the Spirit, when it enters the soul and is established in it, flows stronger than any source, does not stop, does not deplete and does not stop. Thus, in order to show both the inexhaustibility of the gift of grace and at the same time its ineffable effectiveness, He called it a source and rivers - not just one river, but countless. And in that place (John 4:14) He represented the abundance under the image of a flow. And everyone will clearly see the truth of what has been said if they imagine the wisdom of Stephen, the language of Peter, the strength of Paul - how nothing stopped them, nothing held them back, neither the rage of the people, nor the uprisings of tyrants, nor the machinations of demons, nor daily deaths, and how, on the contrary, they, like rivers rushing with great aspiration, carried everything along with them. “He spoke these things about the Spirit, which,” he says, “the believers were about to receive...: for the Holy Spirit was not yet upon them” (John 7:39). How did the prophets prophesy and perform countless miracles? The apostles cast out (demons) not by the Spirit, but by the power received from Christ, as He himself says: “If I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do they cast out your sons?” (Matthew 12:27). And He spoke this in order to show that before the cross, not everyone cast out (demons) by the Spirit, but by the power received from Him (Christ). That is why, when He wanted to send them, He said: “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22), just as it is said in another place: “The Holy Spirit has descended on them” (Acts 19:6), and then they began to work miracles. 2. And when He sent them (before suffering), then it is not said that He gave them the Holy Spirit, but “gave them power,” saying: “Cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons; Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:1, 8). Regarding the prophets, it is recognized by all that they had the gift of the Holy Spirit; but this grace became scarce, receded and dried up on earth from that day, as it was said: “your house is left to you empty” (Matthew 23:38). However, even before this day, it had already begun to become rare. After all, they (the Jews) no longer had a prophet, and grace did not overshadow their shrines. So, since the Holy Spirit was taken away, and meanwhile He subsequently had to be poured out abundantly, and this outpouring began after the cross, not only with abundance, but also with great gifts [and indeed the gift was more wonderful when, for example, it is said: “You do not know what kind of spirit you are” (Luke 9:55); and again: “because you did not receive the spirit of slavery,... but they received the Spirit of adoption" (Rom. 8:15); the ancients, although they themselves had the Spirit, did not communicate it to others; on the contrary, the apostles filled a countless multitude with the Spirit] - since, I say, (the believers) had to receive such grace, but it was not yet given, then it is said: “for the Holy Spirit was not yet.” So, pointing to this grace, the evangelist said: “for there was not yet... the Holy Spirit,” i.e. was not yet given, “because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:39), calling the cross glory. We were enemies and sinners, we were deprived of the gift of God and became hated by God; and grace is evidence of reconciliation, and the gift is given not to enemies and hated persons, but to friends and people who have pleased them. Therefore, it was necessary first to make a sacrifice for us, to destroy enmity in the flesh, and for us to become friends of God, and then to receive this gift. If this was true under the promise given to Abraham, much more so under grace. Demonstrating this, Paul says: “if those who are established in the law are heirs, then faith is vain... for the law produces wrath” (Rom. 4:14-15). His words mean the following: God promised to give the land to Abraham and his seed; but the descendants became unworthy of this promise and could not please with their own labors. Therefore, faith came - it is not a difficult matter, in order to attract grace and so that the promises do not fall away. “Therefore it is by faith,” the apostle continues, “so that it [may be] according to mercy, so that the promise may be sure” (Rom. 4:16). Because “by grace” they could not (acquire this) by works. But why, having said: according to Scripture, does he not give the evidence itself? Because the Jews were infected with false concepts. Some said: “He is a prophet,” others: “he deceives the people,” others: “Christ will come” not from Galilee, but “from Bethlehem,” still others: “When Christ comes, no one will know where He comes from”; in a word, opinions were varied, as is usually the case among worried people. Yes, they listened to what was said, not in the proper way and not in order to learn the truth. That is why He does not answer them, although they say: “Will Christ come from Galilee?” (John 7:41). And Nathanael, who expressed himself stronger and more strikingly: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46) - praised him as a true Israeli. They, as well as those who said to Nicodemus: “Look and see that no prophet comes from Galilee” (John 7:52), said this not in order to find out the truth, but only to refute the opinion about Christ; and he (Nathanael) said this because he loved the truth and knew exactly all the ancient Scriptures. So, since they had only one goal - to refute the fact that He is Christ, He did not reveal anything to them. Moreover, those who contradicted themselves, sometimes saying: “no one will know where He comes from,” and sometimes “from Bethlehem,” would obviously begin to resist even after they learned the truth. Let them not know the place, namely, that He was from Bethlehem, since He lived in Nazareth, although this is not excusable for them, because He was not born there: but did they really not know His family, namely, that He was from the house and tribe of David? How did they say: “Is it not written in the Scripture that Christ will come from the seed of David” (John 7:42)? But with those words they wanted to obscure this too, because they spoke about everything maliciously. Why don’t they, having come to Him, say: since we are amazed at everything else in You, but You command us to believe in You according to the Scriptures, then tell us how the Scriptures say that Christ should come from Bethlehem, while You came from Galilee? But they didn’t say anything like that, but on the contrary, they all said it with malicious intent. And that they did not seek the truth and did not want to know it, the evangelist immediately added: “some... wanted to seize Him; but no one laid hands on Him” (John 7:44). If nothing else, at least this could bring them to tenderness; but they were not touched, as the prophet says: “they reviled and did not cease” (Ps. 34:15). 3. Such is the anger! He doesn’t want to give in to anything, he only strives for one thing - to destroy the one who has been hated. But what does Scripture say? “Whoever digs a hole will fall into it” (Prov. 26:27). It came true then too. They wanted to destroy Christ in order to destroy His preaching; but the opposite happened. Preaching, by the grace of Christ, flourishes; but for them everything disappeared and perished: they lost their fatherland, freedom, security, and worship, lost all prosperity, and became slaves and captives. So, knowing this, let us never plot against others, remembering that through this we sharpen the sword against ourselves and inflict the deepest wound on ourselves. But someone insulted you and you want to take revenge on him? Don't take revenge. Only in this way will you truly be able to take revenge. If you take revenge yourself, then you will not take revenge. And don’t think that these words are a riddle; no, this is the truth. How and in what way? So, when you do not take revenge, then you make God an enemy to him (the offender); and when you take revenge yourself, then this no longer happens. “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:19). If we have slaves, and they, having quarreled among themselves, do not give us reprisals and punishment, but appropriate them to themselves, then even after they come to us a thousand times, we not only do not avenge them, but on the contrary, we are still angry with them, calling them vagabonds and bullies. Everything, we tell them, should have been left to us; but since you first avenged yourself, don’t bother us anymore. Moreover, God will say this, Who commanded that everything be left to Him. And isn’t it a shame that we demand such wisdom and obedience from our slaves, but do not provide to the Lord what we demand from our slaves? I say this because you are inclined to take revenge on each other; Meanwhile, one who truly philosophizes should not do this, but on the contrary should forgive and forgive sins, even if for this there was no that great reward - the remission of his own sins. If you condemn someone who has sinned, then why, tell me, do you yourself sin and fall into the same thing? Has anyone insulted you? Don't insult him in return; otherwise you will insult yourself. Did someone hit you? Don't pay him back; otherwise there will be no difference between you. Has anyone made you sad? Do not upset him on your part, because there is no profit from this, meanwhile you will again become like him. Only then will you be able to reason with him, when you endure the insult calmly and with meekness; only through this will you shame him and tame his anger. No one heals evil with evil, but evil with good. This is how some of the pagans are wise. If foolish pagans have such philosophy, then let us be ashamed to be worse than them. Many of them were offended and suffered grievances. Many were slandered and did not take revenge; were subjected to slander, and did good. But I am quite afraid that some of them may turn out to be superior to us in life and thereby increase our punishment. In fact, if we, who have received the Spirit, expect the kingdom, philosophize about heaven, do not fear Gehenna, have the commandment to be angels, use the sacraments - if we do not even reach their virtue, then what excuse will we have? If we must surpass the Jews, as it is said: “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 5:20), then much less the Gentiles. If (we must surpass) the Pharisees, then much more the infidels. If, even in the case when we do not surpass the Jews in life, the kingdom of heaven is concluded for us, then how will we be honored to achieve it when we find ourselves worse than the pagans? Let us remove from ourselves all irritability, anger, and rage. “Writing these same things to you is not burdensome for me, but it is edifying for you” (Phil. 3:1). And doctors use the same medicine several times. So we will not stop instilling the same thing, reminding, teaching, begging about the same thing. After all, we have many everyday worries that can lead us into oblivion; and therefore we need constant instruction. And that we are not gathering here in vain and not without benefit, let us present evidence of this in deeds, so that through this we may be worthy of future blessings, according to the grace and love for mankind 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: