Беседа 59

John 9:34–36. And they kicked him out. When Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and when he found him, he said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered and said: Who is He, Lord, that I should believe in Him? and so on. 1. Praise to Jesus Christ to the man born blind for his courage and firmness in faith. – 2. By what signs can one distinguish between a predator and a shepherd? – 3. Jesus is the true shepherd and the true Christ. – 4. We must obediently follow Jesus Christ as our true shepherd and obey His voice. – You cannot serve God and mammon. - About the true use of wealth. - An exhortation to almsgiving. 1. Those who, for the truth and confession of Christ, are subjected to some kind of calamity and suffer reproach, are awarded special honors for this. Just as he especially acquires property who spends it for the sake of God, and he especially loves his soul who hates it, so, in the same way, he who is subjected to insults is especially honored. So it was with the blind man. The Jews expelled him from the church, but the Lord of the church found him; he was removed from the infectious host, and found himself at a saving source; was dishonored by those who dishonored Christ, and was honored by the Lord of the angels. These are the rewards for truth! Likewise, if we distribute property here, we will find boldness there; if we give relief to the suffering here, we will receive peace in heaven; if we endure reproach for the sake of God, we will receive honor both here and there. When the blind man was driven out of the church, Jesus found him. The Evangelist shows that (Christ) went to meet him. And look what he is rewarded with: the first of the blessings. He reveals Himself to the blind man, who did not know Him before, and includes him among his disciples. But notice with what detail the evangelist narrates. When Christ asked: “Do you believe in the Son of God,” (the blind man) answered: “Who is He?” He did not yet know Him, although he received healing from Him; Before he approached the Benefactor, he was blind, and after healing he was dragged by those dogs. So, (Christ), as a certain ascetic, accepts him as an ascetic who has worked hard and is crowned. And what does he say? “Do you believe in the Son of God?” What does it mean? After such a competition with the Jews, after so many words (blind), he asks: “Do you believe?” (He asks) not out of ignorance, but wanting to reveal himself and show that he highly values ​​his faith. So many people, he says, have reviled Me, but I don’t pay any attention to them; I have one concern, that you may believe. Better is one who does the will of the Lord than thousands of lawless ones. “Do you believe in the Son of God”? He asks in this way, making it clear that He is here and hears the answer, and already in advance arouses in him love for Himself. He didn’t suddenly say: believe, but he suggested a question. What about the blind man? “And who is He, Lord, that I should believe in Him?” The voice of a loving and intensely searching soul! He does not know the One whom he defended so much, so that you would know from here his love for the truth. He hasn't seen Him yet. “Jesus said to him: And you have seen Him, and He speaks to you” (John 9:37). He did not say: it is I, but modestly and humbly: “and you saw Him.” And since this was not yet clear, he added more clearly: “He speaks to you. He said: I believe, Lord! And he bowed down to Him immediately. He did not say: I am the one who healed you, who said to you: go, wash in Siloam; but, keeping silent about all this, he says: “Do you believe in the Son of God?” Nevertheless, the blind man, as a sign of great favor, immediately bowed, which few of the healed did, such as the lepers and some others. By this he confessed His divine power: so that they would not think that what he said was only words, he also added deeds. After he bowed, Christ said: “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind” (John 9:39). Paul says the same thing: “What shall we say? The Gentiles, who did not seek righteousness, received righteousness, the righteousness of faith. But Israel, who sought the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness” (Rom. 9:30-31). Having said: “I came into this world for judgment,” I confirmed the blind man even more in faith, and aroused the attention of those who followed Him; and the Pharisees followed Him. The expression: “to judgment” means: for greater punishment. By this (Christ) shows that those who condemned Him are themselves condemned and that those who accused Him as a sinner are themselves accused. Here He speaks of two kinds of insight and blindness: sensory and spiritual. To this some of those who followed Him answered Him: “Are we also blind?” (John 9:40). As they said elsewhere: “we were never slaves to anyone” (John 8:33), and: “we were not born of fornication” (John 8:41), so here they look only at the sensual and are ashamed of this blindness. Therefore, showing that it would be better for them to be blind than to have sight, (Christ) says: “If you were blind, you would have no sin” (John 9:41). Since they considered this misfortune to be a shame, He turned it on their heads, saying that blindness would make the punishment easier for you. Thus, everywhere He destroys human thoughts and leads to great and wonderful understanding! "But how do you say what you see". As before he said: “My Father, of whom you say that He is your God” (John 8:54), so now: “but as you say that you see,” because in fact you do not see. Thus, what they considered great praise for themselves, He presents here as a reason for their punishment, and at the same time comforts the man born blind in his former blindness. Then he talks about their blindness. Since they could say that it is not because of our blindness that we do not come to You, but that we run away and turn away from You as a deceiver, then He directs all His word against this. 2. And the evangelist did not just notice that the Pharisees who were with Christ heard this and said: “Are we also blind?” - but to remind you that these were the same ones who first lagged behind Him and then threw stones at Him. Some, indeed, followed Him without firm faith, and therefore easily went over to the side of the opponents. How does He prove that He is not a deceiver, but a Shepherd? Represents the signs of both, both the shepherd and the deceiver-destroyer, and through this gives them the opportunity to discover the truth. And firstly, he shows who the deceiver and thief is, borrowing this name from Scripture and saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up somewhere else, he is a thief and a robber” (John 10:1). Notice the signs of a robber: firstly, he does not enter in an obvious way; secondly, not according to the Scriptures, which means: not by doors. Here Christ points both to those who were before Him and to those who will appear after Him: the Antichrist and false Christs - Judas and Theudas and others like them. And he rightly called the Scriptures doors. It leads us to God and opens the path to knowledge of God; it produces sheep, it protects and does not allow wolves to come. Like any secure door, it bars the entry of heretics, keeps us safe from everything, and prevents us from falling into error. And if we ourselves do not open this door, we will be inaccessible to our enemies. By it we recognize everyone, both shepherds and non-shepherds. What does it mean: “to the yard”? This means - to the sheep and to taking care of them. He who does not use the Scriptures, but climbs “one way,” that is, does not follow the established path, but makes a different path for himself, is a thief. Do you see from here that He agrees with the Father, because He puts Scripture on display? Therefore, He said to the Jews: “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39), and He brought Moses and called him a witness, as well as all the prophets. All, He said, who listened to the prophets, “come to Me” (John 6:45), and: “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me” (John 5:46). And here He expressed the same thing, only allegorically. And with the words: “Whoever climbs over another,” He also pointed to the scribes, because they taught the commandments and traditions of men, but violated the law, for which He reproached them, saying: “None of you walks according to the law” (John 7:19). And he said well: “who climbs over,” and not “who enters,” because this is what a thief usually does when he wants to penetrate the fence and does everything with danger. Do you see how He portrayed the thief? Notice also the signs of a shepherd. What are they? “He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep obey his voice, and he calls his sheep by name,” and when he has driven them out, “he goes before them” (John 10:2–4). Thus he indicated the signs of both the shepherd and the robber. Let us now see how He applied the following to them. “For him,” he says, “the doorkeeper opens.” Continues to speak allegorically for greater emphasis. If you want to understand every word in the parable, then nothing prevents you from understanding here the door of Moses, because the words of God were entrusted to him. “And the sheep obey his voice, and he calls his sheep by name.” Since (the Jews) often called Him a deceiver and proved this by their own unbelief, saying: “Did any of the rulers believe in Him?” (John 7:48) - then He shows that, due to their unbelief, He should not be called a destroyer and a deceiver, but them, since they do not heed Him, and therefore are naturally excluded from among the sheep. If it is typical for a shepherd to enter through the lawful door, and He entered through this very door, then all those who followed Him can be sheep, and those who departed from Him do not humiliate the shepherd, but separate themselves from the flock of sheep. And that He subsequently calls Himself a door, this again should not be embarrassed. He calls Himself both a shepherd and a sheep, indicating different aspects of His ministry. When he brings us to the Father, he calls himself a door; and when He expresses His care for us, He is a shepherd. So that you do not think that His job is only to lead (to the Father), He also calls Himself a shepherd. “And the sheep obey his voice, and he calls his sheep by name and leads them out,” and he himself “goes before them” (John 10:3–4). Shepherds usually act differently - they walk behind the sheep; but He, showing that He will lead everyone to the truth, does not act as they do. In the same way, when He sent the sheep, He did not send them away from the wolves, but into the midst of the wolves. This shepherding is much more amazing than what we have. 3. But it seems to me that here there is an indication of the blind man, because he was also called and brought out from among the Jews, and he heard and recognized His voice. “But they do not follow a stranger... because they do not know the voice of others” (John 10:5). He speaks here either about Theudas and Judas, since everyone who did not believe them, as Scripture says, “scattered” (Acts 5:36–37), or about false Christs who will deceive later. And lest they say that He is one of them, He distinguishes Himself from them by many signs. And the first distinction comes from teaching based on Scripture. He brought people to Him through the Scriptures, but they did not attract them that way. The second is the obedience of the sheep: everyone believed in Him not only during life, but also after death, but they immediately abandoned them. To this we can add a third important difference. They did everything like tyrants, and with the aim of indignation; and He was so far from such intentions that, even when they wanted to make Him king, He withdrew, and when they asked whether kinson should be given to Caesar, he ordered it to be given and himself paid the didrachm. In addition, He came to save the sheep, “so that they might have life,” he says, “and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10); and they deprived them of real life. They betrayed those who believed them and fled; and He stood so firmly that He laid down His soul. They suffered against their will, out of necessity, without having time to escape; but He endured everything voluntarily and of his own free will. “Jesus spoke this parable to them; but they did not understand what He said to them” (John 10:6). Why did He speak to them unclearly? To make them more attentive. Therefore, having achieved His goal, he leaves an already unclear image of speech and says in this way: “I am the door: whoever enters by Me... will also go in and out and find pasture” (John 10:9), - that is, he will enjoy security and freedom. By pasture here he means food and feed for sheep, as well as power and dominion, that is, he will remain behind her and no one will drive him out. So it was with the apostles, who freely came and went, as if they owned the whole universe, and no one could drive them out. “Everyone, no matter how many of them came,... are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them” (John 10:8). He is not talking here about prophets, as the heretics claim, because everyone who believed in Christ listened to them and through them believed; but speaks of Theudas and Judas and other troublemakers. Moreover, the words: “the sheep did not listen” were spoken in praise (of the sheep). But nowhere is it clear that He praised those who did not listen to the prophets, but everywhere, on the contrary, He strongly reproaches and condemns them. From here it is clear that this expression: “they didn’t listen” refers to those troublemakers. “The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10). So it was then, because everyone was killed and died. “I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). What, tell me, is greater than life? Kingdom of heaven. But He does not yet name it, but uses the name of life known to them. “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). Here he speaks about suffering and shows that he raises it for the salvation of the world and is not subjected to it out of captivity. Then he again indicates the signs of a shepherd and a hireling. “The shepherd lays down his life... But a hired hand, not a shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and runs; and the wolf comes and plunders... them” (John 10:11–12). Here He presents Himself as the same Master as the Father, because He is the Shepherd himself and he has His own sheep. You see how in parables He speaks more sublimely, how here the speech is hidden, and does not give the listeners a clear reason (to fall). What does a mercenary do? “He sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep; and the wolf comes and plunders... them.” That's what they did, but He did the opposite. Even while he was captured, He said: “Leave them alone, let them go, that the word may be fulfilled,” that none of them died (John 18:8–9). But here we can also understand a mental wolf, because He did not allow him to plunder the sheep. But this is not only a wolf, but also a lion: “your adversary the devil,” says Scripture, “walks like a roaring lion” (1 Pet. 5:8). This is the serpent and the dragon: tread “on serpents and scorpions” (Luke 10:19). 4. Therefore, I beg you, let us always remain under the leadership of the Shepherd. And we will remain when we listen to His voice, - when we obey Him, - when we do not follow strangers. What is His voice? “Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the pure in heart. Blessed are the merciful” (Matthew 5:3, 7–8). If we do this, we will remain under the leadership of the Shepherd, and the wolf will not be able to penetrate us; and if he does enter, he will do so to his own destruction. We have a Shepherd who loves us so much that he laid down His life for us. If He is both powerful and loves us, then what can prevent us from being saved? Nothing, unless we ourselves depart from Him. How can we retreat? Listen to what He says: “no one can serve two masters,... God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). So, if we work for mammon, we will no longer remain under the dominion of God. Addiction to wealth is worse than any tyranny: it does not give any pleasure, but gives rise to worries, envy, deceit, hatred, slander and countless obstacles to virtue - carelessness, debauchery, covetousness, drunkenness. And this makes the free slaves, and even worse than slaves, slaves not of people, but of the most terrible of passions and diseases of the soul. Such a person decides to do many things that are disgusting to both God and people, out of fear that someone will snatch him from under this dominion. Bitter slavery, devilish dominion! What is especially harmful is that, being in such an unhappy situation, we are cheerful in spirit, kiss our chains and, living in a prison full of darkness, do not want to come into the light, but become attached to evil and enjoy illness. That is why we cannot free ourselves and are in a worse condition than those who work in the mines, because we are subjected to labor and disasters, but do not enjoy the fruits. The worst thing is that even if someone wanted to free us from this difficult captivity, we not only do not allow it, but we also become angry and indignant, and thus we are no better than the insane, and even much more unhappy than all of them - because we do not want to part with our madness. Is this really why you came into this world, man? Is this really why man was born, just to develop mines and collect gold? This is not why God created you in His image, but that you might please Him. To achieve future blessings and rejoice with the angels. Why do you deprive yourself of such a community and descend to the last degree of ignominy and humiliation? Your brother by birth—I mean spiritual birth—perishes from hunger, and you are exhausted from satiety. The brother walks around with his body naked, and you arrange clothing for your clothes to protect them from worms through such coverings. Wouldn't it be much better to cover the bodies of the poor with them? Then your clothes would remain intact, and you would be free from all worries, and this would gain you a future life. If you don’t want your clothes to be eaten by moths, give them to the poor: they know how to shake out these clothes well. Moreover, the body of Christ is both more honorable and safer than a closet. It not only preserves clothes, not only keeps them unharmed, but also makes them more brilliant. The wardrobe is often stolen along with the dress, and thus exposes you to extreme loss. But this repository cannot be damaged by death itself. Here we don’t need any doors, no locks, no waking servants, or any other similar precautions. It is not accessible to any malice, and what is preserved in it is as safe as if it were in heaven; no evil can enter there. We never stop talking about it, but you don't listen to our words. And this is because our soul is poor, tied to the earth and grovels below. However, do not think that I condemn all of you for this evil, as if you were all incurably ill. If people, intoxicated with wealth, block their ears to my words, then those living in poverty will pay attention to them. But how do you say this goes to the poor? After all, they have neither gold nor many clothes? But they have bread and cold water; there are two mites and legs to visit the sick; there is a language and a word to receive the stranger. We do not demand from the poor so many and so many talents of gold - we only demand this from the rich. If someone is poor and comes to the doors of others (the poor), our Lord will not be ashamed to accept a mite, and will even say that he accepted more from him than from people who gave a lot. How many of those present here would like to live at the time when Christ was on earth in the flesh, to be under the same roof with Him and share a meal with Him! Now this is possible: we can invite Him to supper and dine with Him even more profitably. Of those who then dined with Him, many perished, such as Judas and others like them. Meanwhile, everyone who now calls Him into his home and offers him food and shelter will be rewarded with great blessing. “Come,” He says, “you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me;... I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me” (Matthew 25:34–36). So, in order to hear these words, let us clothe the naked, welcome the strange, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the sick, go to those in prison. Through this we will receive boldness and forgiveness of sins and will be rewarded with blessings that surpass both word and mind, which we all will be worthy of, by 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: