Беседа 68

John 12:34. The people answered Him: We have heard from the law that Christ abides forever; How then do You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? 1. Death does not prevent Jesus Christ from living forever. – 2. Prophecies do not force a literal understanding of the various ways of expressing Holy Scripture. 3. We must try in every possible way not to alienate ourselves from God. - About philanthropy towards neighbors. 1. Lies are powerless and easily exposed, although on the outside they are painted with many different colors. Just as those who coat walls that are close to destruction with grease cannot correct them through this grease, so people, when they tell a lie, are easily exposed. This is exactly what happened now with the Jews. When Christ said: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Me” (John 12:32), they object: “We have heard from the law that Christ abides forever; How then do You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man? So, they knew that Christ is an immortal person and has endless life. Consequently, they understood what He said. And in Scripture in many places it speaks together about suffering and resurrection. So, for example, Isaiah puts both together when he says: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter” (Is. 53:7), and so on; and David in the second psalm, early as in many others, connects both; and the patriarch (Jacob), saying: “he bowed down, lay down like a lion,” added: “and like a lioness: who will lift him up?” (Gen.49:9). - which indicates both suffering and resurrection. But the Jews say that Christ abides forever because they thought to block His mouth and show that He is not the Christ. And look, what malicious intent! They did not say: we heard that Christ should not suffer, should not be crucified; but: “what endures forever,” although these words do not constitute an objection, because suffering was not an obstacle to immortality. From this it can be seen that they understood much that could seem mutual, and that they acted maliciously out of their own free will. Since Christ spoke above about death, when they heard the word here: “I will be lifted up,” they came precisely to the thought of death. Then they say, “Who is this Son of Man?” And this is also with malicious intent. Do not think, they say, that we mean You here, and do not say that we contradict You out of enmity with You. We don’t even know who You are talking about, and yet we express our opinion. What about Christ? Wanting to stop their mouths and show that His sufferings do not in the least prevent Him from remaining forever, He says: “For a little while yet the light is with you” (John 12:35). This shows that His death is only repose, since the sunlight does not completely disappear, but, having hidden itself for a short time, appears again. "Walk while there is light." What time is He talking about here? Does he mean all of present life, or only the time before the cross? I think it’s both, because, due to His inexpressible love for mankind, many believed in Him even after the cross. And He says this in order to encourage them to faith, which He did before when He said: “I will not be with you for a long time” (John 7:33). “He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going” (John 12:35). In fact, what the Jews do not do now, and yet they do not know what they are doing, but walk as if in darkness. They think they are going the opposite way; keep the Sabbath, keep the law, observe the rules concerning food, but do not know where they are going. That is why he said: “Believe in the light, that you may be sons of light” (John 12:36), i.e., My sons. At the beginning, the evangelist says (about believers) that they are “neither of blood nor of the will of the flesh,... but they were born of God” (John 1:13), that is, from the Father, - and here it is said about Christ himself that He gives birth to them, so that you know that the Father and the Son have one action. “Having said this, Jesus went away and hid himself from them” (John 12:36). Why is He hiding now? After all, they did not raise stones against Him and did not say any blasphemy, as was the case before: why did He hide? Penetrating into their hearts, He knew that in their souls they were hardened against Him, although they did not say anything; He knew that they were seething and were ready to kill Him, and did not expect them to get to the point, but he hid in order to tame their hatred. Look how the evangelist also pointed out this: he immediately added: “He did so many miracles before them, and they did not believe in Him” (John 12:37). What are these signs? Signs that the evangelist was silent about. Yes, this can be seen from what follows. After He had departed and yielded to them, He comes again and meekly converses with them, saying thus: “He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him who sent Me” (John 12:44). And notice how He (usually) acts: He begins his speech modestly and humiliatingly, referring everything to the Father, and then exalts His word. When he sees that they are becoming furious, he leaves, and then appears again and again begins his humiliating speech. When did He do this? Tell me better, when did He not act like that? Behold, look how He says first: “As I hear, so I judge” (John 5:30); then more sublimely: “As the Father raises the dead and gives life, so the Son gives life to whomever He will” (John 5:21); and again: “I do not judge” you, another “is the One who judges” (John 8:15, 50); and then disappears again. Then, appearing in Galilee, he says: “Be careful not to eat perishable food” (John 6:27); and, having said great things about Himself, namely, that He came down from heaven, that He gives eternal life, He leaves again. And on the Feast of Tabernacles he appears again and acts in exactly the same way. 2. And constantly, as anyone can see, He diversifies His teaching in this way: sometimes it comes, sometimes it goes, sometimes it speaks humbly, sometimes sublimely. He did exactly the same here. “He performed so many miracles before them,” he says, “and they did not believe in Him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Lord! who believed what they heard from us? and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed” (John 12:37–38)? And again: “therefore they could not believe, because, as Isaiah also said: “You will hear by hearing, but will not understand.” This is what Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke about Him” (John 12:39, 41; Isaiah 6:9). Here again the words “how” and “said” do not mean cause, but effect. It was not because the Jews did not believe because Isaiah said so, but because Isaiah said so that they would not believe. Why does the evangelist speak differently, but on the contrary, as if he presents unbelief as a consequence of prophecy, and not prophecy as a consequence of unbelief? In further words, he expresses the same thing even more strongly, saying this: “therefore they could not believe, as Isaiah said.” By this he wants to prove more clearly that Scripture is not false and that what it predicted did not happen otherwise, but exactly as it was predicted. And lest someone say: why did Christ come? Or did He not know that they would not listen to Him? - this is why he brings the prophets, showing that they knew this too. Christ came so that they would have no excuse for their sin. What the prophet predicted, he predicted because it would certainly happen. And if it had not necessarily happened, he would not have predicted it; but it had to happen without fail, because (the Jews) were incurable. If the word “couldn’t” is put here, then it means the same thing as “they didn’t want to.” And don't be surprised by this. So in another place it is said: “Whoever can contain it, let him contain it” (Matthew 19:12). So in many places Scripture usually uses the word: possibility, in the sense of desire; Here, for example, again: “the world cannot hate you, but it hates Me” (John 7:7). Yes, the same thing, as anyone can see, happens in ordinary conversation. So, when someone says: I cannot love such and such, then by possibility he means a special power of desire; in the same way, so-and-so cannot be kind. And what does the prophet say? “Can an Ethiopian change his skin, and a leopard his spots,” and will this people be able to “do good, being accustomed to do evil” (Jer. 13:23). He does not mean that it is impossible for these people to perform virtue; but because they don’t want it, that’s why they can’t. And the words of the evangelist express only that it was impossible for the prophet to tell a lie. But it cannot be said that this is why it was impossible for the Jews themselves to believe. The Prophet could have remained faithful even if they had believed, but he would not have predicted that. So why, you say, did not Scripture express itself in this way? There are some similar features in Scripture, and therefore one must obey its rules. “This he said when he saw His glory.” Whose glory? Father. How does John apply these words to the Son, and Paul to the Holy Spirit? They say this not because they confuse the hypostases, but to show that They have one dignity: what belongs to the Father also belongs to the Son, and what belongs to the Son also belongs to the Holy Spirit. Although (God) spoke many things through the angels, no one says: as the angel said, but: as God said; what is spoken by God through the Angels belongs to God, but what belongs to God does not yet belong to the angels. And here (the apostle) says that these are the words of the Spirit (Acts 26:25-26). "and spoke of Him." What did you say? “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up” (Is. 6:1), etc. So, here he calls glory the vision, the smoke, the hearing of ineffable mysteries, the sight of the seraphim, the lightning coming from the throne, which those powers could not look at. "and spoke of Him." What did you say? That he heard a voice saying to him: “Whom shall I send? and who will go...? And I said: here I am, send me. And He said: ...you will hear by hearing and will not understand, and you will look with your eyes and will not see. This people has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes and do not understand with their hearts” (Is. 6:8-9; John 12:40). Here again is a new bewilderment; but it will not exist if we delve into the matter properly. Just as the sun strikes the eyes of the sick, but not because it has such a property, so it happens to those who do not heed the words of God. In the same sense it is said about Pharaoh that his heart was hardened. This also happens to those who somehow resist the words of God. And this is a feature of Scripture, as well as the expression: “God gave them over to a depraved mind” (Rom. 1:28); and: “distributed... to the nations” (Deut. 4:19); this means - allowed, allowed. In these passages it is not expressed that God does this too, but it is shown that this comes from the malice of others. When we are abandoned by God, then we surrender to the devil; and having given ourselves over to the devil, we are exposed to countless disasters. So, in order to frighten the listener, he says: “hardened”, and: “betrayed”. And that God not only does not betray us, but also does not abandon us, if we ourselves do not want it - listen to what he says: “Have not your iniquities created a division between you and between Me?” (Isa.59:2). And again: “those who remove themselves from You perish” (Ps. 72:27); and Hosea says: “You have forgotten the law of your God, and I will forget you” (Hosea 4:6). And Christ himself in the Gospel: “how often did I want to gather your children... and you did not want to” (Luke 13:34). And again Isaiah: “I came, there was no one,... I called, no one answered” (Is. 50:2). Speaking in this way shows that we ourselves initiate God’s abandonment of us, and we ourselves are guilty of our own destruction. And God not only does not want to leave us or punish us, but when he punishes us, he does it against His desire. “I do not want,” He says, “the death of the dying, but turn and live” (Ezek. 18:32). And Christ even cries about the destruction of Jerusalem, as we do in relation to our friends. 3. So, knowing this, let us use all measures so as not to fall away from God, and let us try to have care for our souls and love for each other; Let us not tear away our members from ourselves - this is characteristic of the raging and insane - but the worse we find them in their situation, the more we will show concern for them. After all, we often see people obsessed with persistent and incurable bodily ailments, and yet we do not cease to apply medicine to them. For example, what is worse than gout? What are hiragra? But do we cut off our members because of this? Not at all. On the contrary, we use all measures to get at least some relief, if there is no way to cure the disease. Let us do the same with our brothers: even if they suffer from incurable diseases, we will constantly care for their healing and bear each other’s burdens. Through this we will fulfill the law of Christ and achieve the promised blessings, according to the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: