Беседа 9

John 1:11. He came to his own, and his own did not receive Him. 1. Who are “their own” who did not accept Christ: firstly, the Jews, who were his chosen people. – Then other people who did not believe in Him, being His creatures. – 2. Unbelief as the reason for the blindness of the Jews; pride as the reason for their unbelief. – The grace of mercy extended by God to the pagans did not cause any injustice to the Jews. – The Apostle Paul rightly reproaches them and curbs their pride and arrogance. -They are jealous of the salvation of the pagans. – Pride makes all virtues useless. 1. If you remember our previous thoughts, then we will be more willing to continue edification, receiving from here and for ourselves much benefit. As soon as you remember what you read, then our word will be more intelligible to you, and not much work will be required from us - because you, with your curiosity, can delve deeper into further teaching. He who always loses (from memory) what is taught to him will always need a teacher and will never learn anything. And whoever keeps everything he has received and adds further (instructions) to it, can soon turn from a student into a teacher and will be useful not only for himself, but also for others. I hope that this is what the coming meeting will be like, and I conclude this from his great zeal for listening. Therefore, in your souls, as in a safe depository, we will place the silver of the Lord and, as much as the grace of the Spirit helps, we will explain the reading offered to us today. The Evangelist, speaking about former times, said: “The world did not know Him” (John 1:10); further, turning his speech to the time of the sermon itself, he says: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” “His and” here he calls the Jews, as a special people, or all people, as descended from this people. And just as above, suffering from the foolishness of many people and shaming the general spirit (of the time), he said that the world that came into being through Him did not know the Creator, so here, indignant at the ingratitude of the Jews and many others, he pronounces an even more severe condemnation, saying: “His own did not accept Him,” whereas He came to them. But not only the evangelist, but also the prophets said the same thing with surprise, and finally Paul, amazed at the same thing. Thus cried the prophets, speaking on behalf of Jesus Christ: “A people whom I did not know serve me; according to one rumor about me, they obey me; foreigners caress me; the foreigners turn pale and tremble in their fortifications” (Ps. 17:44-46). And in another place: “So He will make many nations astonished;... for they will see what was not told to them, and will know what they have not heard” (Is. 52:15). Also: “I have revealed myself to those who did not ask about Me; Those who did not seek Me found Me” (Isaiah 65:1). And Paul in his letter to the Romans said: “What then? Israel did not receive what it sought; but the elect have received” (Rom. 11:7). And in another place: “What shall we say? The Gentiles, who did not seek righteousness, received righteousness... But Israel, who sought the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness” (Rom. 9:30-31). Truly, it is worthy of surprise how the Jews, brought up on the books of the prophets, listened every day to Moses, who speaks very much about the coming of Christ, as well as to other former prophets after him, and finally saw Christ himself, who worked miracles for them every day, only talked with them, and how the disciples were not yet allowed to “go not into the way of the Gentiles” (Matthew 10:5), or to enter into any Samaritan city, did not do this himself and often said that He was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel - just as, I say, the Jews, having received so many signs, hearing every day the prophets and Christ himself with His constant suggestions, blinded and deafened themselves to such an extent that nothing could lead them to faith in Christ. Meanwhile, the pagans, having nothing of the kind, never having heard divine broadcasts, even, so to speak, in their sleep, were always occupied only with the ravings of insane people (such is pagan philosophy), re-read the idle talk of poets, were tied to trees and stones and did not know anything healthy and useful either in beliefs or in the rules of life; and their life was even more unclean and criminal than their teaching. And how could it be otherwise, when they saw that their gods find pleasure in every vice, that they are honored with shameful words and even more shameful deeds and accept this as a celebration and honor; in addition, they are honored by vile murders and the killing of children - and in this people imitated the gods. But, despite the fact that they had fallen to such depths of evil, suddenly, as if by some kind of machine, they rose to a height and appeared to us, shining from the very top of heaven. How and why did this happen? Listen to what Paul says about this. The blessed apostle, carefully examining these circumstances, did not leave them until he found the reason and explained it to everyone. What is this reason? And why were the Jews so blind? Listen to what he himself says about this, the one to whom this house-building was entrusted. What does he say to resolve this misunderstanding of many? “Not understanding,” he says, “the righteousness of God and trying to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3). This is why they suffered such misfortune. And in another place, stating the same thing differently, the apostle says: “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 achieve the law of righteousness. Why? because they sought not in faith, but in works of the law. For they stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Rom. 9:30–32). This means that the unbelief of the Jews was the cause of evil for them, and unbelief came from arrogance. At first they had more than the pagans, namely: they received the law, they had the knowledge of God, and so on, which Paul speaks of. But after the coming of Christ, as soon as they saw that both they and the pagans by faith were equally honorably called to salvation and that in the matter of faith the circumcised had no advantage over the convert from the pagans, then from pride they turned to envy and could not tolerate the great and ineffable love of the Lord. And this did not happen in them from anything other than arrogance, anger and misanthropy. 2. What harm did this care (of the Lord) shown to others bring to you, the most senseless of people? Are your benefits diminished because others share in them? But truly anger is blind and cannot quickly understand anything just. Tormented by the thought that others would share in the same rights, they turned the sword on themselves and deprived themselves of God's love for mankind. But justice demanded this. It was said: “friend! I do not offend you; .. I want to give this last thing the same as I give you” (Matthew 20:13–14). But they are not worth even these words. The mercenary (mentioned in the Gospel), although annoyed, could at least point to his labors throughout the whole day, to the hardship, heat and sweat; What could they say? Nothing like that; in them there was only carelessness, intemperance and many vices, of which all the prophets constantly accused them and with which they, like the pagans, insulted God. Pointing to this, Paul said: “Here there is no difference between Jew and Greek” (Rom. 10:12). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace” (Rom. 3:23-24). But this subject is usefully and very wisely expounded by the apostle in an entire chapter of the epistle. And before that, he also shows that the Jews are even more worthy of punishment: “those who have sinned under the law,” he says, “will be condemned by the law” (Rom. 2:12), that is, the judgment is more severe, since, in addition to nature, they also have the law as an accuser. And not only for this reason, but also because they were the cause of the blasphemy of God among the pagans. “For your sake,” it is said, “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles” (Rom. 2:24). This especially irritated them, so that this circumstance seemed strange to those who believed from circumcision; That is why they accused Peter, when he returned to them from Caesarea, because he entered into communication with uncircumcised people and ate with them; and even after they understood God’s predestination, they still marveled at how the gifts of the Holy Spirit were poured out on the pagans, expressing with this amazement that they had never expected such strangeness. So, knowing that this especially hurt them, the apostle directs everything to destroy their pride and suppress their too arrogant arrogance. And look how he does this: after discussing the pagans, showing that they have no justification in anything, no hope of salvation, having also carefully exposed their perverse teaching and the uncleanness of their lives, he transfers his word to the Jews. Having repeated everything that was said about them by the prophet - that they are criminal, and treacherous, and wicked, and that they are all generally indecent, and not one of them seeks God, but all have turned away, and the like, - the apostle adds: “we know that the law, if it says anything, speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth is stopped, and the whole world becomes guilty before God... because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:19, 23). Why are you arrogant, Jew? Why do you think so much about yourself? Your lips are stopped, your self-confidence is destroyed, and you, along with the whole world, are subject to judgment and, like others, you need to justify your tuna. So, even though you were right according to the law and had much boldness before God, you should not have been jealous of those who could have been pardoned and saved by God’s love for mankind. It is extremely bad to be upset about the well-being of others, and especially when it is not associated with damage to yourself. If the salvation of others harmed your well-being, you would have reason to be upset, although this is also unusual for a person who has learned to be wise. But if neither the executions of others increase your rewards, nor prosperity reduces them, then why do you torment yourself, just because someone else is saved? You should not, as I said, be irritated by the fact that salvation was granted to the pagans by grace, even if you yourself were one of the people worthy of praise. But when you, being guilty of the same thing (like a pagan) before the Lord, and having incurred His wrath, are still annoyed at the well-being of others and think so much about yourself, as if you alone have the right to the communion of grace, then you are subject, more than all others, to severe torment, not only for envy and arrogance, but also for extreme recklessness. You have increased in yourself the root of all evil - arrogance. Therefore, one wise man said: “the beginning of sin is pride” (Sir. 10:15), that is, the root, source, mother. Thus, through her, primordial man lost his blissful state; Through her, the devil who had seduced him fell from the height of his dignity. This vile creature, having learned that this sin could cast down from heaven itself, chose this path in order to deprive Adam of such a great honor. Having puffed him up with the promise of equality with God, he thus subverted and cast him into the very depths of hell. Truly, nothing alienates one from the love of God and exposes one to the fire of Gehenna more than the prevalence of arrogance. When it is in us, then our whole life becomes unclean, even if we strive for chastity, virginity, fasting, prayer, almsgiving and other virtues. “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord,” it is said (Proverbs 16:5). So, if we want to be pure and free from the punishment prepared for the devil, let us curb the arrogance of the spirit in ourselves, cut off arrogance. And that the proud must undergo the same punishment (with the devil) - listen to what Paul says about this: “You must not be one of the new converts, lest you become proud and fall into condemnation with the devil” (1 Tim. 3:6). How to avoid this disaster? We will escape if we reflect on our nature, on the multitude of sins, on the greatness of future torments, on the fact that everything that seems brilliant here is temporary, no better than grass and fades faster than spring flowers. If we often arouse such thoughts in ourselves and bring to mind people who have accomplished great feats, then the devil will not be able to easily overwhelm us, no matter how much he grows stronger, and will not even be able to stop us in our first steps. May God, the God of the humble, good and merciful, himself give you and us a contrite and humble heart. Thus, we will be able to easily accomplish everything else for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: