Беседа 18

Said in the Church of St. Apostle Peter on Sunday. Reading the Holy Gospel: John 8.45–59. John 8.45–59. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you will convict Me of unrighteousness? If I speak the truth, why don't you believe Me? He who is from God listens to the words of God. The reason you don't listen is because you are not from God. To this the Jews answered and said to Him: Are we not telling the truth that You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon? Jesus answered: There is no demon in Me; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. However, I do not seek My glory: there is a Seeker and a Judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever keeps My word will never see death. The Jews said to Him: Now we have learned that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets, and You say: whoever keeps My word will never taste death. Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died: what are you doing? Jesus answered: If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. My Father glorifies me, of whom you say that He is your God. And you did not know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, then I will be a liar like you. But I know Him and keep His word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and rejoiced. To this the Jews said to Him: You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” Then they took stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid himself and left the church, passing through the midst of them, and went on. 1. Imagine, beloved brethren, the meekness of God. He came to forgive sins and said: “Which of you will convict Me of unrighteousness?” We do not consider it unworthy to prove from reason that He who by the power of the Divine could justify sinners is not a sinner. But what is added is very scary: “he who is from God listens to the words of God. The reason you don’t listen is because you are not from God.” For if he who is from God hears the words of God, but he who is not from Him cannot hear His words, then let everyone ask himself: does he receive the words of God with the ear of his heart and does he understand where he comes from? Truth commands us to desire the Heavenly Fatherland, to mortify the desires of the flesh, to shun the glory of the world, not to covet the things of others, and to generously distribute our property. So, let each of you consider with himself, did this word of God have power in the hearing of his heart? And therefore does he acknowledge that he is from God? For there are some who do not deign to hear the commandments of God even with their bodily hearing. And there are some who, although they receive them with their bodily hearing, do not have any heartfelt disposition towards them. And there are some who willingly accept the words of God, but after a time of tears they return to wickedness. Those who truly despise them in practice do not hear the words of God. So, beloved brethren, put your life before the eyes of your mind and with high reflection fear what is heard from the lips of the Truth: “You do not listen because you are not from God.” But what the Truth says about the wicked, the wicked are revealed by themselves in their deeds. For then it is written: “To this the Jews answered and said to Him, “Are we not telling the truth that You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon?” 2. But let us listen to what the Lord answers to such reproaches. “There is no demon in Me; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.” Since Samaritan means a watchman, and rightly so, that Watchman about whom the Psalmist says: “If the Lord does not guard the city, the watchman watches in vain” (Ps. 126.1), and to Whom through Isaiah it is said: “Watchman! How long is it night? watchman! How long is it night? (Isaiah 21.11), then the Lord did not deign to answer: “I am not a Samaritan,” but: “I have no demon.” Since two reproaches were made to Him, He refuted one, and silently agreed to the other. For he came as the Guardian of the human race; and if He had said that He was not a Samaritan, He would have denied that He was a Watchman. But He kept silent about what He agreed to, and patiently refuted what was said falsely, saying: “I have no demon.” With these words, what else is confused if not our pride? She, even if she was easily touched, repays more severe insults than she received, does the evil that she can, and threatens those that she cannot do. The Lord, accepting an insult, does not become angry and does not respond with reproachful words. If He wanted to answer those who said the same thing: “you have a demon,” then he would truly speak the truth because if they were not possessed by a demon, they could not speak so ungodly about God. But having received an insult, Truth did not want to say even what was true, so as not to seem as if He had not spoken the truth, and had not been called upon to retaliate with reproach. Through this, what is being instilled in us, if not that at the time in which we receive false reproaches from our neighbors, we should remain silent even about their real vices, so as not to turn the duties of fair correction into a weapon of vengeance? But since everyone who has the zeal of God is subjected to dishonor from wicked people, the Lord showed us an example of patience in Himself, Who says: “But I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.” But what we should do at the same time, he also exhorts us by example when he adds: “I do not seek My glory: there is the Seeker and the Judge.” We know for sure that the Father gave all judgment to the Son, and yet the same Son, accepting insults, does not seek His glory. He submits the insults inflicted to the judgment of the Father in order to truly impress upon us how patient we must be when even the One who judges does not want to avenge Himself. But when the corruption of the wicked increases, then the preaching not only should not be interrupted, but should also be intensified. The Lord exhorts us to this by His example, Who, after being called demon-possessed, continues the benefits of His preaching even more generously, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever keeps My word will never see death.” But just as it is necessary for the good to be made even better by reproach, so the wicked are always made worse by good deeds. For after hearing the word, they again say: “Now we know that you have a demon.” - Since they were attached to eternal death, and did not see this very death to which they were attached, then, having in mind only bodily death, they were blind to the word of truth, saying: “Abraham died and the prophets, but You say: whoever keeps My word will never taste death.” Therefore, they prefer Abraham and the Prophets, as if out of respect for them, to the Truth itself. But it is clearly revealed to us that those who do not know God falsely honor His servants. 3. And it is remarkable that the Lord sees that they are clearly opposing Him; and yet he does not cease to preach to them in a repeated voice, saying: “If Abraham your father had rejoiced, that he might have seen my day: and when he saw it, he rejoiced” (Gen. 18.1 et seq.). For Abraham saw the day of the Lord when, in the form of the Supreme Trinity, he hospitably received three Angels; upon receiving them, he spoke to the Three as if to One; because, although in the persons there is the number of the Trinity, yet in the nature there is the unity of the Divinity, but the carnal minds of those who hear do not raise their eyes above the flesh, when in Him they consider only the age of the flesh, saying: “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Our Redeemer kindly distracts them from looking at His flesh and draws them to the contemplation of the Divine, saying: “before Abraham was, I am.” For “before” is the past tense, “I am” is the present. And since the Divinity has no past or future tense, He does not say: “I was before Abraham,” but: “before Abraham I am.” Therefore it is said to Moses: “God said to Moses: I am who I am. And he said: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: Jehovah [Jehovah] has sent me to you.” (Exodus 3.14). So, Abraham had both “before” and “after,” because he could both “step forward” through his presence and “retreat” through the course of life. But the Truth “will always be,” because for It nothing begins with a former time, nor ends with a subsequent one. But the minds of unbelievers, not having the strength to withstand these words of Eternity, take up stones, and Whom they could not understand, They wanted to cover Him with stones. 4. What the Lord did against the fury of those throwing stones is revealed through the direct addition: “Jesus hid himself and left the church.” It is very surprising, beloved brethren, why, by His concealment, the Lord turned away His pursuers from Himself, whereas if He had deigned to demonstrate the power of His Divinity, He could have, with a secret wave of the mind, tied them up during their throwing of stones or subjected them to the punishment of sudden death? But since He came to suffer, He did not want to use the rights of judgment. It is known that just before the time of suffering He showed what power He had, and yet endured what He came for. For when He said to His persecutors, those who were looking for Him, “It is I” (John 18.6), then with this one saying He struck down their pride and threw them all to the ground. Therefore, in this place, why did He who could get rid of the hands of those who threw stones without hiding, why does He hide? if not because our Redeemer, having become a man among men, preached one thing to us by word, and another by example? What does He tell us by this example, if not that we, even when we can oppose force with force, humbly avoid the wrath of the proud? Therefore, through Paul it is said: “but give place to the wrath of God” (Rom 12.19). Let man consider with what humility he must flee from the wrath of his neighbor, when God has evaded the fury of those irritated by hiding Himself! So, let no one be irritated by hearing reproaches, let no one return reproach for reproach. For, in imitation of God, it is more glorious to avoid offense in silence than to overcome with a response. 5. But against this, pride in the heart says: it is shameful to remain silent after receiving an insult. Anyone who sees that you hear reproach and are silent will think that you tolerate it, but confess to crimes. But why is this voice born in our heart against patience, if not because in the depths of our souls we have affirmed this thought, and when we seek glory on earth, we do not care about pleasing the One Who looks down on us from heaven? So, after accepting the reproach, let us discuss the voice of God in practice: “If I glorify Myself, then My glory is nothing. My Father glorifies me." But what is written about the Lord “hiding himself” can be understood differently. For He predicted many things to the Jews, but they laughed at the words of His predictions. The prediction made them even worse, so much so that they even went as far as throwing stones. What does the Lord mean by hiding Himself, if not that the Truth itself is hidden from those who do not want to follow its words? Because truth moves away from the mind in which it does not find humility. And how many there are now who condemn the bitterness of the Jews because they did not want to listen to the preaching of the Lord, and yet they themselves are such for doing what, according to their conviction, they were for believing. They listen to the Lord's commandments, acknowledge miracles, but refuse to forsake their iniquities. Here He is calling, but we don’t want to go. He endures, but we neglect His patience. So, brothers, while there is time, let everyone leave his wickedness; let him be afraid of the patience of God, so that later he will not be subjected to the inevitable wrath of Him Whom, now Meek, he ignores. You might be interested in: