Беседа 2

Pronounced to the people in the Church of St. Apostle. Peter on the 50th week. Reading the Holy Gospel: Luke 18.31–44. Luke 18.31–44. Calling back His twelve disciples, He said to them: Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that was written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished; For they will hand Him over to the pagans, and they will mock Him, and insult Him, and spit on Him, and they will beat him and kill him: and on the third day he will rise again. But they didn't understand any of this; these words were hidden to them, and they did not understand what was said. When He approached Jericho, one blind man was sitting by the road, begging for alms, and, hearing that people were passing by, he asked: what is this? They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was coming. Then he shouted: Jesus, Son of David! have mercy on me. Those walking in front forced him to remain silent; but he shouted even louder: Son of David! have mercy on me. Jesus stopped and ordered him to be brought to Himself: and when he approached Him, he asked him: what do you want from Me? He said: Lord! so that I can see the light. Jesus said to him: see! your faith has saved you. And he immediately received his sight and followed Him, praising God; and all the people, seeing this, gave praise to God. 1. Our Redeemer, foreseeing that the souls of the disciples would be outraged by His suffering, predicted to them long ago both about His suffering and the glory of His Resurrection, so that when they saw Him dying as predicted, they would not doubt that He would rise again. But since the disciples, still fleshly, could not understand the words of the mystery, He begins to perform a miracle. Before their eyes, the blind man receives his sight so that heavenly deeds may confirm in the faith those who did not understand the words of the heavenly mystery. But the miracles of our Lord and Savior, beloved brethren, must be understood in such a way as to believe in the truth of their events, and, moreover, to understand that they inspire us with something special by their meaning. For His works indicate one thing by their power, but by mystery they speak of another. Based on history, we don’t know who this blind man was, but we know who he mysteriously represents. The blind is the human race, which, in the person of the progenitor, having been expelled from the paradise of sweetness, having no concept of the clarity of the light from above, suffers in the darkness of its condemnation; but by the appearance of the Redeemer he is enlightened to the point that he begins to see and desire the joy of the inner light, and on the path of life he turns to good activities. 2. It is remarkable that the blind man, according to the legend, received his sight when Jesus approached Jericho. For Jericho means the moon, and the moon in the sacred language serves as an image of the infirmities of the flesh, because when it wanes in its monthly course, then it serves as an image of our death. So, when our Creator comes to Jericho, then the blind man receives his sight - this means that when the Divine takes upon himself the weakness of our flesh, then the human race receives the light it has lost. For insofar as God tolerates human things, to that extent man receives strength towards the Divine. This blind man, according to Scripture, sat precisely along the path and asked for alms; and the Truth itself says: “I am the way” (John 14.6). So, he is blind who has no concept of the clarity of the eternal light; but if he already believes in the Redeemer, then he sits by the way; if he believes, but does not want to ask for eternal light and does not pray, then he is blind, although he sits along the path, but does not ask for alms. And if someone believes and recognizes the blindness of his soul, and prays for the light of truth to be given to him, then he is a blind man sitting by the way and begging for alms. So, whoever recognizes the darkness of his blindness, whoever has an understanding of that light of eternity that he does not have, he heartily cries out and tenderly cries out: “Jesus, Son of David! have mercy on me." But let's listen to what follows the cries of the blind man. “Those who walked in front forced him to remain silent.” 3. What do these previous ones mean to the coming Jesus, if not the noise of carnal desires and the rebellion of vices, which, before Jesus approaches our soul, scatter our minds with their temptations and stop the heartfelt cries in prayer? For often, when we, after committing sins, want to turn to the Lord, when we strive to beg His forgiveness for these very sins we have committed, then the images of the crimes we have committed attack the soul, dull the sharpness of our mind, lead to confusion in the spirit and do not give room to the voice of our prayer. So, the previous one, let him be silent; because, before Jesus approaches the soul, the crimes we have committed, imprinted in our imagination with their images, confuse us during prayer itself. 4. But let us listen to what that blind man did, in defiance of this, who desired enlightenment. It is said: “But he shouted even louder: Son of David! have mercy on me." The one whom the crowd forces into silence cries out more and more; Thus, the more the painful noise of carnal thoughts constrains us, the more ardent and persistent we should be in prayer. This noise prevents us from crying out, since even in prayer, for the most part, we suffer from imagining our sins. But precisely, the louder it is necessary to raise the voice of the heart, the more it encounters obstacles, until it exceeds the noise of intolerant thoughts, and with its tension and persistence reaches the holy ear of the Lord. What we are saying now, I think everyone has experienced for themselves; because when we direct our soul from this world to God, when we turn to prayer, then during our prayer the very thing that we previously did with pleasure becomes unpleasant and painful for us. Thoughts of sins are removed from the eyes of the heart by the power of holy desire; their imagination is overcome by cries of repentance. 5. But when we make a strong effort in our prayer, then we imprint in our minds the image of Jesus passing by. Therefore, the Gospel further says: “Jesus stopped and ordered him to be brought to Himself.” - Here the One who previously passed by stops; so, when during prayer we still hear the noise of dreams, then we feel that Jesus is, as it were, “passing by.” When we make a special effort in prayer, then Jesus stops to restore the light in us; then God is installed in the heart, and the lost light returns to us. 6. However, in this event the Lord inspires us with something else that we can usefully understand about His humanity and His Divinity. For Jesus heard the cry of the blind man as he passed by, and he performed the miracle of sight while stopping. Walking by is characteristic of humanity, but standing is characteristic of the Divine. According to humanity, He was born, grew up, died, was resurrected, and moved from place to place. So, since there is no change in the Divinity, and “passing by” means the same thing as changing, then this “passing by” was precisely according to the flesh, and not according to the Divinity. But according to Divinity, it is characteristic of Him to always stand, because He is omnipresent, moving neither forward nor backward. So, Jesus who is passing by hears the crying blind man, but he who stands by grants sight; because, according to His humanity, He, sympathizing, took pity on the cries of our blindness; but the light of grace sheds on us by the power of His Divinity. 7. And it is remarkable that He says to the blind man who came up: “What do you want from Me?” Did He who could bestow sight not know what the blind man wanted? But He wants us to ask, although He Himself knows in advance what we will ask and what to grant us at our request. He commands us to pray unceasingly, and despite this, he says: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matthew 6.8). Consequently, he recognizes it as necessary that we ask Him in order to arouse the heart to prayer. Therefore, the blind man immediately added: “Lord, let me see.” Here is a blind man asking the Lord not for gold, but for insight, because, although he may have something, but without insight he cannot see what he has. So, beloved brethren, let us imitate him who, as we heard, received healing both in body and soul. Let us ask the Lord not for false wealth, not for earthly gifts, not for fleeting honors, but for insight; not that insight which is limited to a place, which has limits in time, which is diversified by the intervals of nights, which sees the light on a par with dumb animals; but let us ask for that light that we can see with only the Angels, which has neither beginning nor end. Faith is the path to this light. Therefore, when a blind person is given sight, the answer is rightly given immediately: “see, your faith has saved you.” But the carnal mind objects to this: how can I ask for spiritual light, which I cannot see? Where can I get information that there is such a light that does not shine for the eyes of the body? – Everyone can answer such a thought briefly, because the very thing that he feels, he feels not with his body, but with his soul. No one sees his own soul; and yet no one doubts that he has a soul that he does not see. For the soul invisibly controls the visible body. If this invisible thing is separated, then the visible thing, which stood visibly, immediately falls. So, if in this visible life a being is animated by the invisible, is there room for doubt about the existence of the invisible life? 8. But let’s listen to what was done for the blatant blind man, or what he himself did. It is further said: “And he immediately received his sight and followed Him, glorifying God.” He who does the good that he understands sees and follows. He sees, but does not follow, who, although he understands good, is careless about doing good. So, beloved brethren, if we are already aware of the blindness of our pilgrimage, if we, believing in the mystery of our Redeemer, are already sitting on the way, if in daily prayer we ask our Creator for light, if, seeing with our minds this very light, we have already received our sight after blindness, then in our deeds we will follow Jesus, whom we see with our minds. Let us carefully watch where He goes, and follow His path. For those who imitate Him will follow Jesus. Therefore He says: “Many will say to Me on that day: Lord! God! Have we not prophesied in Your name? and was it not in Your name that they cast out demons? and didn’t they do many miracles in Your name?” (Matthew 7.22). To follow means to imitate. Therefore He exhorts again, saying: “Whoever serves Me, let him follow Me” (John 12.26). So, let us consider where He is going to serve Him in our following. Here He is, the Lord and Creator of Angels, wanting to accept our nature, which He created, descends into the womb of the Virgin. He did not deign to be born into this world from the rich, but chooses the parents of the poor. Therefore, there was not even enough lamb, which had to be (according to the law) sacrificed for Him, but the Mother sacrifices “two turtle doves or two chicks of doves” (Luke 2.24). He also did not deign to be happy in this world, but endured dishonor and ridicule, endured spitting, beating, strangulation, the crown of thorns and the Cross. And since we have lost inner joy through the pleasure of physical things, He shows with what bitterness it must be returned. So, what should a person endure for himself, if God suffered so much for people? “Therefore, whoever already believes in Christ, but still clings to greed, is proud of honors, is inflamed with hatred, is defiled by the impurity of lust, and desires happiness in the world—he neglects to follow Christ in whom he believes. For the one to whom the Leader shows the path of sorrow, if he desires joys and pleasure, follows a different path. So, let us remember the sins we have committed; Let us consider how terrible the Judge will come to punish them; let us prepare our hearts to shed tears; Let our life be saddened in time by repentance, so as not to feel eternal bitterness in vengeance. Weeping leads us to eternal joys, according to the promise of the Truth, which says: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5.4). And through joys lies the path to tears, according to the testimony of the same Truth, which says: “Woe to you, who are now satiated! for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now! for you will mourn and lament” (Luke 6.25). So, if we Desire the joy of reward at the end of the race, then along the way we must endure the bitterness of repentance. And may this be so that not only our life will be pleasing to God, but that our conversion will also inflame others to the glory of God. This is how the Gospel story concludes: “and all the people, seeing this, gave praise to God. You might be interested in: