Беседа 28

Spoken to the people in the church of Saints Nereus and Achilleia on the day of their suffering. Reading the Holy Gospel: John 4.46–53. John 4.46–53. So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee, where he turned water into wine. There was a certain courtier in Capernaum whose son was sick. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he came to Him and asked Him to come and heal his son, who was dying. Jesus said to him, “You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders.” The courtier says to Him: Lord! come before my son dies. Jesus says to him: Go, your son is well. He believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went. His servants met him on the road and said, “Your son is well.” He asked them: at what time did he feel better? They told him: yesterday at seven o'clock the fever left him. From this the father knew that this was the hour at which Jesus said to him, “Your son is well, and he and his whole house believed.” 1. The reading of the Holy Gospel, now only heard by you, brothers, has no need for explanation. But in order not to seem that we listened to it without attention, we will say something from it, more for edification than for explanation. And from the explanation, it seems to me, we need to find the reason only for why the one who came with a request for the healing of his son heard: “You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders!” - For the one who came with a request for the healing of his son, without a doubt, believed. Otherwise, he would not have asked Him for salvation, Whom he would not have recognized as the Savior. So, why is it said, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe” to someone who believed before he saw the sign? “But remember what he asked, and you will know for sure that he doubted his faith.” For he asked (Jesus) to come and heal his son. Consequently, he asked for the bodily presence of the Lord, Who is present everywhere in spirit. So, he did not believe in the One about whom he thought that He could bestow healing only if He were present on the spot in body. For if he had believed completely, he would have known without a doubt that he did not. a place where there would be no God. So, for the most part, he did not believe, because he did not give glory to greatness, but (attributed it) to bodily presence. Therefore, he asked for healing for his son and, however, doubted his faith, because the One to whom he came, he recognized as being able to heal, and yet he thought that the son would die if He (Jesus) was not there. But the Lord, Who is asked to come, shows that He is there where He is asked; and with one command He restored health by His will. 2. In this event we must pay careful attention to the fact that, as we know from the testimony of another Evangelist, the centurion came to the Lord, saying: “Lord! my servant lies at home in relaxation and suffers cruelly.” Jesus immediately answers him: “I will come and heal him” (Matthew 8.6, 7). What does it mean that the courtier asks to come to his son, and yet Jesus refuses to go bodily, and is not invited to the centurion’s servant, and yet promises to come bodily? “He did not honor the courtier’s son with a physical visit, but he honors the centurion’s servant with a visit. What does this mean, if not that the pride in us is humbled, who honor in people not the nature in which they were created in the image of God, but honors and riches? – And since we value what is around them, we truly do not see the inner, focusing on what is visible on the bodies from afar, and ignoring what they are. But our Redeemer, in order to show that what is high among people is despicable for the Saints, and what is despised among people should not be despised, did not deign to go to the son of a courtier, but was ready to go to the centurion’s servant. Consequently, our pride is rooted, which does not know how to value people as people. She, as we said, values ​​only what people are surrounded by, and does not look at nature, does not recognize the honor of God in people. The Son of God does not want to go to the son of the courtier and, nevertheless, is ready to go to heal the slave. If someone’s slave asked us to come to him, then, without a doubt, our pride would immediately begin to answer in a secret thought, saying: do not go, because you will humiliate yourself, your honor will be criticized, the place will lose value. Here comes One from heaven who does not despise the earthly slave by visiting him; and despite this, we who come from the earth despise the humble on earth. But before God, what could be more insignificant, what could be more contemptible, than maintaining honor before people and fearlessness before the eyes of the inner Judge? - That’s why in St. In the Gospel, the Lord says to the Pharisees: “You show yourself to be righteous before men, but God knows your hearts, for whatever is exalted among men is an abomination to God.” (Lk 16.15). Notice, brothers, what is said. For if what is high among people is abominable before God, then the exaltation of our heart is lower before God, the higher it is before people, and the humility of our heart is higher before God, the lower it is before people. 3. So, let us not pay attention to the fact that if we do something good, let nothing of our deeds puff us up, let neither wealth nor glory excite pride. If we are inwardly proud of the abundance of any blessings, then we are despised before God. On the contrary, about the humble the Psalmist says: “The Lord preserves the simple-minded” (Ps 114.6). Since he calls the humble the babes, after he has said the thought, he adds the advice: “humble himself, and he will save me” (ibid.). So think about this, brothers, think about this with full attention. Do not regard your neighbors as the blessings of this world. For God's sake, honor in people with whom you have no fellowship the fact that they were created in the image of God. You will observe this in relation to your neighbors when before in your heart you are not arrogant towards yourself. For whoever is still proud of things that are transitory does not know how to honor what is in his neighbor forever. So, do not value in yourself what you have, but (value) what you are in yourself. Here comes the world that is loved. Those Saints, whom we are close to, trampled upon the flourishing world with the contempt of their minds. Life was long, constant health, fruitfulness in the vineyards, tranquility during a long period of peace; and despite the fact that the world itself flourished, the peace in their hearts had already dried up. The world has already dried up within itself, but in our hearts it still blooms. Death is everywhere, crying is everywhere, desolation is everywhere; we are struck from all sides, sorrows are poured upon us from all sides - and despite this, out of the blindness of the mind of carnal desire, we love its very bitterness, we follow the one who runs away, we become attached to the one who falls. And since we cannot support the falling one, we fall along with the one we hold on to during the fall. Once upon a time the world kept us to itself with delight; now it is filled with such disasters that it itself already sends us to God. So, think about what is insignificant and transitory over time. The end of time shows how insignificant is what could have passed. The fall of things shows that a transitory thing was almost nothing even then when it seemed worthwhile. So, about this, beloved brethren, meditate with special attention; nail your heart to the love of Eternity so that, having despised earthly glory, you may pass on to the glory that you know by faith, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns, God with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, through all the ages of ages. Amen. You might be interested in: