Word for the Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Pronounced in 1871 in the academic church. “And carrying his cross he went out to the place of the forehead, where he cradled Him, and with Him two others, here and here, in the midst of Jesus” (John 19:17-18) This is how the lawless trial ended! The kings of the earth and the princes gathered against the Lord and Christ by Her - and after many efforts to find guilt in the Purest of the righteous, after all the betrayals and denials on the part of those close to Him, after all the slander, insults, beatings in the Sanhedrin, after lengthy investigations of any criminal act and conviction of the innocence of the One standing at trial, after torture and inhuman torment in the praetor, it is finally pronounced death sentence for the Son of Man. Pilate testified with the third: “I found nothing worthy of death in Him, and yet judge that their request be granted” (Luke 23:22, 24). How did this happen? In human affairs, where it is often difficult to get to the truth because both disputing parties are not innocent and both try to anticipate each other's solution to the dispute in their favor, it is not surprising that there are errors. How is it that the work of God did not place itself in such a light that no sinful judgment was possible? How did the unjust court not disintegrate on its own? He was indeed ready to fall more than once. But it was necessary for the Truth of God that through the people themselves, its unwashed judgment on sin and its saving providence for people would be carried out - and so the Divine advice was fulfilled in all its accuracy. The Jews at first insisted on the accusation that the Lord declared himself the King of the Jews, transforming and reinterpreting in their own way the title of Messiah, which the Lord appropriated to himself in the sense of the Old Testament prophecies. On this basis, they demanded from Pilate that Jesus be crucified according to Roman law, as guilty of political plans. But this accusation was not confirmed by the ruler, in whose region the Savior lived and preached in recent years. The Jews slandered Him, as if He was inciting the people against the Roman government, inspiring them not to pay taxes, and wanted to become king himself. But in Galilee no one had heard anything like this about Him. There He acted, as the prophet wrote about Him: “He will not contradict nor cry out; anyone on the street will hear His voice” (Matthew 12:19). And in Jerusalem, three days before the trial, to the tempting question about tribute, He directly answered: “...render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21). Thus, Pilate, although he was not a friend of the truth, could not help but see the improbability of the political accusation, especially since the imaginary King of the Jews did not have any adherents, no party among the people. His friends and disciples fled. The people did not cast any vote for Him. On the contrary, the mob, instigated by the high priests, demanded Him to death and even preferred the rebel Barabbas to Him. So, the accusation of plans dangerous for the Roman government should have completely fallen, and the Roman ruler, only in order not to completely neglect these cries and demands of the main culprits of the unrest, decided to subject the innocent sufferer to scourging. All ulcerated, bloody, wearing a crown of thorns and desecrating purple, He was presented to the people. “Behold, I am bringing Him out of my judgment seat for you,” Pilate said directly to his accusers, “so that you may know that I find no guilt in Him” (John 19:4). It's over. How did it happen that the Lord was given over to death, and death on the cross? The Jewish high priests saw the need to change their way of acting. They find themselves forced to turn to their rights, to their law and in it to look for a new accusation against the Prophet of Galilee, they decided to turn to the very accusation on the basis of which the Sanhedrin recognized Jesus Christ as the Son of God worthy of death. Although this accusation forced them to abandon the hope of seeing Him on the cross (by abusing their law, they could only ask Pilate for permission to stone Jesus, as Stephen did), but they, in the extreme, did not want to give up this satisfaction of their hatred. So, the high priests again approach Pilate with a frantic demand: “We are imams of the law, and according to our law we must die, that we may create for ourselves the Son of God” (John 19.7). God! and will You endure this, by Your Divine meekness! How long have you asked the teachers of Israel in the church: how is it that the God-inspired King David in his psalm prophetically calls the Messiah his Lord and says that Jehovah himself said to him: “...sit at my right hand” (Ps. 109:1)? And none of the teachers of Israel dared to object to You that this was not being said about the Messiah, and could not explain why David assimilated Divine dignity to Him. And now they, mocking the silent, tormented, abused Son of Man, demand Your life in the name of the law, which You Yourself were the founder and most faithful executor! Already twice before, in this very Jerusalem, the imaginary zealots of the law armed themselves with stones against the Lord Jesus, when he began to tell them about His Eternal Existence, when he pointed out that His life is not measured by the years of human existence, that He was before Adam was born (John 8:58-59), or when he testified about His unity with the Father: I and the Father are one (John 10:30). And they never had the best proof of their words and the strongest objection to the testimony of the Son of God, except violence. Not without the special intention of God, even now this accusation of appropriating oneself the name of God, accepted at the court of the Sanhedrin, was brought to light at the trial of Pilate. The Sanhedrin did not deny him the Son of Man, and this confession served as the basis for the death sentence against Him. At the trial of Pilate, the immutability of this confession was to be revealed again and thereby prove that the Divine Messenger was always and everywhere true to Himself, that it was not the adherence of friends, nor any later deviation from the pure teaching of Jesus Christ, as falsely wise teachers claim, that gave Him and confirmed for Him the name of the Son of God; no, it is witnessed before the face of the Jewish and pagan world by His own double confession, confirmed by His blood even more powerfully than by His many miracles. If the case had turned out favorably, after the entire falsity of the accusation of impostorly appropriating the name of the Tsar had been exposed, all one had to do was say the word to Pilate that the new accusation of appropriating the name of the Son of God was even less fair - and the accused would probably have been released. And now what? The new accusation against the Lord Jesus had an unexpected effect: it greatly shocked the Roman governor of Judea. He did not consider himself to have the right to judge and examine Him: the high priests based him on their law. Nevertheless, the Divine meekness of the Accused, His majestic calm under all the tortures, the denunciation of the untruth of the previous accusation, the obvious enmity of the accusers, and even recently, during the very trial of Jesus, the intercession brought for Him by Pilate’s wife, who in a dream not only received evidence of the innocence of the Divine sufferer, but also experienced a lot of anxiety and suffering for Him - all this seemed extremely mysterious to Pilate. He decides to call Jesus again to his courtroom and offer Him not a judicial interrogation, but ask some questions about His person. “Where are you from?” (John 19:9) - Pilate asked Him. At the trial it was already revealed that He came from Galilee. Of course, Pilate knew that He was from Nazareth, as was indicated in the inscription on the cross. Consequently, the history of His earthly origin was more or less faithfully and completely conveyed to Pilate. His question related to another, higher realm of existence. “Where are you from?” According to his previous beliefs, Pilate could think that he saw before him some person from the host of gods whose descent to earth was allowed by the pagan religion. “Jesus did not give him an answer” (John 19:9). The Messenger of God did not accept the confession of Him as the Son of God from the unclean spirits, but forced them to remain silent: and now He was silent. Direct confession of Himself as the Son of God could give a pagan a reason to confuse His Person with the multitude of gods revered by the pagans. The sending of the Son of God to earth was explained only by the law and prophets of the people of God, in whom the Roman ruler had no faith at all. “I won’t give him an answer.” God's Word, like a treasure, is given as a loan to the needy and asking, so that it is returned with interest. Whoever pays what was taken will be given it again with even greater power of attorney. And whoever does not pay will be believed once, but will not be given any more. Pilate was not faithful to the first messages received from the Lord, he did not take advantage of the very clear invitation to be among the friends of the truth proclaimed by Christ, to become a member of His kingdom; responded doubtfully: what is truth? And now the Lord no longer confides His secrets to him. “Jesus will not give him an answer.” But even now, if Pilate wanted to delve deeper into this divine silence, where the truth, obviously, was not hidden by the desire for self-preservation, but was only protected by a cover worthy of it, and now he could hear the answer to his question in this very silence. It was clear that He who was born for this and came into the world for this to testify to the truth (John 18:37) would not allow Himself to sacrilegiously appropriate the Divine name and dignity. Oh, how carefully, how reverently one must treat the truth! How easy it is to lose her understanding by disrespecting her testimony. And into what darkness we will fall, having once neglected her holy word! Pilate himself, guilty of criminal inattention to the word of the Son of God, considered himself entitled to be angry at this silence, to be offended by it! “Aren’t you telling me? Do you not consider that the Imam has the power to crucify You, and the Imam has the power to let You go” (John 19:10)? How insignificant is this boastful exaltation of power before the court of truth! If the power is truly in your hands to release, why didn’t you use it for a long time, recognizing the Accused as not guilty of anything? Why are you letting people worry? Why do you put the Innocent on the same level as the robber Barabbas? Why do you hand over the Righteous One to painful torture and desecration? So, it means that you do not have the power to release Him who stands before you on judgment: you have deprived yourself of it. But you do not have the power to crucify Him. Proud representative of sovereign Rome, listen to the verdict of Divine truth about your rights. “You shall not have any power upon Me, unless it is given to you from above” (John 19:11). From above - not by Tiberius Caesar, but by the Most High King. Given from above. Oh, if you could understand the greatness of the present moment, if you understood what significance in the present case the power with which you exalt yourself has! The pagan did not understand why this power was given to him, but you, a Christian, you should know and know why it was given to him. It was necessary for the world, with its unrighteous judgment, to sign the verdict against itself in the face of the Truth of God. The Son of God was sent to him, his Intercessor, his Redeemer. And he, this world, contrary to eternal truth, himself betrayed Him to death! Let the world know that there is no other means for him to propitiate God than to turn with faith, prayer and repentance to the very One whom he lawlessly betrayed to death. The Sanhedrin said its deicide word through the mouth of Caiaphas, calling its Messiah a blasphemer. Let the pagan world speak its deicide word through the mouth of the representative of sovereign Rome, may the whole world, Jewish and pagan, be guilty before God, and may the whole world know that “there is no other name under heaven, by which it is fitting for Jew and Gentile to be saved, except in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 4:12). Let the whole world know that the fate of Jesus is decided not by the verdict of some random whim, but in the name of a power such as was then not higher on earth. Given to you from above. But do not think that this is justified, you are innocent of your lawless actions. “For this reason, having given Me over to you,” the Lord continued, “I have committed a great sin” (John 19:11). He who stands before the judgment Himself pronounces judgment upon His judge, a just judgment, but at the same time a good one! The meekness and mercy of the Suffering One will not aggravate the fate of the unfortunate judge beyond measure. Everyone is responsible for their own sin. Pilate knew that he was punishing the Innocent, and he had a sin. He was told that before him was the King of Truth, Truth itself, who could not back down from her word: and he had a sin for not following her voice. Pilate himself begged to answer the question: Is not Jesus the Nazarene truly the Son of God? But the Son of God, foreseeing his unfaithfulness, did not aggravate his responsibility with a new revelation of His person. But Caiaphas knew not only the innocence of the Prophet of Galilee in all the slander brought against Him, but also knew, or should have known, who and when God promised to send to the people of Israel and the whole world to save them, knew about countless miracles that proved the Divine messenger of Jesus, knew and at his trial, with a spell, forced Jesus to solemnly declare that He was the Son of God - and despite all this, handed Him over to Pilate. For this reason, Caiaphas committed a great sin by betraying the Son of God to Pilate. This impartial, but at the same time condescending denunciation of the Roman judge led to complete liberation. “From there Pilate sought to let Him go” (John 19:12). This means that everything that Pilate had done so far to deliver Jesus was considered insufficient, and Pilate began to look (only now he began to look) for more effective means to free the Prisoner from death, to snatch Him from the hands of His enemies. But they didn’t sleep either. They had already reserved for a decisive battle such weapons that could probably defeat Pilate. “If you let these things go, let them be Caesar’s friends” (John 19:12). This is what the high priests announced to Pilate. This meant: if you do not fulfill our will, then denunciations will fly to Rome that you are patronizing a person dangerous to the rule of Caesar in this country - and you can guess what you can expect from the suspicious and cruel Tiberius. And so, what all the fears for the welfare of the public did not do, what respect for the religious law did not do, what the fear of putting the Divine Messenger to death did not force, was accomplished by attachment to personal interest. Pilate of his own accord, without further prompting, again turns to the perverted, misrepresented accusation of Jesus calling himself King. “Behold your King” (John 19:14), he says with caustic mockery to the people, presenting to them once again the tormented sufferer. “Shall I crucify your king?” (John 19:15). And finally, as if convicted of imposture, he delivers Him to crucifixion, and writes His guilt on the cross: “King of the Jews.” Thus, according to the remark of the Evangelist John, the word Jesus spoke was fulfilled, “signifying by which death you would die” (John 18:32) - when he spoke about the cross. The human council almost went bankrupt, but the council of God had to be fulfilled, and it was fulfilled in all severity. The pagan representative of the supreme power in the world pronounces a death sentence to the Redeemer of the world, and namely death on the cross! Brothers! We heard that according to the judgment of the Judge of the world himself, Pilate had less sin than Caiaphas and the crowd of Jews who betrayed Jesus to Pilate! What if there were also Christians guilty of a new betrayal of their Lord? Would there be less sin on them than on the Jews or on the pagans? Or, on the contrary, the judgment of God’s Truth will fall all the more heavily on the sons of the New Testament, the more abundantly they were granted gifts of grace, the more they had the opportunity to learn from the reliable narratives of Christ’s disciples, from the actions of Christianity in the history of mankind, from inner experience, to learn His Divine power and, consequently, the Divine dignity of the Redeemer of the world himself? “The earth, which has drunk the rain that comes upon it often, and produces thorns and thistles, is unprofitable and is close to a curse, the end of which is burning” (Heb. 6:7, 8). “We all sin greatly” (James 3:2), confesses the apostle. Jacob. And every sin is a betrayal in relation to our obligations to our Redeemer crucified for us. But sin consists not only in the fact that we openly break the law, but also in the fact that, knowing good, we do not do good. “To him who does good, and to him who does not do it, it is sin for him” (James 4:17). So, if we, called with the help of God’s grace to be holy and perfect, just as our Heavenly Father is holy and perfect, and having received all the means for this from our Redeemer, live carelessly in sins, every day we do not improve, but become worse, then with whom do we put ourselves on an equal footing? There are currently enemies no less dangerous than those from whom Pilate and Caiaphas fell. Public figures have their own Caesar Tiberius, whom they are afraid to offend - this is public opinion, which, failing to cope with the judgment of God, often calls white black, and black white. In the area of ​​faith, there is a Caiaphas, who imagines that he will find support for himself in the Gospel itself - this is the falsely wise Judaizing understanding of the word of God. But even more terrible, even more disastrous, because the dominion of Pilate’s demon nesting in us is always closer to us, more persistent from us - admiration for personal interests, contrary to conscience, law, faith. God! Deliver us from the damnation of Your traitors. Amen.