Глава XI

Matthew 11:1–2. And when Jesus finished teaching his twelve disciples, he went from there to teach and preach in their cities. John, having heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, sent two of his disciples to tell Him. John does not ask as one who does not know, for he himself showed [Him] to those who do not know with these words: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He heard the voice of the Father saying: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). But how the Savior asks where Lazarus is laid, so that those who show the place of burial at the same time prepare for faith and see him rising from the dead; so John the Baptist, who was about to suffer death from Herod, sent his disciples to Christ, so that in this case, seeing the signs and powers being performed, they would believe in Him and through the question of their teacher, they would learn for themselves. And the fact that John’s disciples expressed exaltation towards the Lord and, due to ill will and envy, had some discontent, this is also evident from the above question, as the evangelist narrates: “Then John’s disciples come to Him and say: why do we and the Pharisees fast a lot, but Your disciples do not fast?” (Matthew 9:14). And in another place: “Teacher, behold, the disciples of Him about whom you gave testimony in the Jordan are baptizing 220, and they are all coming to Him” (John 3:26). 221 they say something like this: “They are leaving us; few people appear here (hie raritas est); numerous crowds flock to Him.” Matthew 11:3. Are you the one who must come, or should we expect something else? He did not say, “Are you the one who has come,” but, “Are you the one who is to come?” And the meaning of the words is this: Since I will have to 222 descend into hell, then tell me whether I, who announced You to those on earth (superis), should also announce to those who are in the underworld (inferis)? Or perhaps it is indecent for the Son of God to taste death, and He intends to send another to perform this sacrament? Matthew 11:4–5. And Jesus answered them: Go, tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised. John, through his disciples, asks: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect something else?” And Christ shows signs, answering not what was asked, but the doubt (or: temptation - scandalum) of those sent. “Go,” he says, and tell John about the signs that you see: the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking, etc. And also what is no less important, namely: [Of course] either the poor in spirit, or the poor in wealth [or: in deeds], so that in the dissemination of the sermon there is no difference between the poor and the rich, the noble and the ignorant. These words show the inflexibility of the teacher and the truth of the mentor, since for Him all those who can be saved are the same. And in His words: Matthew 11:6. And blessed is he who does not doubt [or: “will not be offended”] in Me" 223 He denounced the messengers, as is shown in the following words. Matthew 11:7–8. When they had left, Jesus began to speak to the crowds of people about John: What did you go out to see in the wilderness? Is it a reed shaken by the wind? What did you go out to see? Is it a man dressed in delicate clothes? Behold, those who dress in fine garments are in the chambers of kings 224 If the previous word was spoken against John, as so many think, namely: “Blessed is he who does not doubt Me,” then how is John now praised in such terms? But since the crowd standing around did not know the secret of John’s question and thought that he doubted Christ, to whom he himself pointed his finger; so that they would understand that John was asking not for his own sake, but for the sake of his disciples, He says: “Why did you go out into the wilderness?” Is it to look at a man like a reed, who is moved by every wind and frivolously doubts what he preached before? Or perhaps he is stirred up against Me, driven by envy, and his preaching is aimed at acquiring vain glory, so that he seeks profit from it? Why would he desire wealth? Is it to eat delicious dishes? But he eats locusts and wild (silvestri - forest) honey! Or maybe to dress in luxurious clothes? But his cover is a camel's hair shirt! This kind of food and clothing enjoys hospitality only in prison, and the preaching of the truth finds such a refuge. And those people who are (essentially) flattering and strive for profit 225, and seek wealth, and drown in pleasures, and dress in luxurious clothes, [those] live in the chambers of kings. From this it follows that strict life and decisive preaching should avoid royal palaces and evade the chambers of people pampered by luxury. Matthew 11:9. What did you go to see? prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. John in this respect is greater than the other prophets, that he showed with his finger how He had already come with the words: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The One whom other prophets preached would only come 226 as if it were due. And since the importance (prgaemium) of the Baptist is added to the advantage of the prophet, He points to the increase in merit, using evidence from the prophet Malachi, who even calls him an angel (Mal. 3:1). 227 But let us not think that John is called here an angel because of his unity of nature [with them]; he is called so because of the dignity of his service, that is, as a messenger who announced the coming of the Lord. Matthew 11:11. Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen a greater man than John the Baptist. He says: “Among those born of wives.” So, John is placed above those who are born of wives in cohabitation with a husband, and not above the One who was born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin, for with the words: “There did not rise up among those born of women greater than John the Baptist,” He does not exalt John above the rest of the prophets and patriarchs, and all people, but equates the rest with John, because from the fact that others are not greater than him, it does not immediately follow that he is greater than others; but only that he has equality with other saints. But he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Many want to understand this word of the Savior in the sense that the greater in dignity is the younger in age. We will understand it simply in this sense: every saint who is already in communion with God is greater than the one who is just fighting. In fact, it’s another thing to have a crown for victory, and another thing to just fight in the ranks. And some want to consider the very last angel who serves the Lord in heaven to be greater than any first person who dwells 228 on earth. Matthew 11:12. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force (vim patitur endures violence), and those who use force take it. If, as we said above, the first John proclaimed the need for repentance to the nations, saying: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2), then, consequently, from that time on, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence (vim patitur), i.e. It is acquired by force, and those who use force steal it. Indeed, a great effort is revealed in the fact that we are born on earth, but strive for a place 229 in heaven and master through deeds of virtue what we did not receive from nature. Matthew 11:13. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John This does not mean that He excludes the possibility of prophecy after John. Indeed, in the Acts of the Apostles we read that Agabus and the four daughters of Philip prophesied. This only means that the law and the prophets, when they prophesied about something, as we read in the Scriptures, they prophesied about the Lord. So, when it is said: “All the prophets and the law prophesied until John,” the time of the coming of Christ is indicated, so that John showed that He had come whose coming the prophets had predicted. Matthew 11:14–15. And if you want to accept, he is Elijah, who must come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! The words: “If you want to know: he is Elijah,” are mysterious and need to be understood, as the following speech of the Lord shows: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” If the meaning were clear and the meaning obvious, then why was it necessary to prepare us to understand them. So, John is called Elijah, not in the sense of some heretics and foolish philosophers who introduce the doctrine of the transmigration of souls (μετεμψύχωσιν;), but in the sense that, as another Gospel testimony says (Luke 1:17; Matt. 17:12), he will come in the spirit and power of Elijah, [i.e.] he will have that the same grace or measure (mensuram) of the Holy Spirit. But both severity and abstinence in the lifestyle of Elijah and John are the same. This one is in the desert, and this one is in the desert; he was girded with a leather belt, and this one wore the same girdle. He, as a result of denouncing King Ahab and Jezebel of wickedness, was forced to flee (1 Kings 19), and this one, for exposing the lawless marriage of Herod and Herodias, suffered the beheading. They think that he is called Elijah because, just as Elijah, according to the prophecy of Malachi, will come before the second coming of the Savior, so John came (fecerit) before the first: both of them are heralds of either the first or second coming of the Lord. Matthew 11:16–19. To whom will I liken this generation? He is like children sitting in the square who shout to their peers: “We sang to you, but you did not dance, we cried piteously in front of you, but you did not express grief.” John came [almost] not eating or drinking, and they said: “He has a demon.” The Son of Man came, eating and drinking, and they said: “Behold, a man who loves to sing and drinks wine is a friend of the tax collectors, publicans and sinners. And wisdom was justified by her children 230 The Jewish people are compared to children sitting in the square and shouting to their peers: “We sang to you, but you did not dance, we wept piteously in front of you, but you did not weep”; in view of the clear words of Scripture: “To whom will I liken this generation? He is like children sitting in the square” (Matthew 11:16) and so on, we are left with no freedom in interpreting this passage, and the allegorical interpretation remains bound (passiva), and (sed) whatever we say about children, everything must be understood in the sense of likening the people to them (generationis). These children sitting in the square are those of whom Isaiah speaks: “Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me” (Is. 8:18) and in the psalm: “The testimony of the Lord is sure, giving wisdom to babes” (Ps. 18:8) 231 and in another place: “Out of the mouths of babes and those who are fed [from the breast] milk You have made praise” (Ps. 8:3). 232 Thus, these children sat in the square (in foro) or: εν ἀγοραῖς, as it is more significantly said in Greek, that is, in a place where there was a lot of corruption (venalia). And since the Jewish people did not want to hear, they not only tell him, but shout at the top of their voices (plenis faucibus): “We sang to you, but you did not express joy in your movements,” [i.e.] we called on you to do good deeds in response to our singing and dance to our pipe, just as David danced before the ark of the Lord (2 Samuel 6), but you did not want this. We cried and called you to repentance, but you did not want to do this either, contemptuous of both the sermons: both the invitation to live in virtue, and the call to repent after sins. And it is not surprising that you despised the twofold path to salvation, since you equally ridiculed fasting in the name of God [or without: in the name of God] and eating food. If fasting is pleasing to you, then why was John not pleasing? If it is eating food, then why was the Son of Man not pleased? You called one of them [or: call] possessed, and the other a glutton and wine drinker. Therefore, since you did not want to accept either one or the other instruction (disciplina), so wisdom was justified in your children, i.e. economy and instruction of God [to those who accepted them]. So I, God’s power and God’s wisdom (1 Cor. 1:24), acted as I should according to the approving judgment of My sons - the apostles, to whom the Father revealed what he had hidden from the wise and prudent, in their own opinion (John 17:7-8; Matt. 11:25). In some Gospels it reads: “Wisdom was justified by her works” (Luke 7:35) 233 namely: wisdom seeks evidence for itself not in words, but in deeds. Matthew 11:20. Then he began to express indignation against the cities in which there were great powers of His [miracles], because they did not repent 234 The content of this passage is indignation against the cities of Chorozain and Bethsaida and Capernaum, [and it is indicated] that He was indignant with them because they did not repent after the greatest signs and wonderful powers were performed in them. Matthew 11:21–22. Woe to you, Horozain, woe to you Bethsaida, because if the powers that were in you were revealed in Tire and Sidon, they would once have repented in sackcloth and ashes. Truly I say to you: On the day of judgment, Tire and Sidon will receive greater remission (remissius erit) than you 235 Chorozain and Bethsaida, the cities of Judea, are mourned with grief by the Lord, for after so many forces and signs they did not repent, and Tire and Sidon, cities devoted to idolatry and vices, are placed above them; and they are preferred because these trampled only the natural law, and those, after the abolition of the natural law, and the letters of Scripture, made nothing of the miraculous signs they performed. The question is: where is it written that the Lord performed miraculous signs in Chorozain and Bethsaida? Above we read: “And He went around all the cities and settlements, healing all kinds of disease” and so on (Matthew 4:23). 236 So, we must believe that between the cities and settlements the Lord performed miraculous signs also in Chorozain and Bethsaida. Matthew 11:23. And you, Capernaum, have you not ascended to heaven, even descending to the underworld? In another scroll we find: “And you, Capernaum, who were exalted to heaven, will descend even to the pit.” 237 And in these two sayings there is a double meaning - either: “You will go down to hell because you arrogantly resisted My preaching,” or: “You ascended to heaven as a result of My disposition and My miracles and powers and had such a great advantage, therefore you will be subjected to greater punishment.” Matthew 11:23. [end 24] For if the powers that were manifested in you had been done in Sodom [or: “Sidon”], it would have remained to this day; but I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you A prudent reader (perhaps) will ask and say: “If Tire, and Sidon, and Sodom could repent as a result of the preaching and miraculous signs of the Savior, then they were not guilty of unbelief: the guilt for the lack of preaching lies with the one who did not want to preach to people who could have brought repentance.” The answer to such reasoning is simple and clear: we do not know the destinies of God, and the secrets of His individual acts are not accessible to us. The Lord suggested not to go beyond the borders of Judea, so as not to give the Pharisees and priests a proper reason for persecution. Therefore, before His suffering, He commanded the apostles: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter the city of the Samaritans” (Matthew 10:5). So, Chorozain and Bethsaida are condemned because they did not want to believe (praesenti) the Lord Himself, and Tire and Sidon are justified because they believed His apostles. Do not ask about the time when you have before your eyes the salvation of the believers. And in “Capernaum,” which means “the most beautiful village house,” the unbelieving Jerusalem is condemned, to which it is said through the prophet Ezekiel: “Sodom is justified more than you” (Ezek. 16:50–53). Matthew 11:25. At that time Jesus answered: I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth 238 Confession does not always mean repentance, but also thanksgiving, as we very often read in the psalms. Those who imagine that the Savior is not begotten, but created, let them hear that He calls the Lord of heaven and earth His Father. Indeed, if He is a creature, and if a creature can call its Creator [His] Father, then it was inconsistent on His part not to call His Lord and the Lord of heaven and earth equally Father [of heaven and earth]. That You hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. He gives thanks and rejoices in the Father that the Father revealed to the apostles the mystery of His coming, which the scribes and Pharisees, who considered themselves wise and reasonable, did not comprehend. Wisdom was justified in her sons. Matthew 11:26. Hey, Father! for such was Thy good pleasure With a feeling of tender love, He turns to His Father, so that the good deeds that began to manifest themselves among the apostles would be fulfilled. Matthew 11:27. Everything has been handed over to Me by My Father Understand both the Father who transmits and the Son who receives in a mysterious sense; otherwise, that is, if we want to understand this in a sense corresponding to our corruptible nature, then [we must assume that] when the Receiver began to have 239, the Giver ceased to have [the transferred] (incipit non habere began not to have). And by everything handed over to Him we must understand 240 not heaven and earth, and the constituent parts of the world, and so on, created and arranged by Him Himself; but we need to understand 241 those who, through the Son, have access to the Father and who were previously indignant against God, and then began to feel Him in themselves. And no one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and to whom the Son wants to reveal it. Let Eunomius be covered with shame, who boastfully ascribes to himself the same great knowledge about the Father and the Son that They mutually have about themselves; and if he insists on this and consoles his stupidity with the words: “To whom the Son wants to reveal,” [then let him know that] it is another thing to know what you know by the correspondence of nature, and another thing to know by the benevolent condescension of the revealer. Matthew 11:28–29. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls And the prophet Zechariah testifies that the severity of sin is great when he says that iniquity sits on the talent of lead (Zechariah 5:7-8), and the Psalmist exclaims with tears: “My iniquities have gone beyond my head, like a heavy burden has weighed me down” (Psalm 37:5). Or perhaps here He calls to the grace of the Gospel those who were under the yoke of the very heavy yoke of the law. Matthew 11:30. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light How can the Gospel be lighter than the law, when the law condemns the murder of a person, and the Gospel even condemns anger? How is the grace of the Gospel easier when adultery is punished in the law, and lust in the Gospel? There are many commandments in the law that, according to the teachings of the apostle, are impossible to completely observe (Acts 15:10). The law requires such deeds that, having completed them, a person could live. The Gospel requires the disposition of the will, which does not lose its value, although it does not even produce an action. The Gospel commands us what we can, namely, that we should not have lustful thoughts: this lies in the power of our will. [On the contrary], although the law does not punish the will, it nevertheless punishes its action, [demanding] that you do not commit adultery. Imagine that during the persecution some girl was subjected to violence. From the point of view of the Gospel, she is considered a virgin because she has not sinned by her will; but according to the law [of Moses] such a thing is rejected as having been subject to corruption. In the translation: The Gospel of Matthew - ed. The Greek text of this place suggests that it was not the disciples, but Jesus Christ who baptized: ΐδε, ουβαπτίζει καί πάντες έρχονται πρός αύτόν (John 3:26); compare καί έκεί διέτριβε μετ αύτών και έβάπτιζε (John 3:22); but the Latin reading of Jerome is more suitable to the words: ) (Translator's note). According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And they came to John and said to him: Rabbi! He who was with you at the Jordan and about whom you testified, behold He baptizes, and everyone comes to Him” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “When they had gone, Jesus began to speak to the people about John: What did you go into the wilderness to see? Is it a cane shaken by the wind? What did you go to see? a person dressed in soft clothes? Those who wear soft clothes are in the palaces of kings - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation of the Bible: “Behold, I send My angel, and he will prepare the way before Me, and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, and the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, will come to His church” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “But to whom will I liken this generation? He is like children who sit on the street and, turning to their comrades, say: we played the pipe for you, and you did not dance; We sang sad songs to you, and you did not cry. For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say: he has a demon. The Son of Man came, eating and drinking; and they say: here is a man who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of publicans and sinners. And wisdom is justified by her children” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “The law of the Lord is perfect, strengthens the soul; the revelation of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." – ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “From the mouths of babies and infants You have given praise” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And wisdom is justified by all her children” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Then He began to reproach the cities in which His powers were most manifested, because they did not repent” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Woe to you, Khorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the powers that were manifested in you had been manifested in Tire and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes, but I say to you: it will be more bearable for Tire and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And Jesus walked throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every disease among the people” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “And you, Capernaum, who ascended to heaven, will be cast down to hell” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “At that time, continuing his speech, Jesus said: I glorify You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth” - ed. In the lane: it must be understood - ed. You might be interested in: