Глава III

Matthew 3:3. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand 48. John the Baptist was the first to preach the Kingdom of Heaven, so for this advantage he is revered as the Forerunner. Matthew 3:3. For he is the one about whom the prophet Isaiah said: the voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. He prepared the souls of believers in whom the Lord was to walk 49 so that He, pure, could walk in the purest ways - He who says this: “And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you will be My people” (Lev. 26:12). Porfiry compares this place with the beginning of the book of the Evangelist Mark, which says: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: Behold, I am sending My angel before You, who will prepare Your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight 50". Since this testimony is taken from the books of the prophet Malachi (Mal.3:1) and the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 40:3), then [Porphyry] asks: “Why do we think that the example is taken as if from Isaiah alone?” The men of the Church answered him quite fully. We believe that the name of Isaiah was added due to a copyist error, which we can prove in other places, where, undoubtedly, one whole (unum corpus) was compiled from various passages of Scripture. Read the thirteenth psalm and you will find the same thing there. Matthew 3:4. John himself had clothes made of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist 51. He says: “from hair”, not: “from wool”. One serves to designate extremely modest clothing, and the other - the luxury of a pampered person. The leather belt with which Elijah was girded signified slaying (2 Kings 1:8). And the following: “And his food was locusts and wild honey” - [shows that] the desert dweller is not characterized by refinement in food, but only by replenishing what is necessary in the human body. Matthew 3:9. God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones. He calls the pagans stones for their hardness of heart. Read the prophet Ezekiel: “And I will take,” he says, “out of your flesh the heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of cloth” (Ezek. 36:26). Stone denotes hardness, 52 and flesh denotes tenderness. Or it may be that with these words he shows the power of God, i.e., that He who created everything out of nothing can create a people out of the strongest rocks. Matthew 3:10–11. Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water unto repentance; but He who comes after me is mightier than I. Sermon 53 The word of the Gospel, which is a two-edged sword, is called an ax according to the word of the prophet Jeremiah, who compares the word of the Lord to an ax that cuts a rock (Jer. 23:29). “I am not worthy to carry His sandals.” Another Gospel says: “Whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie” (Luke 3:16). - Here humility is shown, there - sacrament, because Christ is the bridegroom, and John does not deserve to untie the strap of the shoes of the Bridegroom, so that His house would not be called, according to the law of Moses and the example of Ruth, the house of him who had no shoes (Deut. 25: 9-10, Ruth. 4: 7-9). Matthew 3:11–12. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn, and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. [This means] or that the Holy Spirit is fire, since at His descent, as the Acts of the Apostles say, He arose 54 (Luke 12:49–51, 1 Cor. 3:13) in the form of fire over every “[singulos” or “linguas]” of the believers (Acts 2:3), and the word of the Lord was fulfilled, Who says: “I came to bring down fire on the earth, and as I desired so that it would already be on fire” (Luke 12:49); or that at the present time we are baptized by the Spirit, and in the future by fire, with which the meaning of this place is consistent with the word of the apostle: “And fire will try everyone’s work, what kind it is” (1 Cor. 3:13). Matthew 3:13–14. , Matthew 3:15. [beginning] Then Jesus comes from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him. John restrained him and said: I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me? But Jesus answered him. There were three reasons for the Savior (Jesus) to be baptized by John. First, that, since He was born a man, He might fulfill all righteousness and humility before the law. Secondly, in order to confirm by His baptism the meaning of John's baptism. Thirdly, in order to sanctify the waters of the Jordan, to show through the descent of the dove the coming of the Holy Spirit during the baptism of believers. Matthew 3:15. [start] Leave now 55 . It is beautifully said by Him: “Leave now” to show that Christ had to be baptized in water [by John], and John in the spirit - from Christ; or in other words: “Just don’t hinder” Me, who has taken on the form of a slave, from fulfilling what is characteristic of his humility. Moreover, you must know that you will be baptized on the day of judgment with My baptism. “Only do not hinder,” says the Lord Jesus: I have another baptism with which I must be baptized. You baptize Me with water, so that I may baptize you in My name with your blood. Matthew 3:15. [continuation] and [beginning] Matthew 3:16. For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then John admits Him. And having been baptized, Jesus immediately came out of the water. He did not add: “the truth of the law” or: “nature” so that we understand here both one and the other, so that if God accepted baptism from a man, then let no one be ashamed to accept baptism from a fellow slave (de conserve). Matthew 3:16. [end] and Matthew 3:17. And behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and descending on Him. And behold, a voice from heaven said: This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [or: in “Whom I have pleased”]. In baptism the mystery of the [Holy] Trinity is revealed: the Lord receives baptism; The Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father is heard giving testimony about the Son. And the heavens are opened not through the movement of visible components, but to the spiritual gaze; Ezekiel says about them at the beginning of his scroll that they were opened. And a dove sat on the head of Jesus, so that no one would think that the Father’s voice was to John, and not to the Lord. In the translation: The Gospel of Matthew - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as it is written in the prophets: Behold, I send My angel before Thy face, who will prepare Thy way before Thee. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” - ed. According to the new Synodal Russian translation: “John himself had clothes made of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his loins” - ed. In the lane: Preaching - ed. 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