Слово 33. На св. праздник Ваий

Six days before Easter, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, to the house of Mary and Martha. There they prepared a meal for Him, and Martha served, and Lazarus ate (John 12:1). This was a sign of the true Resurrection, that after many days He would both live and eat. From this it is clear that there was breakfast in Martha’s house: it was Jesus’ friends and devotees who received Him. Some say that this happened in someone else's house. And Mary served because she was a student. But she again served in a more spiritual service and did not serve Him as he was called; she does not perform ordinary service, but provides Him with the only honor - she treats Him not as a person, but as God. Therefore, she poured some ointment and wiped her hair with her hair. This showed that she did not hold the same opinion about Him as the majority. But Judas began to reproach, and under a plausible pretext. What about Christ? “Leave her alone; she has reserved it for the day of My burial” (John 12:7). Why didn’t He rebuke the disciple for being a woman? Why didn’t he say what the evangelist said, that he reproached the woman because he was a thief (John 12:6). He wanted to convert him with His long-suffering. Due to the fact that He knew that he was a traitor, He first denounced him, often saying: “not all believe,” and: “one of you is the devil” (John 6:65, 70). He showed by this that He knew about him that he was a traitor; He did not denounce him, but condescended, wanting him to abandon his intention. How can another say that all the disciples said this? And everyone, and he, but the rest for a different reason. If anyone began to inquire why He entrusted the treasury of the poor to a thief and made a money-lover the manager, then we would answer that Jesus knew the secret reason. If we should say something, looking for a reason, then we would say: in order to deprive Judas of all justification. He could no longer say that he did it for the love of money - because he had enough means to satisfy his passion using the cash register - but because of his great depravity, and if he wanted to give it up, he would not have betrayed his Benefactor. Christ, out of His great condescension, patiently endured it. Therefore, He did not convict him of being a thief, although He knew it, restraining his vicious passion in such a way as to take away from him all justification. Therefore, He says: “Leave her; she saved it for the day of My burial." Speaking about the burial, He once again reminded the traitor about it. But the reproof did not reach him, and the word did not soften him, although it was enough to cause him to cry out. He seemed to be saying: I am burdensome and unpleasant, but just a little more and I will leave. This is what He meant when He said: “You do not always have Me” (John 12:8). But nothing touched the wild and mad man - although He said and did much more, washed his feet that same night and shared a meal with him. “Many of the Jews knew that He was there, and they came not only for Jesus, but to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead” (John 12:9). Seeing the miracle, many there believed. The elders, not satisfied with their own evil, decided to kill Lazarus as well. “The chief priests decided to kill Lazarus also, because for his sake many of the Jews came and believed in Jesus” (John 12:10-11). Let it be so, they decided to take Christ because He destroyed the Sabbath, because He made Himself equal to the Father, and because of the Romans, as they said, so that they would not take their place and people. But for what crime did they decide to take Lazarus? Is it really his fault that he received a benefit? Do you see how bloodthirsty their plan was? He performed many miracles, but nothing made them so furious, neither the paralytic nor the blind. This miracle was by its nature the most amazing, and it happened after many miracles; and it was strange to see a four-day-old dead man walking and talking. Oh, the madness of the bishops! Their business on this holiday of theirs was to implicate the national assembly in the murder. In other cases they hoped to accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath and thereby distract the people from Him. Here, since they had no grounds for slander, they turn their plans against the one who enjoyed His care. Here they could not say: he resists the Father, because prayer blocked their lips. So, due to the fact that there was nothing to accuse Him of, and the miracle was amazing, they are planning a murder. Thus they would have done the same with the blind man if they could not blame the Sabbath. But he was insignificant, and they expelled him from the church. The same was a man of influence: this is clear from the fact that many came to console the sisters. The miracle happened in the sight of everyone and threw everyone into amazement: therefore, everyone went to see it. And they were wounded that, when the holiday came, everyone, forgetting about it, rushed to Bethany. They decided to kill him, and it didn’t even occur to them that they were up to a bad deed - they were so angry! Meanwhile, the law begins with the saying: “You shall not kill” (Ex. 20:13). And the prophet reproaches them for this, saying: “their hands... are full of blood” (Is. 1:15). “The next day, the multitude of people who had come to the feast, hearing that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took palm branches and came out to meet Him and exclaimed: Hosanna! blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel” (John 12:12–13)! But how does He boldly enter the city again, after He did not appear in Judea and went into the desert? Having tamed the rage by His withdrawal, He comes to them when they have already calmed down. However, the crowd walking in front of Him and following Him was enough to cause anxiety in them. Not a single miracle made such an impression on the people as the miracle of Lazarus. “They spread their clothes” under His feet, says another evangelist (Luke 19:36), “and... the whole city began to move” (Matthew 21:10), - with such honor He entered. “Jesus found a colt and sat on it, as it is written: Fear not, daughter of Zion! Behold, your King comes sitting on a colt” (John 12:14–15). He did this, fulfilling one prophecy and foreshadowing another: this was precisely the beginning of one and the completion of another prophecy. In the words: “Fear not, daughter of Zion, rejoice, for your meek King is coming to you,” the prophecy is fulfilled. The fact that He sat on a donkey means that He predicted a future event, that the unclean people of the tongues would submit to Him. How come the evangelists say that he sent disciples and said, “Untie the donkey and the colt,” but this (evangelist) says nothing of the kind, but that “he found a colt and sat on it” (John 12:14)? Because maybe it was both. After they had untied the donkey, (the Lord), when the disciples came and found the colt, sat on the last one. They spread palm and olive branches to show that they gave Him greater glory than the prophet, and said: “Hosanna! blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (John 12:13). Do you see that what troubled the bishops and scribes most of all was that they were all convinced that He was not an adversary to God? And what divided the people most of all was that He said about Himself that He came from the Father. And these words: “Do not be afraid, rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!” - the prophet says because all their kings were usually unjust, selfish, betrayed them to their enemies, corrupted the people, made them guilty before their enemies. Take heart! - speaks. This one is not like that, but gentle and worthy. This is represented by a donkey: he entered not leading an army with him, but having only one donkey. “His disciples,” he says, “at first did not understand... that this was written about Him, but they did it to Him” (John 12:16). Do you see what they did without knowing the most important thing? But when He rose from the dead, then they remembered that it was written about Him, and that they did it to Him, but He did not reveal it to them. The same is true when Jesus said: “Destroy this church, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19), the disciples did not understand this. Another evangelist says that this word was hidden from them, and that they did not know that He must rise from the dead. But this was rightly hidden from them. Therefore, another evangelist says that, hearing every day about suffering, they were upset and sad: this is because they did not know the meaning of the Resurrection. This was rightly hidden from them - because there was more than they could contain - but as for the donkey, why was it not revealed to them? Because that was great too. Look at the wisdom of the evangelist, how he is not ashamed to confess their previous ignorance: what was written, they knew; but they did not know what was written about Him, and they would have been embarrassed if they had known that the King should suffer like this. In any case, they did not quickly comprehend the knowledge of the Kingdom that was being spoken about - another evangelist says precisely that they thought that this kingdom was being discussed. “The people who were with Him before testified that He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead” (John 12:17). All the people met Him because they heard that He had performed this miracle. So many people would not have suddenly converted if they had not believed the miracle. “The Pharisees said to each other: Do you see that you do not have time to do anything? the whole world follows Him” (John 12:19). It seems to me that these words belonged to those who thought sensibly about Him, but did not dare to confess it out loud. And Paul, speaking about the Resurrection, used the same technique. So, what justification do those who do not believe in the Resurrection have? Therefore, beloved, so that we do not delay you in vain, and so that our word does not seem like a labyrinth, leaving this, we will say the following: listen to the Holy Scriptures and do not argue uselessly to the destruction of those who hear. This is what Paul commanded Timothy, although he, of course, was filled with great wisdom and had the power of signs. Let us also listen to him and, leaving idle talk, stock up on deeds - I’m talking about brotherly love and charity - let us learn the great meaning of alms, so that we may become partakers of the good things proclaimed, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father with the Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen. Ἐκλογαί άπό διαφόρων λόγων . Under this name are known collections of conversations compiled by various persons after the death of Chrysostom on certain topics, from those related to the topics and especially liked by the compilers of the works of the saint. The passages are given partly in a literal presentation, partly in a free retelling and are borrowed both from the original works of Chrysostom, and from works only attributed to Chrysostom, which have not only survived to this day, but have also been lost. These Eclogues (selections) were widespread and were used by both private individuals and kings. Known, for example, is the luxurious collection of Eclogues, owned by the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros Botaniatus (1078–1081), registered among the codices of the Koalene Library under No. LXXIX. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us. – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: