But look, my soul, how the King of Heaven was greeted by His subjects, how the servants of their Lord received them, how His people honored their incarnate God. What a gift, what gratitude, honor and worship were given to their Benefactor by those whom He came to save, before whom He performed miracles, from whom He cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, raised up the paralytic, enlightened the blind, corrected the lame and bowed down, raised the dead, and fed many thousands of the hungry. Ah, shame covers my face, my heart is filled with horror, and my tongue trembles to speak!.. His holy evangelist cries out to us with pity: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him” (John 1:11), and they rejected him, saying: “we do not want him to reign over us” (Luke 19:14)! Terrible and pitiful rumor! God came in the flesh to His people - and they did not receive Him. The King and Lord came to His servants and rejected Him. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth” (Is. 1:2): the people of their God, and the servants of their Lord, and the subjects of their King did not accept! Oh my God! You knew all this, but, nevertheless, you came to save me, who was lost, and to seek me, who was lost.
The anger and ingratitude of Your enemies did not hinder You, but Your goodness and love and my poverty convinced You; and it was not enough for the ungrateful not to accept and renounce their Lord and Benefactor, but they added evil to evil and cruelty and inhumanity to such rudeness, they honored Your heavenly teaching for demonic possession: “He is possessed by a demon and is going mad; Why are you listening to Him? (John 10:20) Your miracles were attributed to Beelzebub, Your enemy: “He casts out demons by the prince of demons” (Matthew 9:34). You communicated with sinners, wanting to catch them with Your favor and save them - they called You “one who loves to eat and drink wine, a friend of publicans and sinners” (Matthew 11:19), and other blasphemies were regurgitated against You, their Lord and Benefactor, against You, Who is above all honor!... Oh, the cruelty and ingratitude of man! Oh, Thy goodness and long-suffering, Lord! Next, they sought to kill You, their Savior, who had come to save them. You saw their evil advice and their heart, breathing malice, you saw, O Lord of the Heart, but you endured. They found their instrument for this - Your ungrateful disciple.
He sold You, priceless, for thirty pieces of silver, for such a small price, the Most Precious of the whole world and more than a thousand worlds. You saw their wicked advice and their lawless bargaining, you saw and endured, wanting to suffer for me, Your indecent servant, and to cleanse me with Your Blood, and to revive me with Your death, and to honor me with Your dishonor. Glory to Thee for everything, O my Lover!
Sold and betrayed by You, or, more, by Your own will, who surrendered to them and came out to them, looking for You, knowing everything that lies ahead of You, they bound You, unapproachable for the Cherubim and Seraphim of the Lord. They judged You, the Judge of the living and the dead, scolded You, dishonored You, spat on Your holy Face, which the Angels do not dare to look at, and struck You on the cheek, and condemned You, the Life of all, as subject to death. They preferred the robber and murderer to You, the Son of God, the only Good and Righteous. All the nations cried out, saying: “Take Him, release Barabbas to us; crucify him, crucify him” (Mark 15:13-14)! Oh miracle, oh horror and unheard of thing! They took him out of the city as a condemned man, and hanged him as a villain among villains, and killed the only Immortal, and blasphemed him hanging on the Cross, “nodding their heads” (Matthew 27:39), “they gave you gall for food, and in your thirst they gave you vinegar to drink” (Ps. 68:22); “they pierced your hands and your feet, they counted all your bones” (Ps. 21:17-18), they pierced the ribs of the dead one, and they blasphemed the dead one: “We remember what that deceiver said” (Matthew 27:63), etc.
Your most pure Body was given into military custody and Your tomb was sealed. This was given to You, my God, by Your people - to You, who came to save them!..
You endured all their malice, and “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Jer. 11:19), you did not open Your mouth. The Lord suffered from His servants, the Creator from His creation, God from His people, the King from His subjects, the Benefactor from those who received countless blessings, the Righteous and Innocent from the wrongdoers. He endured before heaven and earth, before Angels and men, before many eyes, before friends and enemies, he endured naked and abandoned by everyone. And since he came into the world for the sake of everyone, he endured for the sake of everyone, and for my sake he endured, since I am one of all, oh my Lord! For my sake, my Lord endured such dishonor and torment!.. He endured it willingly - oh, who am I and what am I, that for my sake my Lord endured?! “Earth and ashes” (Sir.10:9), sinner and indecent slave!.. Oh, a new and unheard-of miracle, ineffable and incomprehensible goodness, incomprehensible condescension! Oh, new and unheard of miracle, inexpressible and incomprehensible goodness, incomprehensible condescension! Arise, my soul, arise, be horrified, humble yourself, bow down and fall before your Lord! “Sing a new song to the Lord, for the Lord has done wonderful things” (Ps. 97:1)!
My Creator and Lord suffered, endured and died for His servant, the accursed, indecent and lawless servant. I am a destroyer of the law and a lawless one, I dishonored and blasphemed it, I betrayed myself to my enemy - the devil, I am worthy of demonic spitting, ridicule, cursing, strangling, beating, torment and eternal death. But You, my Master and Lord, endured in my place. The slave sinned, but my Lord endured the execution. The slave was guilty, but my Lord was beaten. The slave stole, but my Lord repaid. The slave was a debtor, but the Master paid my debt. How? Not silver, not gold. But with what? By His dishonor, By His wounds, By His Blood and by His death, the death of the cross (see Phil. 2:8). For me, accursed and cursed, you became a curse (see Gal. 3:13). You alone are blessed forever. For me, a blasphemer, You endured blasphemy and dishonor, O Lord of glory. For me, sold for sin, You, the Priceless One, were sold and endured this. For me, judgment and condemnation, You, the Lord and Creator, suffered death for me. Glory to You, glory to You, glory to You for everything! I have nothing else to bring to You except this: glory to You!..
You lived on earth, O Heavenly King, in order to raise me to heaven, expelled from paradise. You were born of the Virgin in the Flesh in order to revive me in spirit. You endured blasphemy in order to stop the mouths of my enemies who slander me. You accepted dishonor, You Who are above all honor, in order to honor me, dishonored. You cried to take away the tears from my eyes. He sighed, grieved, grieved, in order to take away eternal sighing, sorrow, melancholy, illness from me and give me eternal joy and gladness. You were sold and betrayed in order to free me, captive. You were bound to tear apart my bonds. You appeared before the unrighteous court, “Judge of all the earth” (Gen. 18:25), in order to deliver me from eternal judgment. You were naked, so that I, naked, “clothe me with the robe of salvation and clothe me with the robe of righteousness” (Is. 61:10). You were crowned with thorns to give me the crown of life. I endured that You were called the King of reproach, the King of all, so that I could open the kingdom of heaven. They beat me on the head with a cane to write me in the book of life. He deigned to suffer outside the city in order to bring me, expelled from paradise, into heavenly Jerusalem.
“He was counted among the evildoers” (Is. 53:12; Matt. 15:28) You, the only Righteous One, may justify me, the wicked. You became a curse (see Gal. 3:10), the only Blessed One, so that you, the cursed, might give a blessing. He shed His blood to wash away my pus and sinful filth. He gave me vinegar to drink so that he could serve me “food and drink at the table in Your kingdom” (Luke 22:30). You died, the Life of all, in order to revive me, who had died; was laid in the grave in order to raise me from the grave. You have risen so that you can assure me of my resurrection. You ascended to heaven in order to lift me there too and glorify me in Your kingdom. You created all this for me, Your servant!