Слово в субботу Лазареву

This holiday can be called a holiday of friendship. Jesus says: “Lazarus, our friend, has succeeded” (John 11:11), and hurries to Bethany, despite the danger there for his life from the Jews. The disciples also say: “Let us also go and die with him” (John 11:16), that is, they say what only the most ardent friendship for Lazarus could inspire. It is impossible to doubt about Martha and Mary, his sisters: their soul and heart were, as it were, buried along with their brother and friend. The Pharisees themselves, forgetting their hypocritical views and calculations, came to Bethany for nothing else than to console the sisters about the death of their brother. And at the tomb of Lazarus - here Jesus even shed tears - and of course not from despondency and sadness, for now he will say: “Lazarus, come out” (John 11:43) but from love and friendship, for which it is difficult to see even for one minute your beloved in the tomb; among dust and decay. “That’s why the Jews themselves will say: “See how much you love him!” (John 11:36). - So, I say, this holiday can, in all fairness, be called a holiday of friendship. If ever, then now is the most convenient opportunity for us to observe how the Lord deals with His friends and loved ones. How much does He love them? He loves them so much that he sheds tears on their coffin. Jesus did not cry on His Cross, but he cries over Lazarus; and he did for him what he had never done for anyone: for he raised him from the dead, already four days old and stinking. But does this love make the Lord’s friends completely inviolable from any sorrow or temptation? Against. From the example of Lazarus and his sisters it is especially clear, as the Apostle Paul rightly noted, that “whom... the Lord loves, he punishes and tests” (Heb. 12:6). For look, here is a family that the Lord constantly distinguished with His attention; among which, during His stay in Jerusalem, He always found friendly shelter and tranquility for Himself, to which He showed so many signs of His goodwill, so that it itself no longer doubted His love, but placed full hope in Him in any case, just as now, as soon as Lazarus fell ill, they let Him know about it, in the confidence that He would immediately appear and restore health to His sick friend - here, I say, a family, holy, pure, closest to the Lord: and yet, what a great temptation and what sorrow it is now exposed to with the death of Lazarus! The Lord, no doubt, could have turned the disease away from His friend, but he did not turn it away; could have made it, at least, not fatal, but did not; He could have hastened by miracle and come to Bethany on the second or third day after death, but he appeared on the fifth. Why is this and for what purpose? Therefore, in order to make both Lazarus and his sisters completely an instrument of the glory of God, in order to give them - both through their sorrow, and through their brother’s illness, and through his death itself, to serve the great cause of human salvation: “may the Son of God be glorified for her sake”! (John 11:4). This is how the Lord acts with His friends and associates! He watches over them like the apple of his eye, without His will not a single hair falls from their heads: but this does not mean that He constantly rewards them only with good deeds, that He amuses them and feeds them with sweets, just as compassionate but foolish mothers do with their children, thus spoiling their character, accustoming them to effeminacy and luxury: - no, the Lord is wise and cannot act in this way; He does not look at pleasure, but at the true benefit of those who love Him and are loved by Him; and in order to improve them in faith, love, humility and devotion, he often sends upon them such temptations as sinners do not see above them. For example, from which sinner did the Lord demand a son as a sacrifice to Himself? And he demanded from Abraham. Who was more dear to Him than His twelve disciples? And they all died for His name in the midst of torment - some by the sword, some by the cross, others by stones. All this is not only because of their love for the Lord, but also because of the Lord’s love for them. For for Him, as the Almighty, it cost nothing to turn away all temptations from them, to surround them even with all types of earthly happiness; but He did not do this, but, on the contrary, allowed all calamities to fall upon them, so that by bringing them they would rise to greater heights and achieve the brightest crowns: because nothing makes a person pure, nothing elevates him in spirit and brings him closer to God than courageously enduring sorrows and adversities. Let us cease, my brothers, to be tempted and perplexed if we see that one of God’s faithful servants is not prosperous in his earthly affairs, suffers attack or slander, suffers from illness and other evils. We will be horrified, on the contrary, and will regret it when we meet the wicked man, happy in everything, towering like the cedar of Lebanon. For this means that he, as incorrigible, is left to himself and, according to the expression of Scripture, accepts, like the rich man of the Gospel, good things in his belly, so that after death he will go straight into the fire of Gehenna. Let us stop being discouraged and despairing when we too, despite the purity of our hands and the righteousness of our ways, are visited by some kind of grief and loss. On the contrary, if we want to truly be servants of the Lord, then in this case we must not fall, but rise in spirit, comforted by the thought that the Lord no longer looks at us as small children, incapable of any difficult experience and feat, but as adults, from whom sacrifices and efforts can be expected and demanded with trustworthiness. And for this, let us forever affirm in our souls the idea that all the sorrows and misfortunes of earth, no matter what they are and no matter how great they are, as long as they are endured properly, that is, with humility, faith and devotion to the will of God; they can never harm us in any way, but, on the contrary, always deliver great spiritual benefit. Do you want to know which one? That which weakens the carnal man in us, this most dangerous enemy of our salvation; the one that suppresses our commitment to the blessings of the world and its wicked pleasures and turns our thoughts to heaven and eternity; the one that brings us closer to God, forcing us to seek support and consolation in Him alone, as unchangeable and eternal; that, finally, that apparently likens us to our Lord and Savior, Who, during His existence on earth, did not reign and did not enjoy bliss, although he had every right to do so, but was daily deprived, endured and suffered for the sake of our salvation. Amen. You might be interested in: