Слово второе в Великую Субботу

“His burial will be in peace” (Isaiah 57:2). “And His honor shall rest” (Isa. 11:10). The Evangelist of the Old Testament, the great seer Isaiah, having prophetically depicted the suffering and death of the Redeemer of the world, and showing how the righteous perish, and no one accepts with his heart, then, as if to peacefully complete the sad picture, he adds: “And His burial will be in peace”! And in another place of his wondrous visions, he predicts even more, not only peace at the tomb of the Savior, but also glory: “and His honor will rest!” It was difficult for the first prediction of the Prophet to be fulfilled, and even more difficult for the last. Could one expect peace around the tomb of Jesus after what happened at His Cross on Golgotha? If the high priests and scribes, breathing malice, could not restrain their gaze from slander and ridicule at the Sufferer dying in the agony of the cross; then, all the less, one could expect generosity and mercy towards His lifeless body, already dead. On the contrary, it was almost necessary to assume that the fierce malice of the enemies of Jesus would make it their duty to turn the sacred remains of the Divine Sufferer into an object of public reproach, and would even take care to destroy all traces of His existence. It seemed impossible to even think about any honor at the burial of Jesus. For what honor is there for Him who, as the imaginary enemy of God and Moses, was condemned to end His life on the Cross among the villains? - And who would provide it? Are they disciples of Jesus? But even before the death of the Teacher, “they all forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56). Under such circumstances, even that would have been a pleasant surprise if the Most Pure Body of Jesus had not been deprived of at least that which, by law and custom, was provided to the body of everyone who suffered the death penalty. But the word of the holy Seer could not pass by. At the tomb of Jesus, not only peace, but also honor, foreseen by him, should have appeared; - and they appeared: first peace, and then honor. In fact, look at the burial of the Lord in the city of Joseph: what could be more peaceful than that? Seeing how a small number of His friends are now paying their last respects to Him, one might think that this burial was preceded not by the horrors of Golgotha, but by a completely peaceful and serene death. The evening peace of the helicopter city, if it was now interrupted by anything, was it perhaps the quiet tears of the burying ones, which, along with the precious peace, poured onto the body of the beloved Teacher, and perhaps some haste in action, which the approaching Sabbath peace urgently required. There was incomparably more movement and more noise recently during the burial of Lazarus; although he died on his bed, in the arms of his sisters and friends. Where and how did this unexpected peace appear at the tomb of Jesus? Everything was done by the law regarding the celebration of the Sabbath, which came shortly after the death of the Lord on the Cross. This law bound the otherwise indomitable malice of the enemies of Jesus; he forced them to immediately leave home from Golgotha. In addition, another law about the Passover, which was to be eaten that evening, also contributed to this. In this case, the Paschal Lamb rendered a service to the Lamb of God slain on the Cross, turning the attention of Jesus’ enemies away from Him and onto Himself. We saw how they were afraid to enter Pilate's praetorium yesterday, so as not to lose the purity required by law to eat the Passover. Moreover, according to the law, touching the body of the deceased was terrible for them; and that’s why none of them are present at the burial of Jesus! But how come the friends of Jesus were not afraid of this fear? Didn't they have a law about Easter and the Sabbath? Existed for them too; and they fulfill it as much as possible: for about the women who were at the burial, it is noted that they will not go on the Sabbath, that is, now, to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His Body precisely because this is contrary to the rest of the Sabbath day: “on the Sabbath they kept silent according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). But on the other hand, these burials enjoy the indulgence of the same law, or rather the custom of the people, which allowed those closest to the deceased to bury him just before the onset of Saturdays and Easter, so that the body would not remain unburied during the holiday, which the law did not tolerate under any circumstances. By virtue of this right, Joseph and Nicodemus are now acting! But what should surprise us in this case is not so much this circumstance as where and how these burials came from at this time. For although Joseph and Nicodemus had long belonged to the admirers and disciples of Jesus; but out of fear of their fellow members of the Sanhedrin, of which they were members, they never dared to show this openly. Now, look what a change! While Jesus was alive and enjoyed the glory of a great miracle worker, when it was no small honor to belong to the ranks of His followers: “Joseph,” as the Gospel says, “was hidden in fear for the sake of the Jews” (John 19:38). And now, when Jesus died on the Cross; when the opinion of Him was transformed and darkened in the minds of the majority of the people; when every sign of love for Him, much less respect, already responded with betrayal Sanhedrin, and, therefore, was extremely dangerous: now Joseph is publicly a disciple and admirer of Jesus; and not only is he such, but what does he do? He goes to the hegemon of Rome with a request to take the body of the Crucified One, and, taking it, buries it with honor. All this required a lot of courage; That’s why the evangelist says: having dared, “go down to Pilate and ask for the body of Jesus” (Mark 15:43). Daring, that is, daring to do anything. “Let,” as if Joseph were reasoning with himself, “Pilate and the Sanhedrin think whatever they want about me; let my brethren persecute me; and I will do my job, pay my last debt to my Teacher.” Love for Him and respect, hidden for so long in Joseph’s heart, now, like streams long held back, broke through with all their might. Why now, when apparently the opposite should have been expected? Perhaps the reason for such a change in Joseph were the miraculous signs that occurred at Golgotha, which convinced even the centurion of Rome of the holiness of Jesus; but most of all, Joseph’s very heart, full of love and respect for everything holy and sublime, was disposed towards this. Such hearts can hide for a while what is good in them; but sooner or later they cannot help but stand directly for the truth; and they like to reveal themselves precisely in moments of danger, when more self-sacrifice is required, which was now the case with Joseph. Already in all this there is a lot of honor for the Buried One. For He who, as a transgressor of the law, was crucified on the Cross, will be buried with great zeal, and even, despite the shortness of time and the straitened circumstances, with considerable splendor. Because Nicodemus brought only fragrant aromas and ointments, “like a hundred liters” (John 19:39), that is, the amount that was used at the grave of the highest and richest people. But all this is not enough for the prophecy. The King is buried, as Pilate himself proclaimed with his inscription on the Cross of Jesus, and as the enemies of Jesus, who asked Pilate to change the inscription, could not hide this, despite all their efforts. There should be a military honor guard at the Tsar’s tomb: where can I get it? No Joseph and Nicodemus can deliver this. Rest assured: this guard will be provided by the enemies of Jesus themselves, and thus, without thinking or knowing, they will give Him truly royal honor. You see, Roman soldiers are already rushing to the tomb of Jesus of Nazareth, those soldiers at whose name the whole world trembles, defeated by their weapons and courage! Who sent them? Pilate. Why and for what? Because the high priests now remembered the prophecy of Jesus about His resurrection, that prophecy that had fallen into oblivion among His very disciples. You heard yesterday how they went to Pilate with fear that the disciples of Jesus would steal the body of the Teacher, as Pilate, although reluctantly, allowed them to place a custodian at His tomb, as the high priests, not satisfied with this guard, put another seal on the stone that blocked the entrance to the burial cave. There was a crafty and evil thought on their part in all this: but we must look not at what people do out of their madness, but at what comes out of their actions, finally, by order of Providence. Caiaphas thought and wanted to put an end to the good memory of Jesus with his custodian and his seal, but in fact all this served to greater His honor and glorification. For if there had not been Roman guards at the tomb of Jesus, and the seal had not been placed on the stone: then the resurrection of Jesus would not have been so certain and certain. And Caiaphas could not have said then: what is surprising if the body was not found in the tomb? – The disciples took him at night, since it was extremely easy to do. But now nothing like that can be said. They guarded it themselves, they sealed it themselves: the guards and seals are intact; but the Buried One is not there. Where is He? He rose again, as He Himself prophesied and as the soldiers who were on guard at the tomb testify to the same. For the enemies of Jesus, as the Holy Church rightly proclaims, after this one of two things remains: either the Buried One will be given, or the Risen One will be worshiped! "And His Honor will rest." One thing, apparently, was missing to this honor now - the fact that none of His closest disciples was present at the burial of Jesus. But this very deficiency served to complete it: for it showed that, without an extraordinary secret order from above, the Body of the Lord would have been left without burial at all. On the other hand, the presence of the disciples of Jesus now in the burial city would not have given any importance to the action. For is it surprising that a student buries a teacher? It could even in some way weaken the future effect of the resurrection and give a reason to the enemies of Jesus - in support of slander - to point out that He was buried by His own disciples. But now there is no room for suspicion: none of the disciples was present at the burial, however, not because of coldness and lack of love for the Teacher, but, by the way, because He Himself had previously forbidden them to go into danger, unnecessarily, during His death. But they will all show their love in a different, better way - that is, that everyone - in their own time and place - will lay down their soul for Him. Thus, at the hour of the Lord’s burial, everything was arranged so well that this sacred act, contrary to all expectations, took place not only in silence and peace - and “His burial will be in peace” - but also with special honor: “And His honor will rest”! And this is all because after death on the Cross - when the Sufferer Himself proclaimed: “it is finished” (John 19:30)! – there was no longer any need for new wounds, nor for new respect and dishonor. What is he doing now? Through the cross and death of the God-man, everything that was necessary for our salvation was completed and completed: the handwriting of human sins was blotted out; righteousness and law are satisfied: the glory of God is restored; grace and kingdom for the human race are deserved. At the same time, the humiliated state of our Redeemer had to end and give way to a state of glory and greatness, which now began at His very tomb: “and His honor will rest!” Let us acknowledge with reverence, my brothers, that the tomb of Jesus, like His Cross, was surrounded by a kind of signs, which are all the more gratifying for the heart because they appear completely unexpectedly and at that time, which the Savior Himself called “a time and a dark region” (Luke 22:53). Let us revere these signs and draw from the tomb of Jesus the spirit of faith and patience, the spirit of courage and trust in God’s Providence, which never abandons His faithful servants, and in the midst of the very darkness of human passions, watches them like the apple of the eye. If we are faithful followers of Jesus Crucified, and His Spirit lives in us: then truth and righteousness should be dearer to us than anything in the world; and whoever values ​​righteousness and truth in this way is rarely not subject to hostility and persecution from the world. But no matter what human malice does to us, even if it lifts us to the cross, even if it seals our very tomb with the seal of Caiaphas; as long as we are faithful to the Lord, until then, in spite of everything, we are completely safe: for our Lord and Master is not like earthly patrons and intercessors, whose all power ends and disappears at the grave. No, He possesses the dead as well as the living, or better to say, before Him there are no dead, all are alive; The action of His power in all its strength, one might say, is revealed only beyond the boundaries of this life, which itself, in many ways, is still given over to the mercy of human passions. Therefore, finishing our word over this Shroud of our Savior, we will tell you in His own words: “Fear not those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul. Fear... the mighty one, plunging both soul and body into the fiery wilds: of him, I tell you, fear him!” (Matt. 10:28; Luke 12:5). Amen. You might be interested in: