Беседа 48

John 7:1–2. After this, Jesus walked through Galilee... The Jewish holiday was approaching - the setting up of tabernacles. 1. The jealousy of the Jews and the unbelief of the relatives of Jesus Christ. – 2. James, brother of the Lord, first bishop of Jerusalem. – 3. We must imitate the meekness and goodness of Jesus Christ. – You need to patiently endure ridicule, lies and insults. – Anger and its consequences. - Means against him. 1. There is nothing worse than envy and anger. Through them, death entered the world. When the devil saw a man in honor, he could not bear his prosperity and did everything to destroy him. And everywhere from this root you can see such a fruit. So Abel was killed: so David almost died; so are many other righteous people. The Jews also became Christ-killers, as the evangelist pointed out with the words: “After this Jesus walked through Galilee,” because he did not have the power “to walk through Judea... because the Jews sought to kill Him.” What are you saying, blessed John? The One who could do whatever he wanted had no power? Who said: “Whom are you seeking” (John 18:4), and threw them back, who could be present and not be visible - He had no power? How then did He appear among them and in the middle of the church, during a holiday, at a public meeting, and in the presence of murderers, talked with them about what irritated them most? They were surprised at this, saying: “Isn’t this the one they are trying to kill? Behold, He speaks openly, and they say nothing to Him” (John 7:25–26). What are these mysterious words? No, the evangelist said this not so that we would consider his words mysterious, but to show that Christ revealed both the properties of deity and the properties of humanity. Thus, when he says that Christ had no power, he speaks of Him as a man, since He did many things like a man; and when he says that He stood among them, and they did not restrain Him, it obviously indicates the power of His deity. He ran away as a man and appeared as God, being truly both. That the attackers could not restrain Him when He was among them showed His invincibility and invincibility; and what He evaded, by this He confirmed His incarnation and certified it, so that neither Paul of Samosata, nor Marcion, nor those infected with their illness could say anything. So, with this He stops everyone's mouth. “After this there was a feast of the Jews—the setting up of tabernacles.” The expression: “after this” means nothing more than that (the evangelist) for the sake of brevity omitted a lot of time that elapsed between two events. And this is evident from the fact that when Christ was sitting on the mountain, then there was the Feast of Passover (John 6:3-4), and now (the Evangelist) mentions the Feast of Tabernacles. Thus, of the events over the course of five months, he did not tell us about anything else and did not convey anything else, except for the miracle over the loaves and the conversation to the people who ate the loaves. Meanwhile, Christ constantly performed miracles and talked not only during the day and evening, but often at night. So, for example, according to all the evangelists, He appeared to the disciples at night. Why did they omit those events? Because it was impossible to retell everything. In addition, they especially tried to talk about what could cause any censure or controversy on the part of the Jews. There were many events similar to those (which are omitted), and therefore the evangelists, having written many times that Christ healed the sick and raised the dead, and aroused surprise, sometimes do not talk about it. But when they had to talk about something unusual, or tell something that could, apparently, serve as a reproach for Him, they narrate this. So, now the evangelist notices that His brothers did not believe in Him, although this circumstance contains quite a bit of reproach for Him. The love of truth of the evangelists is truly worthy of surprise, as they are not ashamed to talk about what, apparently, serves to disgrace the Teacher, and even try to talk more about this than about anything else. That is why now John, having gone through many in silence—signs, wonders, and conversations of Christ—immediately proceeded to the next one. “Then,” he says, “His brothers said to Him: Get out of here and go to Judea, so that Your disciples may see the works that You do” (John 7:3). “For no one does anything in secret, and seeks to be known. ...Show yourself to the world. For neither did His brothers believe in Him” (John 7:4–5). What kind of unbelief is there, you say, when they ask Him to work miracles? Even very big. Unbelief is expressed both in their words, and in their courage, and in their inappropriate daring. They thought that they, as relatives, could speak freely with Him. Their requests are apparently friendly, but there is a lot of offensiveness in their words: with them they reproach Him for both cowardice and love of glory. Having said: “no one does anything in secret,” they thereby accuse Him of cowardice and at the same time express suspicion of His deeds, and by adding: “seeks to be known,” they accuse Him of being famous. 2. But pay attention to the power of Christ. Of those who said this, one was later the first bishop of Jerusalem, namely blessed James, about whom Paul says: “But I saw no other of the apostles except James the brother of the Lord” (Gal. 1:19). They also say that Judas became worthy of wonder. Although they were present in Cana when the water was turned into wine, they still did not gain any benefit from it. Why do they have such unbelief? From a bad disposition of soul and envy: famous relatives are somehow usually envied by not so much famous relatives. Who do they call students here? The people who followed Christ, not the twelve (apostles). What about Christ? Look how briefly He answered. He didn’t say: who are you that you give Me such advice and teach Me? And what? “My time has not yet come” (John 7:6). It seems to me that He is hinting at something else here. Perhaps, out of envy, they even plotted to betray Him to the Jews, and therefore, discovering this, He says: “My time has not yet come,” i.e. time of the cross and death. Why are you rushing to kill Me ahead of time? “And for you there is always time.” As if he were saying this: even if you constantly deal with the Jews, they will not kill you, because you are jealous about the same things that they are about; and they are ready to kill Me immediately. Thus, there is always time for you to handle them without being exposed to danger; and for Me the time will be when the time of the cross comes, when I need to die. And that He really understands this is evident from the following words: “the world cannot hate you” (John 7:7). How can he hate those who want the same thing with him and covet the same thing? “But he hates Me, because I testify about him that his deeds are evil,” i.e. He hates Me because I rebuke and denounce. Let us learn from here to refrain from anger and not to get angry when insignificant people advise us to do something. If Christ with meekness endured the advice of unbelieving people, who advised what should not have been advised, and advised not from a good disposition, then what kind of forgiveness will we receive, we are earth and ashes, if we are indignant at the advisers, when they are even a little lower than us, considering their advice unworthy of us? Look, with what meekness Christ removes their accusation from Himself. To their words: “show yourself to the world,” He says: “the world cannot hate you, but it hates me,” and this destroys their accusation. Not only, he says, I do not seek glory from people, but I also constantly denounce them, although I know that this gives rise to hatred towards Me and prepares death for me. When, do you say, did He reprove? But when did he stop denouncing? Did He not say: “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: Moses has an accuser against you” (John 5:45); also: “I know you: you do not have the love of God in yourselves” (John 5:42); and again: “How can you believe when you receive glory from people, but do not seek the glory that is from the One God?” (John 5:44). Do you see how by all this He showed that hatred of Him came from His open reproofs, and not from breaking the Sabbath? And why does He send them to the holiday, saying: “You go to the holiday; but I will not go yet” (John 7:8)? To show that He does not need them and does not want them to flatter Him, and that He allows them to observe Jewish rites. But how, you say, did He go to the holiday when before he said: “I won’t go”? He didn’t just say: “I won’t go,” but added: now, that is. with you: “because My time is not yet fulfilled.” But He was about to be crucified next Easter, so why shouldn’t He go? If he did not go because His time had not yet come, then he should not have walked at all. But He did not go to suffer, but to teach them. Why secretly? He could, of course, go openly and be among the Jews and hold back their furious attack, which he often did; but He did not want to act this way always. If He had come clearly and again struck them with blindness, then He would have demonstrated His deity more clearly and revealed it even more, which should not have been done yet. But since they (His brothers) thought that He remained out of cowardice, then (by His appearance on the holiday) He, on the contrary, shows that He, knowing in advance the time at which He would suffer, with the onset of this time, would quite willingly go to Jerusalem. However, it seems to me that in the words: “you go,” He also expresses the following thought: do not think that I am forcing you to stay with Me against your will; and in the next ones: “My time is not yet fulfilled” shows that He still had to perform miracles and speak conversations, so that more people would believe and the disciples would become stronger, seeing the boldness of the Teacher and everything that He endured. 3. Let us learn from what has been said about the Savior’s compliance and meekness: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29), and let us reject all anger. If anyone rebels against us, we will be humble. If anyone treats us impudently, we will be obliging. If someone sarcastic and torment us with ridicule and curses, we will not respond in kind, so as not to destroy ourselves by taking revenge on ourselves. Anger is a beast, a cruel and fierce beast. To tame him, let us recite to ourselves verses from the Divine Scripture and say: “you are dust” and “ashes” (Gen. 3:19, 18:27), and: “that the earth and ashes are proud” (Sir.10:9), also: “the movement of anger is a fall for a person” (Sir.1:22), and also: “an angry man is not comely” (Prov. 11:25). Truly there is nothing worse, nothing uglier than an angry face; if - faces, then even more so - souls. Just as when the dirt is torn apart, there is usually a stench, so when the soul is outraged by anger, a great disgrace appears. But I can’t, you say, endure the reproaches of my enemies. Why, tell me? If the enemy told the truth, then, even before him, you yourself should have reproached yourself, and you should thank him for his reproof; if it’s a lie, don’t pay attention to it. He called you a beggar - laugh at that. Called him low or senseless, feel sorry for him, because whoever says to his brother, “You are foolish,” is subject to fiery hell” (Matthew 5:22). So, when someone begins to reproach you, think about the punishment to which he is subject, and not only will you not be angry, but you will also shed tears. No one is angry with those possessed by fever or fever, but everyone regrets such people and weeps. And such is an angry soul. If you want to take revenge, keep silent, and thereby deal a mortal blow to the enemy. If you respond to reproach with reproach, you will light a fire. But those present, you say, will accuse me of cowardice if I remain silent. They will not accuse you of cowardice, but will marvel at your wisdom. If, having been reproached, you become upset, then through this you will reproach yourself, because you will make you think that what is said about you is true. Why, tell me, does a rich man laugh when he hears that he is called a beggar? Is it because he is not aware of his poverty? Likewise, if we respond to abusive words with laughter, then we will provide the greatest proof that we are not aware of what we are being reproached for. Moreover, how long should we be afraid of human judgments? How long will we despise the Lord who is common to all and cling to the flesh? “If there is envy, strife, and disagreement among you, are you not carnal?” (1 Cor. 3:3). Let us be spiritual and curb this terrible beast. Between anger and rage, there is no difference; anger is the same demonic possession, only temporary, or even worse than demonic possession. The possessed may still receive forgiveness; and the one who is angry will be subjected to a thousand torments, as one who voluntarily strives into the abyss of destruction. And even before the future Gehenna, he is already suffering punishment here, since all night and all day he carries in the thoughts of his soul incessant confusion and an unabating storm. So, in order to get rid of both punishment in the present life and torment in the future, let us reject this passion and show all meekness and compliance. Through this we will find peace for our souls both here and in the kingdom of heaven, which may we all be worthy of, by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, be glory now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: