Отдел третий. Дела и учение Иисуса Христа от первой до второй Пасхи

VI. In Judea. Expulsion of traders from the church. Conversation of Jesus Christ with Nicodemus. The last testimony of John the Baptist about Jesus Christ With the approach of Easter, a huge caravan of Easter pilgrims, as usual, reached Jerusalem from Galilee, and among them was Jesus Christ and His disciples. This visit to Jerusalem was marked by a very important event, which immediately drew the attention of not only the common people, but also learned scribes, Pharisees and priests to Jesus Christ. For the Easter holiday, large numbers of people usually flocked to Jerusalem from everywhere, and these countless crowds of pilgrims, who usually arrived with some money, naturally attracted many sellers and industrialists who tried to make money at the expense of simple-minded strangers. For donations to the church treasury and distribution of alms, small money was required, and various animals were required for sacrifices, and to satisfy these needs, the entire space on both sides of the eastern gates of the city up to Solomon's porch was turned into a vast marketplace, with countless rows of shops of various merchants and tables of money changers. If this marketplace were limited to the streets adjacent to the sacred building, then it would be excusable, although not entirely decent. Such markets, according to the testimony of pagan writers, took place near some famous pagan temples (for example, near the temple of Venus on Mount Eryx, in Sicily, and the Syrian goddess in Hierapolis). But the evil didn't stop there. The vast rooms and long arches adjacent to the court of the pagans presented too strong a temptation for the greed of the Jews. From the Talmud it is known that a certain Bava Ben-Buta was the first to introduce three thousand sheep into the court of the pagans, and therefore into the sacred precincts of the temple. Everyone quickly followed this blasphemous example. Traders' shops and money changers' stalls gradually penetrated into the sacred enclosure. And in the very courtyard of the pagans, emitting steam from the heat of a sultry April day and filling the temple with stench and uncleanliness, whole herds of sheep and oxen crowded around them, around which cattle dealers and pilgrims noisily carried out their transactions. Merchants with large wicker cages filled with pigeons offered cheap sacrifices to the poor, and under the shadow of the arched vaults formed by four rows of Corinthian columns, the money changers sat at their tables covered with piles of various small coins, and with eyes sparkling with greed, they kept accounts and calculations of their vile trade. And this is the entrance courtyard to the church of the Most High! the courtyard, the purpose of which was to testify that this church should be a house of prayer for all peoples, was turned into a place that, due to its untidiness, was more like a cattle pen and due to the bustle of trade, like a crowded bazaar. The lowing of oxen, the bleating of sheep, the Babylonian confusion of languages, the shouting and arguing of traders, the clinking of coins and the jingling of scales, which were perhaps not always correct - all this was heard from afar and drowned out the singing of the Levites and the prayers of the priests. Filled with righteous indignation at the sight of such base blasphemy, burning with an uncontrollable and holy indignation, Jesus, entering the church, made a scourge from the ropes that lay on the floor, and in order to cleanse the sacred court from its greatest desecration, first of all, drove out indiscriminately the sheep, oxen, and the low crowd that was engaged in buying and selling them. Then, approaching the money changers, He overturned their tables, scattering a carefully arranged pile of mismatched coins, the owners of which rushed to search for and collect them across the dirty floor. He ordered the pigeon sellers to come out as well, although not so strictly; pigeons were the victim of the poor man and their presence, as symbols of innocence and purity, was less offensive and desecrated the church, however, He also authoritatively said to the pigeon traders: “Take this from here” (John 2:16). To justify his actions, He addressed this entire confused crowd, angrily shouting about the losses they had suffered, and grumbling, with only a solemn reproach: “Do not make My Father’s house a house of trade” (John 2:16). And His disciples, seeing this outburst of righteous anger, remembered that David had once written about serving this very church: “Zeal for Your house consumes Me” (John 2:17). Struck by this sudden manifestation of righteous anger on the part of the unknown Galilean prophet, the crowd did not dare to openly protest against such an act, since it was only the establishment of disturbed order and decorum in the church. But He made an even stronger impression on more dignitaries - priests and Levites, scribes and Pharisees. Feeling remorse that they, the main guardians of religion and deanery, did not do this themselves, and at the same time secretly indignant at the stranger for intruding into the area of ​​their exclusive knowledge, they did not hesitate to approach Jesus Christ and began to demand from Him some sign as proof of their right to do so. Here for the first time these leaders of the Jewish people came forward with hidden bitterness against the Savior of the world and, at the sight of a righteous deed, they did not simply ask for proof sufficient to convince them of His divine right to such sovereign actions, but demanded a supernatural sign, which alone could, in their own consciousness, make their hardened and hardened hearts believe this right. Therefore, Christ rejected their demand, but at the same time made it clear that the sign they required would eventually be given to them. “Destroy,” He said, “this church, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Such an answer to the ears of the fierce interrogators could only sound like incomprehensible blasphemy, although they, with greater attention to these words, could have understood them better. But they did not sufficiently delve into the meaning of these words and in vain bothered themselves with reasoning about how it could be destroyed and in three days a church could be erected again, which required many years and countless wealth for its construction. “And He spoke of the church of His body” (Jn. 2:21), notes the Evangelist John, and adds that His disciples only fully understood these words after the resurrection of Christ. Meanwhile, the rumor about the appearance of an extraordinary teacher from Galilee spread throughout Jerusalem and managed to arouse keen interest even among the members of the Sanhedrin. One of them decided to find out more closely what kind of teacher he was; but in order not to expose himself to any criticism from other members of the supreme council, he decided to visit Jesus Christ at night in order to secretly and privately talk with Him. Having come to Him, he addressed Him with a somewhat restrained speech and not devoid of some Pharisaic arrogance. “Rabbi,” he said, we know that You are a teacher who came from God; for no one can do such miracles as You do, except God be with Him” (John 3:2). Tell me, what is the true path to salvation? – The Savior saw the sincerity of his heart and directly answered him with an expression of the great Christian truth: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). These words revealed the secret and method of the spiritual rebirth of man, and to Nicodemus, as a learned Jew, these words could not represent anything extraordinary. But he preferred to treat them with the air of a surprised co-questioner, pretended that he understood them in a physical sense, and with feigned naivety asked Jesus Christ: “How can a person be born when he is old? Can he really enter his mother’s womb another time and be born?” (John 3:4). But Christ did not pay attention to this empty questioning and directly gave a further explanation of his saying, declaring that He was not talking about carnal birth, but about spiritual rebirth, which is accomplished by water and the Spirit (in baptism), and if “that which is born of the flesh is flesh, then that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). All this might seem mysterious to Nicodemus, but the Spirit itself is a mystery. “The Spirit breathes where it wills, and you hear its voice, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes: this is what happens to everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Nicodemus responded only with an expression of extreme bewilderment. A pagan, in his opinion, might need a new birth when he was admitted to communication with the Jews; and he, the son of Abraham, a rabbi, a zealous guardian of the law, could he need this new birth? How can this be? (John 3:9) - “You are the teacher of Israel, and do you not know this?” (John 3:10) Jesus told him. Are you a member of the Sanhedrin, and do not know this first, simplest lesson necessary in preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven? If your knowledge is so carnal, so limited, if you stumble on the threshold, how can you understand those deepest truths that only one who comes from heaven can reveal? – Christ said this with some sadness and reproach, but then continued to reveal even greater and more extraordinary truths to this “teacher of Israel”; spoke about the salvation of man, which is made possible through the suffering and ascension of the Son of Man; about the love of God, revealed by Him in the sending of His Only Begotten Son, not in order to judge, but to save; about the forgiveness of all through faith in Him and about the condemnation that must befall those who with evil stubbornness reject the truths He proclaimed. These were the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, truths unheard of before, but now clearly revealed. They destroyed all previous convictions, overthrew all the immediate hopes of the elderly questioner; in order to comprehend new truths, he needed to forget everything that he had hitherto lived in his spiritual life and that he had learned since childhood. Nevertheless, we know from what follows that they sank deeply into his soul. As the conversation progressed, the night grew darker all around, and the Savior, indirectly reproaching the great rabbi for timidity, which forced him to hide behind the midnight darkness for a matter that was not a matter of darkness in need of concealment, but was a desire for truth and light, ended his conversation with the significant words that “he who does truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be revealed, because they are in made unto God” (John 3:21). What lessons were taught or what signs were performed by Christ during the remaining days of the first Easter, no further details are given in the Gospels. Having encountered stubborn opposition, the Savior left Jerusalem and went with His disciples to the banks of the Jordan, where His disciples began to baptize the people. This baptism had the same preparatory character as the baptism of John, who also continued to baptize, although he came out of the desert and stopped in Aenon, near Salim, an area abounding in streams and convenient for the stay of the flocking people. But the glory of Jesus Christ and His disciples had already eclipsed John and the number of his followers began to quickly decrease and become the number of followers of Christ. For some, however, the appearance of two teachers in one place could seem like a rivalry between them; Some of the Jews annoyed John's disciples with disputes about purification, and at the same time did not fail to mockingly point out that the new Teacher was taking away their followers. Distressed by this, the disciples approached their great teacher and, not without sadness, asked him how it happened that the One about whom John so solemnly testified on the banks of the Jordan now apparently ousted him from the field of public activity. “Behold, He baptizes, and everyone comes to Him” (John 3:26). John took this opportunity to pronounce his final testimony about Christ, remarkable both for the clarity of the presentation of the Gospel truth and for the depth of humility and self-denial. Reminding them that he always exposed the superiority of Christ over himself, he explained that this is precisely the law of God’s economy: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). And John obeys this law with full consciousness of his sacred duty. Not only does he not find a source of sorrow and despondency in this situation, but on the contrary, just as “the friend of the groom, standing and listening to him, rejoices with joy, hearing the voice of the groom” (John 3:29), so the Forerunner now rejoices, hearing the voice of the Messiah Christ. “This is my joy being fulfilled” (John 3:29) now. Although he himself was destined, as the last representative of the Old Testament, to remain outside the New Testament church, he nevertheless concluded by indicating to his disciples and all his listeners the path to it. His activity had now reached the limits intended for it, and he himself was now sending them out to receive the immeasurable gifts of the Holy Spirit to the One who came from heaven and above all on earth, promising eternal life to everyone who believes in the Son of God and the wrath of God for unbelief in Him (John 3:25–36). Soon after this testimony, John was persecuted by the Pharisees, and based on their slander, he was captured by Herod Antipas and imprisoned, where he languished until his death, although he had the opportunity to communicate with his former disciples and continued to follow the ministry of Jesus Christ. VII. Stay of Jesus Christ in Samaria. His conversation with the Samaritan woman Having forcibly stopped the public ministry of John the Baptist, the Pharisees did not rest on this success, and having heard that the new Teacher was attracting even more followers than John, they would not fail to use violence against Him. But since His hour had not yet come, He left Judea again to continue His ministry among the more receptive Galileans. The most direct and shortest route from Judea to Galilee led through Samaria. The Jews, however, rarely used this road and preferred a roundabout route through Perea, since there was irreconcilable enmity between them and the inhabitants of Samaria, which had lasted for several centuries. After the resettlement of the ten tribes of Israel into Assyrian captivity, Samaria was populated by pagan colonists from various regions of the Assyrian monarchy, fugitive residents of the Kingdom of Judah, as well as Israeli fugitives who found an opportunity to escape from Assyrian captivity. The first pagan settlers, frightened by the extraordinary proliferation of wild animals in the land of their new residence, especially lions, and explaining this as revenge on them from the God of this land, obtained one of the captive Jewish priests and with his help introduced the worship of Jehovah, whom they, however, hardly distinguished from their other purely pagan gods. At the same time, they also adopted the Law of Moses, which they subsequently observed even more strictly than the Jews themselves. Upon the return of the Jews from captivity, the Samaritans wanted to join them in order to form one people with them, but the Jewish leaders rejected this union, which could threaten the darkening of the true religion among the Jews themselves, and from that time on, fierce disputes began between the Jews and Samaritans about religious advantage, often turning into open hostility and even massacres. Despite the Jews, the Samaritans built their own church on Mount Gerizim, but it was destroyed by John Hyrcanus, who at the same time destroyed Samaria itself. They recognized their mountain as having more rights to religious benefits than Mount Moriah, since, according to their legend, on this very mountain there was an earthly paradise, on it all the rivers of the earth originated, Adam was created from its ashes, Noah’s Ark stopped on it, Abraham intended to sacrifice his son Isaac on it, Jacob prayed on it that night when he saw a wonderful ladder, Joshua built it on it upon entering The first altar to God was the promised land, and it was on it that twelve stone slabs were buried, on which the entire law of Moses was written. Every Samaritan turned his face to Mount Gerizim when praying, and they all believed that the Messiah Christ should first appear on its summit. Strictly adhering to the Mosaic Law, they blamed the Jews for accepting other saints. books other than the Pentateuch; They were devoted to Herod, whom the Jews hated, and remained faithful to the Romans. They caused all kinds of trouble to the Jews themselves, attacked their pilgrims, lit false fires to create confusion in their definition of the new moon, and to desecrate their church they once threw dead bones in it. For their part, the Jews treated the Samaritans with boundless hatred, considering them an unclean and cursed people. Their very name was considered shameful, and they looked at every Samaritan as possessed by a demon (John 8:48). Not a single true Jew considered it permissible to eat the food that the Samaritan touched, since this would mean the same as eating pork. Not a single Samaritan could become a proselyte, and their right to the resurrection of the dead was not recognized. A Jew could sometimes be on friendly terms with a pagan, but never with a Samaritan, and all transactions with the latter were considered invalid. The testimony of the Samaritans was not accepted in Jewish courts, and to accept any of them into your home meant directly incurring God's curse on yourself. But if such enmity existed in the heart of every Jew, then in any case the Savior did not look at the Samaritans that way. He saw in them the same children of one Heavenly Father as the Jews were, and going through Samaria, he found an opportunity to make one of the greatest revelations about his Divinity. Having set out early in the morning, the Savior arrived in Sychar, a small settlement located near the city of Shechem, by noon. There, on the eastern slope of Mount Gerizim, about two versts from the city, was the famous well of Jacob, on a plot of land that he had once given to his son Joseph. Over the well there was a canopy with seats for travelers, and since the Savior was extremely tired from the long journey under the scorching sun, He, having sent His disciples to the city to make the necessary purchases of provisions, remained alone at the well. And so, when He was resting here, a Samaritan woman came for water, who brought with her a jug with a long rope to get water from the sacred well, which was at least fifteen fathoms deep. Her appearance was completely unexpected, since women usually went to fetch water in the evening and, moreover, in whole parties. But she preferred to stock up on water at this particular inopportune time, as if avoiding meeting other women, among whom she did not enjoy a good reputation. Suffering from thirst, Jesus Christ could not help but rejoice at her arrival, and as soon as she scooped up water with a jug, He turned to her with a request: “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7). Judging by his clothes and language, the woman immediately saw that He was a Jew, and she remarked to Him in surprise: “How can you, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink? for Jews do not communicate with Samaritans” (John 4:9). The Savior saw her innocence and wanted not only to enlighten her with great truths, which the greatest sages of the ancient world were not given the ability to comprehend, but also to tell her a terrible revelation about Himself. Raising her thought from simple material water, which temporarily quenches bodily thirst, He reminded her of the existence of another water - a gift of God, which quenches spiritual thirst. “If you knew the gift of God, He said to the surprised woman, and Who says to you: Give Me a drink, then you yourself would ask Him, and He would give you living water” (John 4:10). The thought was clear, but not for the simple mind of the Samaritan woman, and she could only notice in surprise how and where He could get this living water - certainly not in this well, since He had nothing to draw from it. But if He has other, better water, then is He really higher than their father Jacob, who himself and his family drank from this very well, considering it fit and good even for himself? Her curiosity was apparently extremely touched by such a statement, and she was ready to continue the conversation further. This water is undoubtedly good, the Savior answered her; but “everyone who drinks this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life” (John 4:13–14). Becoming more and more interested and feeling that she sees an extraordinary Man before her, the woman finally asks Him for this living water; but her thoughts have not yet fully comprehended the essence of this water, and she asks for it only so that, having drunk it, she will no longer have thirst and will not come here again for water. But the explanations made were enough to awaken the Samaritan woman’s thoughts to sublime subjects, and the Savior, abruptly breaking off this conversation, addressed her with words that were supposed to show her that she was dealing with the Knower of the Heart. “Go,” He said to her, call your husband and come here” (John 4:16). These words painfully touched the woman’s conscience, and she hastened to answer, embarrassed, that she did not have a husband. But this was followed by an answer that immediately revealed all the secrets of her sinful life. “You said the truth that you have no husband: for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this is what you said rightly” (John 4:17–18). These words of the Heartbreaker struck her like a thunderbolt, and she reverently exclaimed: “Lord! I see that You are a prophet” (John 4:19), and at that time the thought suddenly dawned on her: isn’t the Jewish faith right, from which such prophets can appear? And so from her own life, on which she certainly did not want to dwell any longer, her living thought quickly transferred to another question, because of which there was constantly a fierce dispute between her people and the compatriots of the One with whom she spoke, a question that was the cause of their mutual enmity. The chance brought her together with the great Teacher: could it be possible to use it to settle the endless dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans about whether Jerusalem itself, or Gerizim, should be considered the sacred place of Palestine: Jerusalem, where Solomon built the church, or Gerizim, this ancient sanctuary, where Joshua pronounced his blessings and where Abraham was preparing to sacrifice his son? Pointing to the top of the mountain, rising eight hundred feet above them and crowned with the ruins of the ancient church of Manasseh, destroyed by Hyrcanus, she proposed to the Savior the question that was occupying her: “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you say that the place where they should worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:20); who is right? Briefly and only sideways, the Savior resolved her bewilderment. In the dispute with the Samaritans, the Jews undoubtedly had more truth on their side. Jerusalem was the place chosen by God Himself; Compared to the mixed and crude cult of Samaria, Judaism was much purer and more correct. But, touching upon the earthly dispute, the Savior uttered to her a great and memorable prophecy that the time would come, even now has come, “when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (John 4:21) true worshipers will worship the Father, but in every place they will worship Him in spirit and truth. “God is spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Samaritan woman was deeply touched and amazed; but how could a simple random word from an unknown stranger renounce her faith, in which she and her fathers were born and raised? It is better to postpone the final decision on this and similar issues and wait until the Messiah comes, Who will finally resolve all perplexities and reveal all truth. And then Jesus Christ uttered simple but terrible words: there is no need to wait for this; The Messiah has come, and “it is I who speak to you” (John 4:26). His birth was first revealed at night to a few unknown and ignorant shepherds; His first full announcement of his messiahship was made at the well on a languid afternoon to a lonely, unknown Samaritan woman. And to this poor, sinful, ignorant Samaritan woman, immortal words were spoken, in which Jesus Christ Himself solemnly revealed Himself as the Messiah and Savior of the world. Meanwhile, the disciples returned from the city and were extremely surprised that their Teacher was talking alone with a woman. In the east, with a low view of women in general, open communication with her was considered indecent, and even more so with a woman with an uncovered face. But the rule was applied with greater severity to teachers and rabbis, so that for them it was considered an extreme disgrace to talk to a woman on the street, even to her own wife. It is even more indecent to talk to her about religion and law. “It is better to burn the words of the law,” says one of the strict rabbis, than to entrust them to a woman.” Meanwhile, the disciples saw that Jesus Christ was having a long and serious conversation with a woman - and, moreover, apparently a sinner! - obviously specifically about matters of religion and law. However, they did not dare to notice to Him about this and started talking about the purchases they had made. Meanwhile, the woman, having forgotten even her waterpot from the amazement that struck her, ran to the city to tell about her wonderful meeting. A Man appeared who revealed to her the very secrets of her life. Isn't He the Messiah? The Samaritans, who in all the Gospel remarks about them are simpler and more susceptible to conviction than the Jews, soon fled from the city at her direction, and when their approach was already visible, the disciples urged the Savior to eat, because it was already past noon, and He was so exhausted on the way. But every hunger in Him was satisfied by satisfying the purpose of His ministry. “I have food, He said, which you do not know” (John 4:32). Didn’t they know that from childhood He did not live by bread alone? But the disciples, with their usual simplicity, did not understand this remark and thought that probably someone had brought Him something to eat. One can imagine how difficult it was for Him at every step, even among His own chosen ones, to encounter such a strange inability to understand deeper spiritual thoughts. But there was no impatience in Him Who was meek and lowly in heart. “My food,” He said, “is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). And then, pointing to the people of Shechem who were flocking to Him across the plain, He continued: You say that there are still four months until the harvest. Look at these fields, how they have turned yellow for spiritual harvest. You will joyfully reap the harvest that I have sown through labor and suffering; and I, the sower, rejoice at the thought of this joy to come (John 4:35–37). A personal conversation with Christ convinced many of the Samaritans much more deeply than the story of the woman to whom He first revealed Himself, that He was the long-awaited Savior of the world, Christ. Graciously condescending to their request to stay with them. Jesus Christ arrived there for two days with his disciples, and this two-day teaching was undoubtedly the main reason for the numerous conversions to Christ among them in subsequent times (Acts 8:5). And for his part, Christ more than once rewarded this faith of the Samaritans, presenting them as more virtuous than the Jews, who were rigid in their narrow legalism. So in the immortal parable about love for one’s neighbor, He set up the Samaritan as an example of it. Of the ten healed lepers, only one Samaritan turned out to be grateful. The simpler and healthier souls of the Samaritans turned out to be more inclined and capable of entering the Kingdom of God than the proud souls who imagined themselves to be the exclusive sons of Abraham and heirs of the promises given to him. VIII. In Galilee. Christ's healing of a courtier's son. Sermon at the Nazareth Synagogue From Samaria, the Savior, continuing his journey, went to Galilee, but not to Nazareth, where the inhabitants, accustomed to seeing Him in everyday conditions of life, as a member of one well-known family of carpenters, due to ordinary human weakness, were least of all able to look at Him as a prophet, and even less as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Pointing to this circumstance, He “He Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country” (John 4:44). In other Galilean cities, on the contrary, the ground had already been prepared for His reception, since in addition to His performance of the well-known miracle in Cana of Galilee, many of the Galileans were eyewitnesses of “what He did in Jerusalem on the feast” (John 4:45). And the Savior again arrived “to Cana of Galilee, where he turned water into wine” (John 4:46). The appearance in this small town of a Man who performed a miracle known to everyone could not remain secret for long. Rumors about Him quickly spread to neighboring cities and villages and even penetrated to the palace of Herod Antipas in neighboring Capernaum. Hearing about this, one of the latter’s courtiers deliberately came to Him in Cana to ask Him to come to him in Capernaum and heal his dying son. But the courtier was guided not so much by faith in the One Whom he considered capable of healing his son, but rather by parental self-love, and looked at Jesus Christ as some simple charitable doctor, ready to work on healing the sick, without having any higher goals. For this he had to suffer some reproach from the Savior, who told him that faith in him must be awakened by such powerful means as signs and wonders. But yielding to the deep concern of his father, He sent him away with the assurance that his son was healthy. This conversation took place at seven o’clock, that is, in our opinion, at one o’clock in the afternoon. The courtier could have returned to Capernaum on the same day, because Cana was no more than five hours' journey from Capernaum. But the father’s soul was calmed by faith in the promise of Christ, and he spent the night somewhere along the way. The next day, his servants met him on the road and told him that his son had recovered, and precisely at that hour, as it turned out, when Jesus had given him hope. This was the second time that Christ commemorated his stay in Galilee by performing an important miracle. “And he (the nobleman) and all his house believed” (John 4:53). The position of the courtier gave the miracle widespread fame, and this undoubtedly contributed to the fact that during this bright, as yet unclouded period of Christ’s ministry for the salvation of suffering humanity, He was greeted everywhere with joy and delight. The rumor of a new great miracle quickly spread throughout all the surrounding cities and towns, which densely humiliated the beautiful coast of the magnificent Lake of Gennesaret, and the name of Jesus as a new prophet was on everyone’s lips. But the miracles of Christ had as their goal the awakening of the dormant consciousness of the people to the perception of the great truths of the Gospel, and taking advantage of the impression made, the Savior began to teach the people in the synagogues and “was glorified by everyone” (Luke 4:15). For now He limited His preaching to cities that were foreign to Him, but the turn came to His native Nazareth. Assuming that the rumor about Him had managed to spread to Nazareth and had also prepared the ground for preaching, He finally deigned to reveal Himself in His hometown. Arriving in Nazareth, on the very first Sabbath day He entered the synagogue, where pilgrims gathered to pray and be edified in the word of God. In Nazareth, as a small city with no more than ten thousand inhabitants, there was only one synagogue. As one can judge from the ruins of ancient synagogues that have survived here and there, it was a simple rectangular building, facing the “sanctuary” towards Jerusalem, which since the time of Solomon had become a sacred place where every Jew turned his face in prayer. In richer cities, the synagogue was built of white marble and decorated with sculptural decorations, carved images of grape leaves and grapes, a blossoming rod and a vessel with manna. Inside there were seats on one side for the men, and on the other, behind bars, for the women, who sat wrapped in their long veils. At one end was placed a reliquary or box made of painted wood containing St. Scripture, and to the side there was a high seat for the reader and preacher. Strictly speaking, there was no clergy, and the service itself in the synagogue was very simple. After the prayer, two passages from Scripture were usually read, one from the law and one from the prophets, and since there were no special dedicated persons to perform divine services (the ministry of priests and Levites was limited to one temple in Jerusalem), these readings could not only be read by anyone who knew how, having only received permission from the head of the synagogue, but could also add his own interpretation or edification. The reading from the Pentateuch was already over, and only the day's reading from the prophets remained to be read. The Savior opened the scroll given to Him and found a passage from the 61st chapter of the prophet Isaiah. The entire congregation stood to listen to the reading. The reading usually lasted from three verses to twenty; but Jesus Christ read only the first two verses, which read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, for He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Then He closed the scroll and, as was the custom of the Jews, sat down to preach a sermon and address the listeners with edification. The passage He read was in itself very remarkable, but it received even more grandeur and solemnity in the mouth of the One in whom it was fulfilled. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on God with an expression of intense attention. The preacher, and everyone with bated breath and trembling hearts listened to His sermon, in which He revealed that He Himself was the Messiah whom the great prophet announced seven hundred years ago. His words sounded with love, power and strength, and caused involuntary amazement in everyone. But as the sermon progressed, He began to notice a change in the mood of the listeners, and it grew as these rude and stiff-necked Nazarenes began to understand the full meaning of His words. It was the custom of the Jews, during meetings in the synagogues, to openly express their feelings about this or that sermon, and Christ soon clearly heard the murmur of indignation and indignation running through the meeting. The eyes of the listeners, hitherto fixed on Him with an expression of reverent surprise, began to sparkle with the evil fire of envy and hatred. “Isn’t this a carpenter? Isn’t He the brother of the same artisans as He Himself - James, Josiah, Simon, Judah, and don’t His sisters live among us? Don’t we know that even His own family does not believe in Him?” (Mark 6:3). Such and similar exclamations began to be heard among the listeners. This was not a young learned rabbi from the schools of the famous teachers and lawyers of that time (Gamaliel or Shammai), and yet He spoke with an authority that even the great scribes did not assume! Even the great Hillel, when it proved impossible to convince on the basis of his own teaching, could count on success only by appealing to the authority of former lawyers. This same Teacher did not refer to anyone, and, moreover, a Teacher who was only their city carpenter! What right did He have to teach? How could He even know writing well, having never studied at the highest rabbinical schools? – The Savior did not ignore this change in his listeners, and directly told them that He was the very Jesus whom they knew well before, and fully understood their condition, since “truly, no prophet is accepted in his own country” (Mark 6:4). True, they can say that as a prophet He should have shown His signs and wonders not in neighboring cities, where He is little known, but precisely in His hometown, where He is known to everyone, young and old, and therefore the sarcastic proverb naturally was on their tongues: “doctor! heal Yourself” (Luke 4:23), that is, not only in words, but in fact show Your supernatural power, rumors of the manifestation of which in Capernaum reached them. But the Savior answered them that miracles are not limited to locality and kinship and, in order to perform them, require a certain spiritual predisposition to accept them. After all, they know from the Old Testament that “there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months, so that there was a great famine throughout the whole land, and Elijah was not sent to any of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath of Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel under the prophet Elisha, and not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:25–27). These calm arguments based on historical examples further irritated the listeners, who in their prejudice did not want to listen to the words of truth. What of this? they shouted. Are they, in His opinion, in the opinion of this “carpenter,” no better than pagans and lepers? This was above all that they could bear from their fellow city dweller, whom they wanted to rank with themselves, and at these words their long-restrained rage burst out openly. The preacher was interrupted now not by a murmur of indignation, but by a roar of rage. At one of those outbursts of bloodthirsty excitement that distinguished this passionate, violent, fiery people - a people whose minds were excited by storms as unexpected as those that instantly enraged the mirror surface of their lake, they all jumped up, grabbed Him, took Him out of the city and there dragged them to the top of the mountain. Nazareth nests in the southern depression of the mountain; There are a lot of steep cliffs sticking out on its slopes, and two thousand years ago these cliffs were probably even much steeper and steeper. They dragged Jesus to one of these rocky cliffs to overthrow Him. The stiff-necked Nazarenes were ready to commit a crime that would cover them with eternal shame. But they were delivered from this crime by the Savior Himself. The hour had not yet come when He had to suffer death for the sins of mankind, and therefore, “having passed through the midst” of fellow citizens blinded by the violent rage, “He withdrew” (Luke 4:30). He left them forever; His word was never heard again in the synagogue of Nazareth, and He finally moved to the neighboring city of Capernaum, where there was more opportunity and space for preaching and charitable activities. IX. Wonderful fishing on Lake Galilee. Healing of the demoniac and the paralytic and many others in Capernaum. Call to the Apostleship of the Publican Matthew Capernaum was located on the very shore of Lake Gennesaret and was the industrial and intellectual center of the entire surrounding area. As a result of this, the activity of the Savior, concentrated for a considerable time in this city, which, as it were, became “His own city”, replacing Nazareth for Him, could conveniently extend not only to all neighboring cities and villages, but also to more distant areas, such as for example. Damascus, Tire and Sidon, with which Capernaum was connected by busy routes of communication. There was constantly lively traffic along these roads, and therefore Christ, even on the road from Nazareth to Capernaum, could engage in preaching, which gathered more and more people around Him. When He arrived at the very shore of the lake, the crowd was already very large, and the people were greedily pressing in to hear the blessed word. Many were crowded to the point that the very position of the divine Preacher became unsafe on the shore of the lake. Fortunately, He saw two fishing boats on the lake, and since one of them turned out to be the boat of His disciples, who, having not yet received the final calling to leave everything earthly and follow God. Teacher, in their spare time they were engaged in their usual craft, then He shouted to the apostle. Peter to drive up to the shore and take Him into the boat. Then He ordered to sail a little from the shore, so that He could teach the people from the boat. From this comfortable and free from any cramped pulpit, He taught the people, swaying on the azure ripples of the lake, sparkling under the morning rays of the sun. And when His preaching ended, He thought not about Himself and His weariness, but about His poor, failed disciples. He knew that their labor was in vain; He noticed that during His conversation they, being busy with their craft, at the same time listened to His teaching and prepared for a future business that promised them more success. To maintain good spirits in them, He ordered Peter to sail to the depths and again cast his nets for fishing. Peter was in a despondent mood, but a word from Him whom he so deeply revered and whose power he had already witnessed so many times was enough for him. And his faith was rewarded. The nets were instantly filled with many fish. The students perked up and began to fuss. Simon and Andrew informed Zebedee and his sons with the workers to sail here with their boat and help them pull out an extraordinary catch that threatened to break through the very nets. Both boats were filled to the brim with cargo, and immediately after finishing the work, Peter, recognizing the full power of the miracle, with his characteristic impulse fell to the knees of Jesus and, in fear of such closeness to Him, the great miracle worker exclaimed: “Depart from me, Lord! because I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). A ray of supernatural insight revealed to him both his own sinful unworthiness and who was with him in the boat. It was a cry of self-accusation, the first impulse of fear and amazement - those feelings that later grew to the level of adoration and love. Peter did not mean in the proper sense “get away from me,” but only meant—and this was known to the Knower of the Heart: “I am extremely unworthy to be near You, but let me stay.” And to this came an encouraging answer: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:10). The Savior, as in all of His teaching, took advantage of the inner meaning of existing circumstances. Beside them in the boat lay heaps of the lively spoils of the lake, the stirring of which, however, was already beginning to subside - before the eternal peace of death. Henceforth this sinful man, washed and cleansed, redeemed and sanctified, was to pursue, in a nobler work, the prey which, being caught in the snare of the Gospel, would not die, but live forever. Both his brother and his fellow fishermen were also to become “fishers of men.” Then the Savior went to Capernaum itself and there began to manifest His preaching and charitable activities on an extensive scale. As in Nazareth, He first of all went to the synagogue, where he taught the people, who had gathered in large numbers to listen to the great Preacher. This time the sermon was disrupted not by the stormy murmur of the congregation, but by one unfortunate person who, possessed by the power of malice, was unable to endure the presence of the Son of God, who had come to overthrow the kingdom of malice. In the midst of the silent silence of the meeting, wholly absorbed in the flow of the divine gospel, suddenly there was a piercing cry of the unfortunate man, who began to frantically shout: “Leave me alone; What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us; I know You, who You are, the Holy One of God” (Luke 4:34). Such unfortunate people, possessed by unclean spirits, in ancient times did not use any shelters, and their illness was considered incurable. But Christ wanted to openly show that He came to save the lost. He turned to the raging sufferer and, recognizing him as a slave of the unclean spirit, turned to the spirit with a stern command: “shut up and come out of him.” The power of the divine command was irresistible. The possessed man fell to the ground in terrible convulsions, screaming and writhing. But all this soon passed. The man got up healthy; everything about him showed that he had freed himself from the force that had oppressed him, and was now in his right mind. Never before had such a great and astonishing miracle been performed, and all those present went home with a feeling of indescribable amazement. Leaving the synagogue, Christ retired to Simon's house. Here He was also met with a plea for help in illness and suffering. Simon, whom He had already forever called to the apostleship, was married (1 Cor. 9:5), and his mother-in-law was in a severe fit of fever (Luke 4:38). The saddened family turned to Christ with a prayer for help. The Savior stopped over the sick woman, took her hand, raised her and forbade her fever; His voice, shaking her entire being, conquered the sources of the disease, and the sick woman, instantly recovered, stood up and served them with housework (Luke 4:39). The strict observance of the Sabbath, for which the Jews were distinguished, gave the Savior a short period of rest and refreshment, but the sun had just begun to set when a multitude of people, waiting only for the complete end of the Sabbath hours, began to seek His help. From all over the city, people crowded at the doors of His humble dwelling, bringing with them the demon-possessed and the sick of all kinds, and Christ healed them, involuntarily compassionate with suffering humanity. The crowd was so great that not all the sick could get to the Savior, and one paralytic was brought down to him through the dismantled roof of the house. For this courage, which proved the steadfastness of his faith, he received not only physical healing, but also forgiveness of sins. The rumor about this miraculous event spread throughout Galilee and Perea, and even to the remote borders of Syria (Matthew 4:24), and one can imagine how much the tired Savior needed prolonged rest after this. But the best and most pleasant rest for Him was solitude and silence, where He, undisturbed by anyone, could be alone with His Heavenly Father. The plain of Gennesaret was still shrouded in the deep darkness that comes before dawn when, unnoticed by anyone, Jesus arose and withdrew to a certain deserted place, and there strengthened His spirit with quiet prayer. When morning came, He was again ready to continue His saving ministry. But His benefits were not to be limited to Capernaum alone. There were many other cities and villages nearby that also needed enlightenment and charity, and Christ wanted to extend His ministry to these cities. “Let us go,” He said to His disciples, to the neighboring villages and cities, so that I may preach the Kingdom of God there too, for for this I was sent” (Mark 1:38). But before going to these cities, He found it opportune to fill the host of His constant disciples with another member, whose calling took place under remarkable circumstances. There was a customs house in or near Capernaum to collect duties. Being located at the junction of roads leading to Tire, Damascus, Jerusalem and Sepphoris, this city was a busy trading center of the country, and therefore represented a convenient place for collecting taxes and duties. These taxes were especially hated by the Jews. The very obligation to pay them hurt their most sacred feelings. They were not only a sign of political slavery, but also a constant and terrible evidence that God had, as it were, abandoned his people and that all the bright messianic hopes and promises with which their previous historical life was full had faded in the terrible darkness of the foreign yoke of cruel and arrogant conquerors; hence the very payment of them for the sensitive and scrupulous soul of true Jews seemed almost apostasy. It seemed to be a violation of the fundamental principles of theocracy and could be excused only under the condition of inevitable coercion. It is not surprising, therefore, that the officials who collected these taxes were extremely unloved by the people. It must be remembered that in remote areas the collectors were not Roman officials - the real publicani, but their simple subordinates, often recruited from the scum of society, and they were so famous for their abuses that they were looked at almost with horror and were always ranked in the same category with harlots and sinners. And if the Jew could hardly convince himself of the correctness of paying taxes, then one can imagine what a terrible crime it was in his eyes to become an instrument, and, moreover, of dubious integrity, in collecting them. If they hated the publican in general, then it is understandable what disgust the publican from the Jews aroused among the people. But the One who came to seek and save the lost, who could establish Christian holiness in the midst of pagan corruption, could even make an Apostle and the first evangelist of a new and living faith out of a Jewish tax collector. When choosing the Apostles, He was guided not by any external motives, but by penetrating into the depths of a person’s heart. He rejected an important scribe (Matthew 8:19) and chose a despised and hated tax collector. It was a glorious work of divine insight and perfect love for mankind, and St. Matthew fully justified him, turning his knowledge of writing to a sacred cause and becoming the first biography of his Savior and Lord. One might think that Matthew heard some of the conversations and saw some of the miracles of Christ. His heart was touched by them, and in the eyes of the One who did not despise anyone and did not disdain anyone, this publican, even when he was still sitting at the “collection of duties,” was already ready for a calling. One word was enough for him: “follow me” (Matthew 9:9). It showed Matthew that the Lord loved him and was ready to use him as the chosen instrument in spreading the gospel in the Kingdom of God, and therefore it was enough to force the publican to overcome all the temptations of greed and break with his previous occupation. “And he arose and followed Him” (Matthew 9:9), morally reborn by the wonderful power of all-forgiving and redeeming love. And so, in the community of six devoted disciples-apostles, the Savior walked around cities and villages along the shores of Lake Gennesaret, everywhere preaching the Gospel of salvation and healing the sick and suffering. A whole year passed in these tireless labors, and the great Jewish holiday approached again. As usual, Jesus Christ went to Jerusalem, and there events took place that marked a new period in the earthly life of the Savior. You might be interested in: