— Что воздам я, несчастный, погибающий, Господу моему, так много воздавшему мне?

17 декабря 1950 г.

Неделя 31. О иерихонском слепом

Слышали вы в нынешнем Евангельском чтении повествование о чудесном исцелении слепого в Иерихоне Господом нашим Иисусом Христом.

Обратили ли вы внимание на то, как настойчиво, как усиленно он просил у Господа об исцелении? Он просил, он вопиял, он умолял, и апостолы Христовы запрещали ему кричать, чтобы не беспокоил Господа.

А Господь подозвал его и возвратил ему зрение.

Помните ли о том, как настойчиво умоляла язычница-сирофиникиянка Господа Иисуса Христа об исцелении ее беснующейся дочери? Помните ли, с какой настойчивостью искала кровоточивая женщина исцеления от Него, надеясь, что одним прикосновением к одежде Его получит исцеление?

Are not all these examples for us? Is it not a teaching that we, too, when we are in need of God's grace, must persistently, intensely cry out to Him, ask, ask, until we receive; by the persistence of their prayer they must be like the blind man of Jericho, the Syrophoenician woman, and the bleeding woman.

That's the first thing I wanted to tell you.

And now let us deepen our thoughts and ask ourselves, why did our Lord Jesus Christ perform so many healings of the sick?

Everyone who attentively reads the Gospel knows that all the miracles of Christ had as their goal the alleviation of human suffering. He healed the blind, the lame, cleansed the lepers, healed all the sick that came to Him in multitudes. He fed a huge number of hungry people with five loaves of bread and two fishes.

And if any of you have ever read the Muslim Qur'an, you must have been struck by the profound difference between Christ's miracles and those that Muslims attribute to their prophet Muhammad. Oh, how little resemblance, oh, how much magic in the miracles of Muhammad. How strange they are, how useless they are for people!

Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ in His miracles showed His love for people, His pity for the suffering, the unfortunate, and always tried to alleviate their sufferings. This is important, remember this.

But perhaps someone will ask: "Is the circle of human misfortunes limited to disease and hunger? Does not enough evil and misfortune, and suffering, and torment depend on the imperfection of the social and state system, on the injustice of this system?"

Oh yes, we know how many disasters people have endured at all times, in all countries, under all governments, for this very reason.

And you may ask why our Lord Jesus Christ did not pay attention to these calamities, why in His earthly activity there was nothing similar to the deeds of the great reformers, the great legislators, who strove to eradicate social injustice, to put an end to the sufferings of people who depend on this untruth.

I will answer this question to you.

You know that immediately after His baptism in the Jordan, the Lord Jesus Christ was led by the spirit into the wilderness and there He spent forty days without food or drink, preparing for His greatest ministry.

And there, when on the fortieth day He hungered, Satan took advantage of it. He knew that a person who has been starving for a long time loses his willpower, loses the ability to resist, and therefore he waited until the fortieth day, and when the Lord Jesus Christ hungered, then he approached Him with his devilish temptation.

I will not talk about all three temptations, I will dwell only on the last and most powerful one.

"Again the devil takes Him up to a very high mountain, and shews Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and saith unto Him, All these things I will give unto Thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me" (Matt. 4:8-9).