What if this is really the Messiah?! What a shame it is for them, the leaders of the people, not to recognize the longed-for and long-awaited Deliverer, not to join Him, or to remain at the tail end of the nascent movement, and to yield to the wretched ignoramuses and Galilean fishermen around Him the first places to which they have every right by virtue of their knowledge, piety, and learning! Not to have a prominent place in the brilliant court of the Messiah and in the glory of His future kingdom is terrible to think about!

But, on the other hand, what a risk! You can lose everything and gain nothing... At all costs it is necessary to find out for sure who this is: the Messiah or not, in order to act with certainty and not to make a mistake in calculations. He must be forced to break the mysterious silence with which He surrounds His person and His work, without openly declaring Himself to be the Messiah, and at the same time manifesting a power that cannot be assumed in an ordinary person. And if this is really the Messiah, then we must be convinced of this.

The Pharisees experienced a kind of stock market fever with its gambling excitement and anguished nervous anticipation: to win or lose. The impatience with which they demanded from the Lord signs that would finally resolve their perplexities becomes understandable. How long will You keep us perplexed? - they asked Him one day, - if You are the Christ, tell us plainly (Jn. X, 24).

But were there not such signs? Did not the Lord's miracles speak eloquently and convincingly about Him? He Himself looked upon them as a testimony: the works which I do in the name of My Father, they bear witness of Me (Jn. X, 25).

But the Pharisees demanded a sign from heaven, an extraordinary sign, perhaps similar to that which the prophet Isaiah gave to King Hezekiah, when he caused the sun to turn back ten steps (2 Kings 2:10). XX, 11). The healings of various diseases, which represented the usual miracles in the Lord's work, were not convincing enough for them. For they had risked so much, and had to have an undoubted guarantee of a future reward, for the sake of which they were perhaps not averse to agreeing to suffer a little, if, of course, they would gain more in reward than they would lose.

It is understandable why the Lord rejected their demands and refused to give a sign. These merchants in the matter of salvation, who did not understand the spirit of His teaching at all, could never be His sincere followers. He never promised His disciples earthly blessings, and it is not for material gain that one should follow Him.

The happiness of unity with God, love for the Redeemer, holiness and purity of the soul as the fruit of a virtuous life, in accordance with His commandments – these are the motives that should act in the Christian, determining his decisions, and which were alien to the callous selfish soul of the Pharisee. Christianity should be accepted and loved for its own sake, and not for the sake of extraneous rewards and external benefits. It in itself represents the precious pearl of the parable, for the sake of which everything must be sacrificed (Matt. XIII, 46).

The Pharisees could not do this, and all the signs from heaven were powerless to make them accept such a view and submit to the spirit of Christ's teaching.

Are there only Pharisees?

There are many people whose very spiritual constitution prevents them from being true sincere disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ and from being imbued with the above-mentioned motives, which are indispensable for the success of the Christian life. In the soul there are often those underwater reefs and shoals on which the most winged ships of Christian hope are wrecked. Often the constitution of the heart requires fundamental changes, and much work is needed to make the soul receptive to the spirit and to the voice of Christian truth.

We need to know these shoals. It is necessary to know what clogs the fairway of Christian life, so that progress becomes completely impossible. Only then will we learn how to bypass the shoals and how to protect the soul from clogging.

Where are the most dangerous reefs of mental moods?

In the same Gospel passage (Mark Ush, 11-21) the Lord indicates the types of people who are unfit for the Kingdom of God in their spiritual makeup.

"Take heed," He said to His disciples, "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And in the Evangelist Matthew it is added: and of the Sadducees (Matt. XVI, 6).