Further, in the 4th chapter of the Gospel, it is told how Jesus heals the son of a Capernaum courtier. There is a story about this in the synoptics: in Matthew in the 8th chapter and in Luke in the 7th, but it is not quite clear who they are talking about. In Luke, the healed is called by a word meaning "slave" or "servant"; in Matthew, the word "boy," which can mean both "slave" and "son." Finally, the Gospel of John makes it clear that he is a son. True, the Evangelist does not always use the word "son", sometimes he says "child" or "child". The question arises: who is this boy – a son or a slave? In Matthew, it is like an intermediate version: "child" or "youth". Probably, it is impossible to answer this question with certainty. And doesn't it matter who this healed person is? After all, for a Christian, it makes no big difference whether he is his own child or someone else's. After all, if we are truly Christians, then we love other people's children no less than our own. Another thing is that we come into contact with our own children every day, and with other people's children less often, but still there is no fundamental difference between them. In God, all people turn out to be related to each other, and therefore our task is to hasten to help not only our own, but also to strangers.

The three Evangelists tell about the same event in different ways, although not only the content, but also the words are largely repeated. Matthew emphasizes that the person who turns to Jesus for help is a Gentile, not a Jew. That is why Jesus exclaims: "Verily I say to you, I have not found such faith in Israel. But I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." —Matt. 8:10-11. Thus, the Gospel of Matthew emphasizes and puts in the foreground the universal character of Christianity, the Good News. "Many will come from the east and the west" – here we are talking about countries where pagans live. They will sit down at the wedding feast, at the Lord's meal, at the Messianic supper with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The difference between the clean and the unclean, between Jews and Gentiles, will be erased: they will all become the people of God.

In the Gospel of Luke, another point stands out in the same story. The centurion of Capernaum sends elders to Jesus, and they ask Him to heal their master's servant. But what do the elders say? And they "begged him earnestly, saying, 'He is worthy that you should do this for him, for he loves our people and has built us a synagogue.'" Jesus was not far from home when the centurion "sent friends to Him to say to Him, Lord, labor not! for I am not worthy that Thou should enter under my roof" (Luke 7:4-6). In their efforts for the centurion, the elders tell Jesus that he is worthy, but the centurion says of himself, "I am unworthy." But Jesus still heals the one for whom He was asked. God heals not because someone is worthy, but because of His great mercy. Healing is not a reward, not something that a person deserves, earns; it is given to him by the ineffable and immeasurable mercy of God. It is interesting that in Luke's account of this healing, the Jews themselves are busy, who, as Jewish elders, would seem to know that God works miracles only by His mercy. But it turns out that they have forgotten about it, although this is one of the basic principles rooted in the Old Testament.

In fact, this is what distinguishes faith in the true God from the faith of the pagans, in that the pagans believe that the mercy of the deity can be bought, that it can be paid for by offering a sacrifice, and the greater the sacrifice, the better the deity will help. And the biblical faith is built on the fact that God's mercy cannot be bought, that it is granted by Him. It is something that cannot be acquired under any circumstances. But about this, as we see from the Gospel of Luke, the Jews forgot, although, it would seem, everything was given to them so that they would remember it. The Bible has been given to them, the word of God has been revealed to them. The pagans, even the best of them, do not know about this. Plotinus, Proclus, and many others only guessed this, not being Christians.

Completely different accents are placed in the Gospel of John. In the Greek original, at the end of the 4th chapter, the word "alive" is repeated three times, which in English is better translated as "will live". "The courtier said to Him, 'Lord! Come before my son dies. Jesus said to him, 'Go, your son lives.'" Further, the courtier is met on the road by servants and informed that his lad is alive (or "will live"). The father asks, when did he feel better? And he learns that it was at the hour when Jesus told him that his son would live (cf. John 4:49-53).

This "will live" is repeated three times on a piece of papyrus and therefore immediately attracts attention as the key word of this text. It sounds like a refrain. It turns out that God in Jesus gives life, and gives it more abundantly. Bishop Cassian noted in this regard that in the Synodal translation this passage is poorly translated as "healthy" – thus, as it were, the tension that is present in the text is erased.

Vladyka Kassian goes on to say that Jesus is the beginning of life for those who believe in Him. And this is clear from the above text. But if we read not only this thrice-repeated "he shall live" here, but also the dialogue between Jesus and the courtier, we will see that when the father asks to heal his son, Jesus answers him rather strangely. He says, "You will not believe unless you see signs and wonders" (v. 48). In other words, Jesus almost refuses the courtier. This passage is reminiscent of the beginning of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, where the Apostle says that the Greeks seek wisdom and the Jews demand a sign (cf. 1 Cor. 1:22).

For the believing Jew – such is his psychology – God reveals Himself in some sign, a miracle that is noticeable to everyone. For example, in the book of Exodus, God reveals Himself with ten terrible miracles, and every reader understands that no one but God can perform this. In the same way, many today are thirsting for signs, a miracle that would immediately catch our eye and prove to us that God is really among us.

Therefore, a miracle is often perceived precisely as a proof of the existence of God, His presence and action. This, in fact, is spoken of in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus exclaims: "A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, and no sign shall be given unto it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet" (Matt. 16:4). In the Gospel of Mark, He says: "A sign shall not be given to this generation" (Mark 8:12). So Jesus rebukes us, and quite harshly, for looking for signs, wonders. And "no sign shall be given." Why? For the simple reason that faith, which is based on a thirst for miracles, and not on a thirst for God, is extremely imperfect. God turns from a goal into a tool for performing a miracle.

Experience shows that when people seek a miracle and it finally happens, they mostly act like the nine lepers in Luke chapter 17 who did not even notice that the miracle had happened. Jesus healed ten, but nine quietly went on to enjoy the blessings of life that were now available to them. And only one realized that a miracle had happened to him. The same thing happens to us all the time. If our faith begins with the fact that we demand a miracle, then we can say that we invite God for a time, like some specialist in the field of household services. After the service is provided, we no longer need a specialist, we generally forget that he exists. Such is the psychology of the pagan. He turns to his gods in case of need and then forgets about them. And if our faith in the True God begins with such a thirst for miracles, it also slips onto this pagan path, turns into something consumerist – having received what we need, we forget about God.

Why does Jesus begin to talk about the nature of faith when it comes to the life of a youth? Probably because it is important to Him that the father of this boy becomes different. Why is a miracle possible? What saves a person? This is mentioned many times in the Gospel. "Great is thy faith" or "Thy faith hath saved thee"—these are the words Jesus utters several times. In addressing this phrase to the child's father, Jesus also calls on him to kindle this personal faith in his heart. He said to the courtier: "Go, your son is alive." And this "go" in the mouth of Jesus sounds quite harsh. In response to the father's request to come to him and heal the child, He seems to say: "No, you go! Act yourself! And help will come from you." And what happened? The father goes and the son recovers. So, in response to the thirst for a miracle, which, as in the book of Exodus, is performed outside of us, when we are only observers, Jesus offers something different: He calls man to make his breakthrough. Further on about the courtier it is said: "He believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and he went." He did not see the miracle and did not hear about it, he heard only "go," reminiscent of the "go" that God once said to Abraham: "Go out of your land... into the land which I will show you" (Gen. 12:1). The question arises: what is faith? The father believed what he could not see, because the sick son was far away. "Now faith is," says the Apostle Paul, "the fulfillment of things hoped for, and the assurance of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1), that is, the confirmation of what we do not see. "Thou hast believed, because thou hast seen me; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed," Jesus says to the Apostle Thomas (John 20:29). It is that inner conviction which is based only on something deeply rooted in the heart, it is something "beyond hope," as the Apostle Paul says (Romans 4:18). It is clear that a person always lives in hope, but faith is that which is "beyond hope." Faith is when hope invades those areas where, it would seem, there is nothing to hope for. This is a firm conviction that is not based on anything external and has no proof. This is what this short Gospel text tells us about the healing of the boy.

Chapter 6.

AT THE SHEEP'S GATE.

JESUS AND THE PARALYTIC