But now we see another man, Joseph. The Gospel says very little about him. When he was already betrothed to Mary, it was suddenly discovered that "She is with child of the Holy Spirit.

But Joseph her husband, being righteous and not wishing to make her public, wanted to secretly let her go." Behind these two or three phrases of the Evangelist about Joseph there is a personal drama of man. Undoubtedly, Joseph was righteous. But what could this man think of his wife, the One Whom he, as it is said in the liturgical texts, ": took... from the hands of the priests from the temple" and from Whom I expected only the best and brightest, and suddenly I learned that She was pregnant. But in a dream an angel appears to him and says of Mary that "that which is born in her is of the Holy Spirit." And Joseph immediately rebuilt his whole way of thinking, his whole way of life. From that moment on, his life was entirely devoted to Mary and the Child, who is not his son, but the Son of God. And in order to preserve the virginity of Mary — for we believe that Mary remained a Virgin in Her marriage, and we confess Her ever-virginity — in order to preserve the life of the Child, Joseph takes upon himself the role of head of the family. They flee from Herod's wrath to Egypt, and Joseph guards and protects Mary and the Child. Later, having learned of the death of the impious king, they returned to Judea and settled within the borders of Bethlehem.

Thus, in the Gospel passage that we have read, we have two examples. One person lives without God, for him there is nothing but his selfish aspirations and desire to hold on to everything that he possesses in this world at all costs. Another person is ready to renounce everything and sacrifice even his life for the Christ Child.

The Holy Scriptures tell us that each of us has a choice: to choose the path of life or the path of death, the path of faithfulness to God or the path of renunciation of Him. "Life and death I have set before you," says Deuteronomy, "a blessing and a curse. Choose life, that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19). Entire nations are sometimes faced with such a choice.

The Jewish people stood before the face of Christ. He could accept Him as his Savior, or he could reject Him. And he rejected Him. But each concrete person, each human soul is often faced with a choice whether to sacrifice himself, whether to devote himself to Christ or to live as if God does not exist at all. Millions of people are faced with such a choice, and some choose life and others death.

Soon, on the eve of Great Lent, we will hear Jesus' parable about the Last Judgment, about how the Lord separates the "sheep" from the "goats" and how some will inherit the Kingdom of God, and others will inherit "hell fire." Let us remember that the division into "sheep" and "goats" takes place already in earthly life. The Last Judgment begins here. And the choice is made by us. It is not so much the Lord who will determine whether we go into eternal life or eternal punishment, as we determine our own destiny when we choose life or death, blessing or damnation.

2000

The Way to God. Sunday before Epiphany

The feast of the Nativity of Christ is over, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord is approaching. In the first centuries, it was one feast – Theophany, when both the birth of the Savior and His appearance to preach were remembered. But by the end of the fourth century, Christmas and Epiphany began to be celebrated separately.

Today, at the crossroads between the two feasts, we hear the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, which speaks of John the Baptist (Mark 1:1-8), and the end of the Second Epistle to Timothy, which was written by the Apostle Paul shortly before his martyrdom (2 Tim. 4:1-8). What is the connection between these readings? I think it's because both of them tell us about believing in God as a way. Faith is the path by which we go to God, and the way by which the Lord comes to us. The preaching of the Gospel began with the words of John the Baptist, addressed to the people: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." And the Apostle Paul says: "I am already becoming a sacrifice, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Tim. 4:67). Flow means running; The Apostle uses here the image of a distance runner who has achieved his goal, who has won the competition. Thus, today we hear about the beginning and the end of the path, and about the crown that is prepared for each of those who have not stumbled, have not stumbled on the treadmill of spiritual life, but have achieved their goal. And the goal is the Lord Himself.

The beginning of the Christian life, the beginning that we must lay down daily, is repentance. The words of John the Baptist: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2) are addressed to each of us. These words should be understood not in the sense that the Kingdom of God has approached chronologically, but in the sense that it is always near us, it is always ready to come and is coming to us. The only question is whether we are ready to come into the Kingdom of God, to receive it into ourselves. After all, outside the Kingdom of God will remain not those whom the Lord will condemn for their mistakes, but those who did not desire or did not find the strength to walk this path to the end, to the doors of the Kingdom of God, who stopped halfway. And we must remember that, although we are all already on the way, there is a danger that we will not reach, stumble, do not reach, do not run.

The Apostle Paul says: "Be vigilant in all things, endure sorrows, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." "The work of the evangelist" is the work of the evangelist. Each of us must be a preacher, bring the Gospel of Christ to the world – not only in words, but first of all in our way of life and the purposefulness with which we must go to meet God and seek the Kingdom of God. In this we must set an example for others, and this is our ministry, of which the Apostle Paul speaks in the second Epistle to Timothy.

Today, at the beginning of the path that leads us from Christmas to Pascha, the Church reminds us of the beginning that we must make daily through repentance, of the determination with which we must seek the Kingdom of God. The Church also reminds us that Christ is always with us, that the Kingdom of Heaven is close to us, and it depends only on us whether we will achieve the goal, whether we will walk this path to the end, whether we will receive the crown that the Lord Jesus Christ has prepared for each of us. Amen.