Then the Saviour commanded the man to stretch out a withered hand, and it suddenly became healthy. And the scribes and Pharisees were mad with anger when they saw this miracle. What a perversion of the human heart: instead of tremblingly glorifying God, who works such miracles, they were imbued with frenzied malice. They did not understand, could not understand that the Lord came "not to break the law of Moses, but to fulfill," i.e.

supplement; that he is Lord of the Sabbath also. They did not understand that His teaching not only did not destroy the law of Moses, but immeasurably exalted it. They did not understand very much of what Jesus was saying. They were not moved even by the absolutely extraordinary, exceptional miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus for four days. Why so, why did the people rejoice, and they were angry?

The answer to this is found in the Holy Prophet Isaiah: therefore they could not believe that "the heart of this people is hardened, and with their ears they can hardly hear, their eyes are closed, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and be converted, that I may heal them" (Isaiah 6:10). They hardened their hearts, blinded their eyes, closed their eyes, and did not want to see the pure, the great, the holy.

Oh, how can you, accursed, seeing the procession of the Lord Jesus on a donkey, the son of a foal, did not remember the words of the prophet Zechariah: "Rejoice with joy, O daughter of Zion, rejoice, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee, righteous and saving, meek, sitting on an ass, and on a colt, the son of a foal" (Zech. 9:9). Oh, how did they not remember this?! How could they not be struck by the picture of the Lord's procession on a donkey, the son of a foal, when they saw it with their own eyes?!

Therefore they did not remember that they had hardened their hearts and blinded their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes and know with their hearts. The words of the Holy Apostle Paul about the deadly letter came true: "... our ability is from God. He has given us the ability to be ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:5-6). The enemies of Christ were attached to the letter of the Scriptures, not understanding the spirit of the Scriptures, which is why they were killed by the dead letter.

We are all called to serve the spirit – not to serve a deadly letter. And the enemies of Christ perished in their service, for they were ministers of a deadly letter. Let us not be ministers of the letter, let us be ministers of the spirit of Christ! Let it never happen to any of us that the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ at the entrance to Jerusalem are applicable to us: "... Oh, that thou also wouldst know on this thy day what will serve thy peace! But these things are now hidden from thy eyes" (Luke 19:42).

And in the life of every person there are moments when it is necessary to remember these words of Christ. It happens that when a person follows the wrong path, then God's mercy stops him, stops him with some shock, some misfortune or illness, and then, as it were, says to him: "... Oh, that thou wouldst know at least in this thy day what will serve for thy peace!" (Luke 19:42).

It happens to each of us that the Lord stands at the door of our hearts and knocks quietly, waiting for Him to be opened and let in – knocking like a beggar at the door. Oh, woe, woe to us, if we do not hear the soft knocking of Christ, for at this moment we must think that those words of Christ apply to us, which caused streams of tears from His Divine eyes: "... Oh, if only on this day of yours you would know what will serve for your peace!" April 22, 1951 A WORD ON PASSION. NINTH.

Your hearts trembled when I read to you the terrible story of the Savior's death on the cross. This is necessary, it is useful for you: it is necessary that they should always shudder when you look at the cross of Christ or remember it. It is necessary that you remember the vile and terrible images of the murderers of God: the chief priests, the scribes and the elders (of whom I spoke to you last Sunday).

It is necessary that you reject in your heart, as from the most vile, the most unbearable for the human heart, as from the most terrible thing that has ever happened in the world, from the accursed betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ by His own disciple. O Lord! Oh, Lord, how scary it is! The disciple, the apostle, gave up his Lord to death. More than once, probably, the question arose in your mind, how did the Lord Jesus, the Omniscient God, choose Judas as one of the twelve apostles?

After all, He knew, He knew what kind of person he was, He knew that He would betray Him! He knew, he knew, as the Omniscient, he knew everything; but what Judas did was foretold by the Prophet David more than a thousand years before the birth of Christ, for in his 68th Psalm he says thus: "Let his court be desolate, and let him not dwell in it: and let another take his dignity" (Acts 1:20).

And in another psalm he says on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ: "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me." This, like everything that happened in the life of the Lord Jesus on earth, was foreseen in the Covenant of God even before the creation of the world, the fall of Adam and Eve was foreseen, and the deep depravity of the human race was foreseen. A decision was made that amazes us with the abyss of love that gave rise to this decision, love for the perishing human race: it was predetermined in advance that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Word, would become incarnate, descend to earth, and by His preaching and death on the cross would save the perishing human race.

So everything was foreseen, all things were foretold by the prophets. The sufferings of Christ were described by the Holy Prophet Isaiah so vividly, so strongly, as if he himself were present at these sufferings, which is why he is called the Old Testament Evangelist. Why and why was Judas chosen as a disciple? Because that what was predestined in God's pre-eternal Covenant and foretold by the prophets had to be fulfilled. Does this surprise you?

You may ask – couldn't it be otherwise? It's not for us, it's not for us to reason! This was God's will, this was God's ordained, so it had to happen! The Lord said a terrible word about Judas the traitor at the Last Supper: "... one of you will betray me... it would have been better for this man not to have been born" (Matt. 26:21, 24) – so terrible is his sin. In order to understand why Judas was needed as an instrument of the Lord's betrayal to death, I will tell you that more than once in ancient times God chose as vessels of His wrath people who were mired in sins, hopeless for the truth, and chose them as instruments of His Divine actions.