Home Mystic Large Christian library. Bible online Interpretation of the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Luke

Mystic

Large Christian library. Bible online Interpretation of the 11th chapter of the Gospel of Luke

. It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.

The disciple of Christ is jealous of John’s disciples and therefore wants to learn how to pray. The Savior did not reject the desires of the disciples, but taught.

. He said to them: when you pray, say: He who art in heaven!

“Our Father,” he says, “ who is in heaven". Notice the power of prayer. She immediately leads you to what is above and, since you call God Father, convinces you in every possible way not to lose your likeness to the Father, but to try to become like Him. He did not say “My Father,” but “Our Father,” awakening you to brotherly love and encouraging you to love everyone as brothers in general. Having said: “in heaven”, he does not limit God to them, but raises the listener to heaven and takes him away from earthly things.

Hallowed be Thy name;

"Hallowed be thy name", instead of "let him be glorified", that is, arrange our life so that it is for Your glory. For just as the name of God is blasphemed by the wicked, so is it glorified by those who lead a good life.

Thy kingdom come;

The sinner does not pray for the Kingdom of God, because he does not want its coming because of the punishments awaiting him there. On the contrary, the righteous man prays for it to come soon, so that he can be freed from the temptations here and calm down.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;

“Thy will be done... as it is in heaven”– with the Angels, so with us people “on earth”. For Angels act in everything and in everything according to the will of God.

. Give us our daily bread;

It teaches us to ask for “daily bread” only, that is, useful for our existence and for maintaining life, not at all superfluous, but necessary.

. and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and do not lead us into temptation,

Not entering “into temptation” means not rushing into temptation. For we should pray to God not that He would send temptation upon us, but that He would turn it away; and if it befalls, one must endure it with courage. It must be said that there are two types of temptations. Some are arbitrary, for example, drunkenness, murder, adultery and other passions; for we ourselves fall into these temptations arbitrarily. Other temptations are involuntary, to which rulers and the powerful expose us. We must run away from arbitrary temptations, that is, from passions, pray for deliverance from them and say “lead us not,” that is, do not allow us to fall “into temptation,” that is, into arbitrary passion.

but deliver us from evil.

For he brings involuntary and voluntary temptations. Therefore, when you unwittingly suffer temptation from a person, do not consider this person to be the culprit of your temptation, but the evil one. For he incites man to rage against you and rage.

. And he said to them: let's assume that one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread,

. for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him;

The Lord, teaching us to pray without laziness, tells a parable and an example. What does the parable mean? Calls "midnight" last days life, which when people achieve, they begin to sympathize with goodness and rush to God. For He is a friend who loves everyone and desires salvation for everyone (). So, many “at midnight,” that is, at the end of life, come to God as a friend and say: “give me three loaves,” that is, faith in the Trinity; for “a friend has come,” that is, an Angel taking up a soul. However, every Angel is a friend, just as the Lord says that there is joy in heaven over the salvation of a person ().

. and he from the inside will tell him in response: don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can't get up and give it to you.

The “children” resting “on the bed” are people who were converted and therefore became children of the Lord and were worthy to rest with Him.

. If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.

“Perseverance” refers to intense and prolonged prayer with patience.

Understand this differently, namely: by “midnight” we mean the power and the midst of temptations. For every temptation is night, and the midst of temptations, without a doubt, is midnight. So, when someone is in the midst of temptations, he comes to God who loves us and says : “lend me three loaves of bread”, that is, the salvation of body, soul and spirit. For temptations threaten these three with danger. Who is the “friend” who came in from the road? Without any doubt, the Lord tests us in temptations and wants to taste our salvation. He who has fallen into temptation, not being able to resist them on his own and to receive the Lord, has nothing to offer Him.

“The doors are locked” means that we must be prepared before temptation, and when we fall, then the door to preparation is already locked, and we, being unprepared, will suffer danger if God does not help. “Children” are (since they were first converted) those who through virtue have become sons of God, recline and rest in God.

. And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you,

Look how precise the words are. The Lord did not say, “Ask,” and it will be given to you, but “ask,” that is, continually seek.

. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

"Everyone who asks receives". Does the one who asks for something useless actually receive it? No. For, firstly, asking for something useless cannot be called a petition before God. For whoever prays to God must ask for what He gives. But if someone asks for something useless, he is not asking God, for He does not give something that is useless.

. Which one of you is the father? When the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or,: when he asks fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?

. Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

. So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

Then listen to how the Lord Himself teaches us to ask for what we should ask. He says: the son asks for “bread” and “fish” and “eggs”. Therefore, just as these items constitute human food, so our petitions should be useful to us and serve to help. By asking for “bread” we understand, perhaps, anyone who asks that faith in the Trinity and the correctness of dogmas be revealed to him. For they, as those who strengthen the heart, are bread. And “fish” is asked by someone who, being in the sea of this life, asks God for help, so that he, like a fish, can remain alive and unimmersed among temptations. And he asks for “eggs” who wants to be given the offspring of virtuous souls, which souls, like those who took wings, ascended in spirit and flew over the earth, in justice, can be likened to birds.

. One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised.

“Mute” is often called the one who does not speak; but the one who does not hear is also called, or rather the one who does not hear and does not speak. Those who do not hear from birth do not speak. This happens to them out of necessity. For we speak what we learn through hearing. When someone does not hear, in all likelihood he does not speak. Unless his hearing was subsequently damaged by illness, nothing prevents him from speaking. tongue, and in the ear. human nature, who, being possessed by demons, was incapable of hearing the words of God, much less retelling them. But the Lord, having come and cast out demons, that is, passionate and demonic deeds, made sure that we not only spoke, but also preached the truth. For the words of God must not only be heard, but also retold to others. So, let us listen, we who have demonic works in us, who think to teach others and allow people to be called teachers. For when the demon comes out, then there is true talkativeness and teaching, but as long as the works of demons (passions) are within us, we do not speak, although we seem to speak.

. Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.

. And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven.

The Pharisees slander the miracle and blaspheme the Lord as a deceiver. They say: He is friendly with the prince of demons and with his assistance "casts out demons".

. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and even the house: divided in itself, will fall;

. if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;

The Lord says to them: how is it possible for a demon to cast out another demon? This would already be the destruction of his kingdom. For if they place their kingdom and rest in living among people, and their prince expels them, then it is clear that he is destroying himself. For and "every kingdom divided" and the indignant one becomes upset, and "a house divided... will fall". By “house” do you mean a building? Fine. For the building stands as long as it remains connected, and when the walls separate from each other, it falls. Will you mean by “house” those living in the house? And as long as they keep peace, they stand, but if they rise up against each other, they fall.

. and if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

Let it be so that "I cast out demons... force th Beelzebub"; but “your sons”, that is, the apostles, “whose power they drive out”? Is it not obvious that in My name? How then do you say about Me that I drive out through Beelzebub, needing his power, when your sons, namely the apostles, drive out in My name? Truly, they will judge you. For if they drive out in My name, then I Myself obviously have no need of the power of another.

. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you.

I'm expelling "by the finger of God", that is, by the Holy Spirit, and not by the evil spirit. He calls the Spirit “finger” so that you know that just as the finger of one being with the whole body, so the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Or maybe it’s not because he calls it this way because the Son is called the right hand of God, and the seven powers of the Spirit rested on Him, and not as on an instrument of the Spirit, but as on one in essence with Him; one of the gifts and actions of the Spirit is the power to heal. Says I cast out demons "by the finger of God", that is, the gift of the Spirit. For just as the finger is part of the hand, so the spirit of healing was part of those spirits, that is, the powers of the Spirit, which Jesus had.

If, he says, "I... cast out demons" by the power of God, it truly came "The kingdom of God is before you". And this has the following meaning: the kingdom of the devil is finally destroyed, and God reigns, casting out demons. For listen to what he says next.

. When a strong man guards his house with arms, then his property is safe;

. when his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him.

Before My coming,” he says, “Satan was strong and “guarding his house,” that is, he dominated human nature firmly and safely. But when I came, "his strongest", then I conquered the world and everything "his... weapon... that he hoped for", that is, all types of sin. For sin is the weapon of the devil, and with it he boldly overcame people. I crushed all his weapons, because no sin was found in Me (); since then he has weakened. AND "stolen from him", that is, people who were, as it were, his prey, I snatched from him and entrusted each one to a special Angel, faithful keeper so that instead of the demon, who had control over him, an Angel would control him.

. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.

. When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through dry places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came;

. and, having arrived, finds it swept and put away;

. then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and entering, they live there - and for that person the last thing is worse than the first.

And otherwise. What kind of communication is there between Me and Beelzebub? My business is to gather the scattered children of God; and his business is that he wastes those who have been gathered. How do you conclude about Me that I have fellowship with Satan? Truly, such a thought has appeared in you because you are now in greater communion with demons. The unclean spirit lived in you before, when you served idols and killed prophets. Then, apparently, he left you. And now he returned again “to his house,” that is, to your souls, with “seven spirits,” that is, many (for the number “seven” in Scripture is often used to mean “many”), and did for you "the last is worse than the first". For then, when you served idols, you killed the prophets, but you did not yet openly insult the Son of God, who appeared in the flesh for your sake. And now what hope of salvation is there when you remain with the same ingratitude and insolence even after the Son has become incarnate and performs miracles for your sake?

“Waterless places” are the souls of those who have no softness, (souls) callous and preoccupied with themselves. Since the evil one has no place to dwell in such souls, he returns to the Jews, and the latter for them becomes worse than the former. So, now they no longer have either prophets, for they killed the Word, or anointing, for they crucified Christ (the anointed one). Previously, although they served idols, they had visible prophets and anointing; and now they have lost everything, because they have sinned against the Son of God.

. While He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!

. And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

And He pleases those who keep the word of God, however, not at all in order to deprive His Mother of pleasure, but in order to show that She would not have received any benefit from giving birth to Him and feeding Him with her breasts, if did not have all the other virtues. He says this together because he goes with the time. Since those who envied Him and those who did not listen to His words reviled those who listened, He, in spite of them, especially pleases those who listen. Perhaps He also says this for the sake of the healed deaf man, so that he, having heard the word, would observe it, so that the ability to hear (given to him) would not serve as a condemnation for him.

. When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is evil, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah;

“When... the people began to gather in large numbers”, The Lord began to rebuke the foolish. There were several among them who wanted Jesus to perform a sign from heaven; for they said: the signs that He does are from the earth, and He does them by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of peace, who has power over the earth; but He cannot do a sign from heaven, because He is not the Son of the Heavenly Father. Since some said this, the Lord denounces them and says: a sign will be given to you that will prove that I am the true Son. Heavenly Father. Which one? “The Sign of Jonah”, that is, the sign of the Resurrection ().

. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

For just as he spent three days in the belly of the whale, so I will remain three days in the belly of the whale, the great animal, that is, hell, and will rise again. When Jonah, cast out by a whale and seemingly revived again, began to preach, the Ninevites listened (); and even after My Resurrection this generation will not believe Me. Therefore they will be condemned for not imitating the Ninevites, although there is more Jonah here. For My dignity and the way of preaching make a great difference. I am the Master, he is the slave. I preach the Kingdom of Heaven, he is salvation from threatening destruction, I perform miracles, he did not perform any miracle.

. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.

. The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here.

Likewise “The queen of the south... will condemn” this generation, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

By “queen of the south” we mean, perhaps, every soul that is strong and constant in goodness. I'll explain. The north, when it serves as a symbol of the location of the enemy, is not approved by Scripture, because it is cold and induces deadness and numbness; and the south (as the opposite of the north) is approved, because the south wind brings warmth, revitalization, and warms up the numb parts. Therefore, in the Song of Songs, the bride, driving away the north, says: "Arise... from the north and come from the south"(), and the prophet again says: “And the one who comes from the north I will remove from you”, that is, Satan (). So, the soul, reigning in the south, that is, in the fertile country of spiritual life, and strengthened through exercise in activity, comes to listen to wisdom, that is, it ascends to contemplation. For the wisdom of Solomon, the peaceful king, is the contemplation of our Lord and God, which no one will achieve otherwise unless, through exercise in activity, he becomes a king and ruler in a virtuous life.

. No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.

. The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.

. So, look: is not the light that is in you darkness?

. If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be as light as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.

But you, Pharisees, did not want to do this, and the eye of the soul, that is, the mind, hitherto straight, bent and darkened. For just as the eye of the body, what it is, makes the body such, for example, if it is pure, then the body is light, and if it is dark, then the body is dark, so in the same way the soul is located according to the state of the mind. If the eye and light she received from God begin to be darkened by envy or covetousness, generally speaking, by love for material things, then she too becomes darkened.

. While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down.

. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He did not wash: hands before lunch.

For example, even now, looking at their unreasonable custom of washing before eating food, they teach that the soul must be cleansed good deeds, since rinsing with water cleanses not the soul, but the body. They, foolish, thought that by immersing themselves in water and washing the body, their soul would be cleansed along with the body. Therefore, the Lord used the wonderful example of the cup.

. But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.

And as it was time for the table, He mentions the cup and the dish and, borrowing evidence from what lay before his eyes, convinces the Pharisee that just as there is no benefit if the outside of the cup is clean, but inside is filled with all kinds of dirt, so there is no benefit in in the event that, when washing the body, the soul is filled with all uncleanness, for example, "theft and deceit". The Lord hinted at the two dominant passions of the Jews: with the word “theft” - covetousness, with the word “wickedness” - with envy and the consequences of envy. So, there is no benefit if the soul is in such a state.

. Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?

Reckless! Wasn’t it the same one who created the soul, who created the body on which you dwell so much? Therefore, you must cleanse your soul.

. Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.

Then he teaches them how the inside is cleansed, namely: he points to “alms.” Look, perhaps, how He, pointing to alms, heals both of their passions, I mean envy and theft. For he who is truly merciful will neither steal from the one to whom he gives alms, nor envy him. So, since He condemned two passions in them, He drives them out with one medicine, namely alms, which is the first door of idolizing love. Where is love, where is covetousness and envy? "From what you have", that is, from your property. Well said: "from what you have", and not simply: “from what is,” because possessions are in the heart of the covetous and dominate in him. Why does David command “not to attach... hearts” to wealth (), that is, not to nail it down or tie it.

. But woe to you Pharisees, for you give tithes of mint, rue and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: this should have been done, and not forsaken.

The Pharisees, precisely in order not to break the Law, gave tithes from the most insignificant items, and if anyone reproached them for pettiness, they referred to the Law, which commanded the priests to bring tithes from everything (). Therefore, the Lord says: just as you do not neglect this, so it was fitting for you to practice the judgment and love of God. Since the Pharisees were unjust, oppressing widows and orphans, the Lord says: you must have “judgment,” that is, justice. Since they were contemptuous of God, stretching out their hand to sacred matters without reasoning, the Lord commands them to have “the love of God.” For whoever loves God does not approach His works with disdain. But it seems to me that since there are two types of love: love for God and love for one’s neighbor, then perhaps the Lord is making a hint about these two types: the word “judgment” means love for one’s neighbor, since justice and non-oppression of one’s neighbor come from love for him , and the word “love of God”, without a doubt, means complete disposition towards God. And when someone loves his neighbor not out of some worldly or shameful disposition, but for the sake of God, then this love can be called the love of God, since it is commanded by God and is pleasing to Him.

. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies.

They (the Pharisees) loved that every person should give them honor and that "in the people's assemblies" they were called by the title: “teacher” (); this means the words: “greeting”, “presiding”.

. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.

The Lord says: you are like tombs, which are full of all rottenness, and outside shine with marble; people do not recognize them by their appearance, by what rules they are guided in life (why they walk), and if they knew, they would turn away because of their inner filth.

. To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.

The lawyer recklessly exposes himself to reproof. The lawyers were different from the Pharisees. The Pharisees were considered ascetics and cut off from others, and the lawyers were scribes and teachers and resolved questions from the Law for those who wished.

. But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger.

They (the lawyers) imposed on people “heavy and unbearable"; but they themselves did not touch these burdens "and... with his finger", that is, they themselves did not observe anything that they commanded others. For when the teacher himself does what he teaches, then he lightens the burdens, setting an example in himself and encouraging his students. When he does nothing of what he teaches, then the burdens seem truly heavy to the students, since the teacher cannot fulfill them.

. Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed:

. from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation.

The Lord also reveals that the Jews are the descendants of Cain and the heirs of his malice when he says that all “the blood shed... from Abel to... Zechariah... will be required of this generation”. You, he says, killed the prophets, your brothers, just as he killed Abel. Why, not without reason, did some take Cain for the image of the people who beat the prophets, for which they were avenged seven times, that is, the lightest punishment, and Lamech - for the image of the people who killed Christ, for which they were avenged seventy times seven (), namely: scattering into irrevocable captivity.

Who was Zechariah, who was killed between the temple and the altar? Some say that this is the ancient Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned, as is known from the book of Kings (). Others say that this is the father of the Forerunner. He did not exclude the Virgin Mary from the ranks of virgins after she gave birth to Christ, but placed her in the same place where they stood; and this place was between the temple and the outer copper altar. For this they killed him. Since some expected their future king in Christ, while others did not want to be under the king’s authority, they therefore killed this saint because he claimed that the Virgin had given birth and that Christ, their future King, had been born, which was disgusting to them , for they wanted to be without a king.

. Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered.

The Lord called “the key of understanding” teaching and guidance through the Law, which can lead to Christ. For the Law, without a doubt, serves as a guide to Christ (). So, the lawyers apparently explained the Law, and meanwhile maliciously withheld "key of understanding" and they did not open the doors of the Law, through which they themselves and the people could come to Christ. The law serves as a door to Christ. But this door remains closed unless someone explains the dark side of the Law and thus opens the door. For the Lord also said: “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me”(). And again: “Search the Scriptures... they testify of Me. But you don't want to come to Me"(). As an example, I will point to one.

Among the Jews, as you know, the lamb was slaughtered, the thresholds were anointed, they ate this meat, and this was their victory over the destroyer (). All this prefigured the Sacrament of Christ.

When Christ was slain as the Immaculate and Most Pure Lamb, then our thresholds, that is, the heart and will, and their upper doors, that is, the mind, were anointed, and we tasted the flesh of the Son of Man and defeated the destroyer of our spiritual strength. And many of the provisions of the Law pointed to Christ.

Although the Law was, as it were, covered and locked by the darkness of the letter, as if by some kind of door, but if the teaching was entrusted to someone, he had the key of understanding; and if he so desired, he could open it, and he himself would enter, and he would bring others in. But the lawyers did not do this, but “the key of understanding... taken”, that is, hidden, hidden from view; When this key, that is, the interpretation of the Law, was taken from the environment (hidden), then its door remained locked.

By “key of understanding” you can also understand faith. For knowledge of the truth occurs through faith, as the prophet Isaiah says: If you do not believe, you will not understand (). So, lawyers "key of understanding", that is, faith, was taken from the environment and hidden. For they did not allow some to believe in Christ, the Savior of all. He performed miracles, and the people, believing for the sake of these miracles, would have recognized Him as God, but they (the lawyers) said that He performed these miracles by the power of Beelzebub. Do you see how they took the key of understanding, not allowing them to believe what would themselves lead to knowledge? He (Christ) taught the will of God in the synagogues, but they (the lawyers) said: he has a demon and is raving, why do you listen to Him?

. When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things,

. looking under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him.

“While He was still speaking,” these things, instead of admitting their powerlessness, as if in refutation of His words, they declared themselves to be the wisest of Him and began to block His mouth, that is, to constantly question Him and lead to bewilderment. For difficulties usually occur in speeches when one person is suddenly asked by many people, and, moreover, about different subjects. Then this person, not being able to answer everyone, gives reason to the unreasonable to consider himself defeated. These damned ones plotted the same thing against Christ. Many of them, asking one, thought to confuse Him in speeches and put Him in difficulty, as if He was unable to answer them: which was and was probable. For how can one suddenly answer many different questions? This can also be taken in this meaning: "to catch Him... from the lips" and expose. For when someone is caught in his own words, then he, it seems, closes his own lips, that is, he is convicted with his own lips and condemned. This meaning can be seen from what follows. For it is said: "trying to catch something from His mouth". What was named a little earlier is now replaced by the words - "catch from His mouth".

Questions were asked to Him either regarding the Law (of Moses), in order to expose Him as a blasphemer who blasphemed Moses (for they suspected Him of this), then regarding Caesar, in order to declare Him a rebel and a seeker of power, and about everything that wicked souls could come up with. and full of all malice.

1 It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
2 He said to them: When you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
3 Give us our daily bread;
4 And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said to them: let's assume that one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread,
6 For my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him;
7 And he from within will answer him: Do not bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can't get up and give it to you.
8 If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him because of his friendship, then because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.
9 And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you,
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 Which one of you is the father, When the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or, when he asks fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?
12 Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.
14 One day He cast out a demon that was dumb; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised.
15 And some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.
16 And others, tempting, demanded of Him a sign from heaven.
17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and the house divided in itself, will fall;
18 But if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons;
19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the kingdom of God has come to you.
21 When a strong man guards his house with weapons, then his property is safe;
22 When his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he trusted and divide what was stolen from him.
23 He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.
24 When the unclean spirit leaves a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from whence I came;
25 And when he came, he found it swept and put away;
26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and live there, and the last thing for that person is worse than the first.
27 And while He was saying this, one woman lifted up her voice from among the people and said to Him, Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!
28 And He said, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.
29 When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is wicked, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah;
30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and will condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.
32 The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is a greater number of Jonas here.
33 No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.
34 The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.
35 See therefore, is not the light that is in you darkness?
36 If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light, as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.
37 While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. He came and lay down.
38 But the Pharisee was surprised when he saw that He had not washed hands before lunch.
39 But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.”
40 Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?
41 Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.
42 But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint, rue, and all sorts of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: you should have done this, and not forsaken that.
43 Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in the synagogues and greetings in the public assemblies.
44 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.
45 To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.
46 But He said: Woe to you lawyers too, because you impose burdens on people that are too heavy to bear, but you yourselves do not even touch them with one finger.
47 Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed.

It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. He said to them: when you pray, say: Our Father who art in heaven! Hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; Give us our daily bread; and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive every debtor to us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Therefore, when you unwittingly suffer temptation from a person, do not consider this person to be the culprit of your temptation, but the evil one. For he incites man to rage against you and rage.

And he said to them: let's assume that one of you, having a friend, will come to him at midnight and say to him: friend! lend me three loaves of bread, for my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him; and he from the inside will tell him in response: don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can't get up and give it to you. If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks. The Lord, teaching us to pray without laziness, tells a parable and an example. What does the parable mean? “Midnight” refers to the last days of life, which when people reach, they begin to sympathize with goodness and rush to God. For He is a friend who loves everyone and desires the salvation of everyone (1 Tim. 2:4). So, many at midnight, that is, at the end of life, come to God as a friend and say: “Give me three loaves,” that is, faith in the Trinity; for a friend came in, that is, an Angel, taking up a soul. However, every Angel is a friend, just as the Lord says that there is joy in heaven over the salvation of a person (Luke 15:10). - The children resting on the bed are people who were converted and therefore became children of the Lord and were worthy to rest with Him. - “Persistence” refers to intense and prolonged prayer with patience. - Understand this in another way, namely: by “midnight” we mean the strength and midst of temptations. For every temptation is night, and the midst of temptation, without a doubt, is midnight. So, when someone is in the midst of temptation, he comes to God who loves us and says: “lend me three loaves of bread,” that is, the salvation of body, soul and spirit. For temptations threaten these three with danger. Who is the friend who came in from the road? Without any doubt, the Lord tests us in temptations and wants to taste our salvation. He who has fallen into temptation, not being able to resist them on his own and to receive the Lord, has nothing to offer Him. - Locked doors mean that we must be prepared before temptation, and when we fall, then the door to preparation is already closed, and we, being unprepared, will suffer danger if God does not help. Children are (since they were first converted) those who through virtue have become sons of God, recline and rest in God.

And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Which one of you is the father? When the son will ask him for bread, will he give him a stone? or, when he asks fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Look how precise the words are. The Lord did not say, “Ask,” and it will be given to you, but “ask,” that is, continually seek. - “Everyone who asks receives.” Does the one who asks for something useless actually receive it? No. For, firstly, asking for something useless cannot be called a petition before God. For whoever prays to God must ask for what He gives. But if someone asks for something useless, he is not asking God, for He does not give something that is useless. Then listen to how the Lord Himself teaches us to ask for what we should ask. He says: the son asks for bread and fish and eggs. Therefore, just as these items constitute human food, so our petitions should be useful to us and serve to help. By asking for “bread” we understand, perhaps, anyone who asks that faith in the Trinity and the correctness of dogmas be revealed to him. For they, as those who strengthen the heart, are bread. And “fish” is asked by someone who, being in the sea of this life, asks God for help, so that he, like a fish, can remain alive and unimmersed among temptations. And he asks for “eggs” who wants to be given the offspring of virtuous souls, which souls, like those who took wings, ascended in spirit and flew over the earth, in justice, can be likened to birds.

One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak; and the people were surprised. Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven. But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and the house divided in itself, will fall; if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons; and if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then, of course, the Kingdom of God has reached you. One who does not speak is often called mute; but it is also called the one who does not hear, or rather the one who does not hear and does not speak. Those who never hear, don’t speak. This happens to them out of necessity. For we speak what we learn by hearing. When someone does not hear, in all likelihood he does not speak. Unless someone's hearing is subsequently damaged due to illness, nothing prevents him from speaking. The one brought to Christ was mute in both respects: both of the tongue and of the ear. He is the image of human nature, which, being possessed by demons, was incapable of hearing the words of God, much less retelling them. But the Lord, having come and cast out demons, that is, passionate and demonic deeds, made sure that we not only spoke, but also preached the truth. For the words of God must not only be heard, but also retold to others. So, let us listen, we who have demonic works in us, who think to teach others and allow people to be called teachers. For when the demon comes out, then there is true talkativeness and teaching, but as long as the works of demons (passions) are within us, we do not speak, although we seem to speak. - The Pharisees slander the miracle and blaspheme the Lord as a deceiver. They say: He is friendly with the prince of demons and with his assistance he casts out demons. The Lord says to them: how is it possible for a demon to cast out another demon? This would already be the destruction of his kingdom. For if they place their kingdom and rest in living among people, and their prince expels them, then it is clear that he is destroying himself. For every kingdom that is divided and rebellious is disorganized, and a house divided will fall. By “house” do you mean a building? Fine. For the building stands as long as it remains connected, and when the walls separate from each other, it falls. Will you mean by “house” those who live in the house? And as long as they keep peace, they stand, but if they rise up against each other, they fall. - Let it be that I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub; but your sons, that is, the apostles, by whose power are they expelled? Is it not obvious that in My name? How then do you say about Me that I drive out through Beelzebub, needing his power, when your sons, namely the apostles, drive out in My name? Truly, they will judge you. For if they drive out in My name, then I Myself obviously have no need of the power of another. I cast out “by the finger of God,” that is, by the Holy Spirit, and not by the evil spirit. He calls the Spirit “finger” so that you know that just as the finger of one being with the whole body, so the Holy Spirit is consubstantial with the Father and the Son. Or maybe it’s not because he calls it this way because the Son is called the right hand of God, and the seven powers of the Spirit rested on Him, and not as on an instrument of the Spirit, but as on one in essence with Him; one of the gifts and actions of the Spirit is the power to heal. He says that I cast out demons with the “finger” of God, that is, with the gift of the Spirit. For just as the finger is part of the hand, so the spirit of healing was part of those spirits, that is, the powers of the Spirit, which Jesus had. “If,” he says, “I “cast out demons” by the power of God, then the Kingdom of God has truly come to you. And this has the following meaning: the kingdom of the devil is finally destroyed, and God reigns, casting out demons. For listen to what he says next.

When a strong man guards his house with arms, then his property is safe; when his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him. He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through dry places, looking for rest, and, not finding it, says: I will return to my house from where I came; and, having arrived, finds it swept and put away; then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and entering, they live there - and for that person the last thing is worse than the first. Previously, although they served idols, they had visible prophets and anointing; and now they have lost everything, because they have sinned against the Son of God.

While He was saying this, one woman raised her voice from among the people and said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You! And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is evil, it seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah; For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the south will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here. The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah, and behold, there is more Jonah here.

While the Pharisees and scribes denigrate the miracles of the Lord, the wife, an ingenuous and simple face, glorifies Him. Where are those who say that the Lord appeared in ghosts? For here is evidence that He also fed on breasts! And He pleases those who keep the word of God, however, not at all in order to deprive His Mother of pleasure, but in order to show that She would not have received any benefit from giving birth to Him and feeding Him with her breasts, if did not have all the other virtues. He says this together because he goes with the time. Since those who envied Him and those who did not listen to His words reviled those who listened, He, in spite of them, especially pleases those who listen. Perhaps He also says this for the sake of the healed deaf man, so that he, having heard the word, would observe it, so that the ability to hear (given to him) would not serve as a condemnation for him. - When the people began to gather in large numbers, the Lord began to rebuke the foolish. There were several among them who wanted Jesus to perform a sign from heaven; for they said: the signs that He does are from the earth, and He does them by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of peace, who has power over the earth; but He cannot do a sign from heaven, because He is not the Son of the Heavenly Father. Since some said so, the Lord denounces them and says: a sign will be given to you that will prove that I am the true Son of the Heavenly Father. Which one? The sign of Jonah, that is, the sign of the Resurrection. For just as he spent three days in the belly of the whale, so I will remain three days in the belly of the whale, the great animal, that is, hell, and will rise again. When Jonah, cast out by a whale and seemingly revived again, began to preach, the Ninevites obeyed; and even after My Resurrection this generation will not believe Me. Therefore they will be condemned for not imitating the Ninevites, although there is more Jonah here. For My dignity and the way of preaching make a great difference. I am the Master, he is the slave. I preach the Kingdom of Heaven, he is salvation from threatening destruction, I perform miracles, he did not perform any miracle. - In the same way, the queen of the south will condemn this generation, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. - By “queen of the south” we mean, perhaps, every soul that is strong and constant in goodness. I'll explain. The north, when it serves as a symbol of the location of the enemy, is not approved by Scripture, because it is cold and induces deadness and numbness; and the south (as the opposite of the north) is approved, because the south wind brings warmth, revitalization, and warms up the numb parts. Therefore, in the Song of Songs, the bride, driving out the north, says: “Arise from the north and be brought from the south” (4:16), and the prophet again says: “And him who came from the north I will remove from you,” that is, Satan (Joel. 2, 20). So, the soul, reigning in the south, that is, in the fertile country of spiritual life, and strengthened through exercise in activity, comes to listen to wisdom, that is, it ascends to contemplation. For the wisdom of Solomon, the peaceful king, is the contemplation of our Lord and God, which no one will achieve otherwise unless, through exercise in activity, he becomes a king and ruler in a virtuous life.

No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark. So, look: is not the light that is in you darkness? If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be as light as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.

Since the envious Jews, looking at miracles, misinterpreted them out of malice of mind, the Lord says the following: people who received a “lamp” from God, that is, the gift of the mind with which we look, as if given to us by a light, hid their prudence and, darkening themselves out of envy, they do not see miracles and good deeds, although we have received the mind for this purpose, to put it on a candlestick, so that others may see the light. In my opinion, He says this: Pharisee! you have knowledge - this is a lamp. You should have used this knowledge to recognize miracles yourself and to declare and explain to others that they were the works of the Son of God, and not Beelzebub. In this way, those “entering”, that is, those newly introduced and beginning, would see the light. For he who is wise has already entered; and whoever is still studying is just entering. But you, Pharisees, did not want to do this, and the eye of the soul, that is, the mind, hitherto straight, bent and darkened. For just as the eye of the body, what it is, makes the body such, for example, if it is pure, then the body is light, and if it is dark, then the body is dark, so in the same way the soul is located according to the state of the mind. If the eye and light she received from God begin to be darkened by envy or covetousness, generally speaking, by love for material things, then she too becomes darkened.

While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down. The Pharisee was surprised to see that He had not washed hands before lunch. But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness. Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal? Better give alms from what you have, then everything will be clean for you.

Although the Lord knows the ill will of the Pharisees, nevertheless, he dines with them because they were crafty and needed correction. For this is why He dines with them, so that he may have a reason to improve their morals. For example, even now, looking at their unreasonable custom of washing before eating food, they teach that the soul must be cleansed by good deeds, since rinsing with water cleanses not the soul, but the body. They, foolish, thought that by immersing themselves in water and washing the body, their soul would be cleansed along with the body. Therefore, the Lord used the wonderful example of the cup. And as it was time for the table, He mentions the cup and the dish and, borrowing evidence from what lay before his eyes, convinces the Pharisee that just as there is no benefit if the outside of the cup is clean, but inside is filled with all kinds of dirt, so there is no benefit in in the event that, when washing the body, the soul is filled with all uncleanness, for example, theft and deceit. The Lord hinted at the two dominant passions of the Jews: with the word “theft” - covetousness, with the word “cunning” - with envy and the consequences of envy. So, there is no benefit if the soul is in such a state. Reckless! Wasn’t it the same one who created the soul, who created the body on which you dwell so much? Therefore, you must cleanse your soul. Then he teaches them how the inside is cleansed, namely: he points to alms. Look, perhaps, how He, pointing to alms, heals both of their passions, I mean envy and theft. For he who is truly merciful will neither steal from the one to whom he gives alms, nor envy him. So, since He condemned two passions in them, He drives them out with one medicine, namely alms, which is the first door of idolizing love. Where is love, where is covetousness and envy? “From what you have,” that is, from what you have. He said well: “from what you have,” and not simply: “from what you have,” because possessions are in the heart of the covetous and dominate in him. Why does David command not to attach the heart to wealth (Ps. 61:11), that is, not to nail it down or tie it.

But woe to you Pharisees, for you give tithes of mint, rue and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: this should have been done, and not forsaken. Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it. To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too. But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger. Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed: by this you testify to the deeds of your fathers and agree with them, for they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. Therefore, the wisdom of God said: I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed and others driven out, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the creation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple, may be required from this generation. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation. - The lawyer recklessly exposes himself. The lawyers were different from the Pharisees. The Pharisees were considered ascetics and cut off from others, and the lawyers were scribes and teachers and resolved questions from the Law for those who wished. They (the lawyers) imposed heavy and unbearable burdens on people; but they themselves did not touch these burdens with their finger, that is, they themselves did not observe anything of what they commanded others. For when the teacher himself does what he teaches, then he lightens the burdens, setting an example in himself and encouraging his students. When he does nothing of what he teaches, then the burdens seem truly heavy to the students, since even the teacher cannot fulfill them. - The Lord also reveals that the Jews are the descendants of Cain and the heirs of his malice when he says that all the blood shed from Abel to Zechariah will be exacted from this generation. You, he says, killed the prophets, your brothers, just as he killed Abel. Why, not without reason, did some take Cain for the image of the people who beat the prophets, for which they were avenged seven times, that is, the lightest punishment, and Lamech - for the image of the people who killed Christ, for which they were avenged seventy times seven (Gen. 4, 24), namely: scattering into irrevocable captivity. -Who was Zechariah, who was killed between the temple and the altar? Some say that this is the ancient Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was stoned, as is known from the book of Kings (2 Chron. 24, 20-21). Others say that this is the father of the Forerunner. He did not exclude the Virgin Mary from the ranks of virgins after she gave birth to Christ, but placed her in the same place where they stood; and this place was between the temple and the outer copper altar. For this they killed him. Since some expected their future king in Christ, while others did not want to be under the king’s authority, they therefore killed this saint because he claimed that the Virgin had given birth and that Christ, their future King, had been born, which was disgusting to them , for they wanted to be without a king.

Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who entered. When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to come hard at Him, forcing Him to answer many things, looking for Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him.

The Lord called the “key of understanding” teaching and guidance through the Law, which can lead to Christ. For the Law, without a doubt, serves as a guide to Christ (Gal. 3:24). So, the lawyers apparently explained the Law, and yet maliciously withheld the key of understanding and did not open the doors of the Law, through which they themselves and the people could come to Christ. The law serves as a door to Christ. But this door remains closed unless someone explains the dark side of the Law and thus opens the door. For the Lord also said: “If you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me” (John 5:46). And again: “Search the Scriptures, they testify about Me. But you do not want to come to Me” (John 5:39-40). As an example, I will point to one.

Among the Jews, as you know, the lamb was slaughtered, the thresholds were anointed, they ate this meat, and this was their victory over the destroyer (Ex. 12: 1-13). All this prefigured the Sacrament of Christ.

So, they (that is, the Pharisees and scribes), truly, took the key of understanding, but they themselves did not enter and did not let others in, and, moreover, “those who entered,” that is, those already capable of knowing God. - When He was still saying this, instead of admitting their powerlessness, as if in refutation of His words, they declared themselves to be wiser than Him and began to block His mouth, that is, to constantly question Him and lead to bewilderment. For difficulties usually occur in speeches when one person is suddenly asked by many people, and, moreover, about different subjects. Then this person, not being able to answer everyone, gives reason to the unreasonable to consider himself defeated. These damned ones plotted the same thing against Christ. Many of them, asking one, thought to confuse Him in speeches and put Him in difficulty, as if He was unable to answer them: which was and was probable. For how can one suddenly answer many different questions? This can also be taken in this meaning: to catch Him from His lips and expose Him. For when someone is caught in his own words, then he, it seems, closes his own lips, that is, he is convicted with his own lips and condemned. This meaning can be seen from what follows. For it is said: “trying to catch something from His mouth.” What was named a little earlier is now replaced by the words - catch from His mouth.

It happened that when He was praying in one place and stopped, one of His disciples said to Him: Lord! teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples. He told them: when you pray, say:

Our Father who art in heaven!

Hallowed be Thy name;

Thy kingdom come;

Thy will be done

and on earth as it is in heaven;

Give us our daily bread

on every day;

And forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive every debtor to us;

and do not lead us into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

According to the custom of that time, the rabbi taught his students a simple prayer, which they could recite as needed. John had already done this for his disciples, and now Jesus’ disciples came to Him asking him to teach them too. Here is Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer. It is shorter than Matthew's version, but from it we can learn everything we need to know about how to pray and what to pray for.

1. It begins with what God is called Father. This was a typical Christian appeal to God (cf. Gal. 4, 6; Rome. 8, 15; 1 Pet. 1, 17). The very first word of prayer notifies us that we are not addressing anyone, but the Father, who gladly satisfies the needs of his children.

2. In Hebrew it is Name means more than common name, which is used to call a person. Name means the whole character of a person, in its real manifestation. IN Ps. 9, 11 it says: “They will trust in You those who know the name Your". This means much more than the fact that God's name is Jehovah. This means that all who know the character, mind, and heart of God will gladly trust Him.

3. Let us especially note the order of the Lord’s Prayer. Before asking for anything for yourself, you should proclaim the glory of God and express your reverence for Him. Only after God has been given His proper place are other requests appropriate.

4. This prayer covers the whole life:

A) Her needs are in the present. She indicates to pray to God for our daily bread for this day. This goes back to God's command about manna from heaven in the desert (Ex. 16, 11-21). We do not need to worry about the unknown future, only about the present day.

“The long journey will not frighten me, Only you remain with me.”

b) Her past sin. When we pray, we can only ask God for forgiveness, for the best of us is only a sinner approaching the presence of an immaculate God.

in her trial in the future. Under temptation any test should be understood. This includes not only temptation to sin, but any situation that is a challenge and at the same time a test of a person’s maturity and fidelity. We cannot escape these trials, but when we are with God, we can withstand these trials.

Someone noticed that the Lord's Prayer has two important meanings in a person's prayer. If we begin prayer with it, it awakens in us various sacred aspirations, which lead us into faithful devotion. If we read it at the end of our prayer, then in it we summarize everything that we should pray for in the presence of God.

Luke 11.5-13 Ask, and it shall be given you

And he said to them: suppose that one of you, having a friend, comes to him at midnight and says to him: “friend! lend me three loaves of bread;

For my friend came to me from the road, and I have nothing to offer him”;

And he from inside will tell him in response: “Don’t bother me, the doors are already locked, and my children are with me on the bed; I can’t get up and give it to you.”

If, I tell you, he does not get up and give him out of friendship with him, then, out of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he asks.

And I will tell you: ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you;

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Which father among you, when his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? or, when he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?

Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

So, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

Travelers were often on the road late in the evening, which gave them the opportunity to avoid the heat of the midday sun. Jesus tells how just such a late traveler arrived at his friend’s place around midnight. Hospitality was the sacred duty of everyone in the East; It was not enough to simply satisfy his immediate needs; for the guest everything had to be in abundance. In the village they baked bread at home. They baked just enough to last for one day, because the bread quickly became stale and the next day it was unlikely that anyone would want to eat it.

The late arrival of the traveler put the owner of the house in a difficult position, because his chest was empty and he could not properly fulfill the sacred requirements of hospitality. Although it was already very late, he went to a friend to borrow some bread. But the door of his house was locked. In the east, a person knocks on a locked door only in case of emergency. In the morning the door opened, and remained open all day, because the inhabitants had little to hide, but if the door was locked, it was clear that the owner of the house did not want to be disturbed. But the man to whom the guest arrived was not stopped by the locked door. He knocked and continued to knock.

The house of a poor resident of Palestine was one room with one small window. The floor was adobe and covered with dry reeds and reeds. The room was divided into two parts, but not by a partition, but by a small elevation. Two thirds of the rooms were at ground level, the remaining third a little higher. On this elevated part a fireplace smoldered all night, around which the whole family slept not on raised trestle beds, but on mats. The families were large and everyone slept, lying down close to each other, so that everyone would be warm. If he got up alone, he inevitably woke up the whole family. In addition, in the village they usually brought animals into the house at night: chickens, roosters and goats.

Is it surprising that a person who was already in bed did not want to get up? And the petitioner continued with daring persistence. This is precisely the meaning of the Greek word used in the text - to knock, until finally the owner of the house, realizing that now the whole family was awakened anyway, got up and gave him what he needed.

“This story will teach you about prayer,” Jesus said. The moral of this parable is not to stubbornly pray; no, we should not knock on God’s door until, finally, He, tired of asking, gives us what we want, or until He is forced to answer us against His will.

The word parable in its literal sense means put next to something that is, make a comparison with something. If we put one thing next to another in order to teach someone a lesson, based on the fact that two objects are similar to each other, have something in common with each other, or, on the contrary, are opposite to each other. Jesus, in fact, says this: “If the shameless persistence of a man can force his stubborn and unwilling friend to give him everything he needs, how much more will the heavenly Father satisfy the needs of His children!” “If you,” He said, “though you are evil, know how to satisfy the needs of your children, how much more will God satisfy you?”

But this does not save us from passionate prayer. After all, in the end, we can confirm the reality and sincerity of our desires only through the diligence and persistence of our prayer. However, this does not mean that we should snatch the gifts we need from God’s hands; we simply turn to the One who knows our needs better than ourselves, and who, having a generous heart, abundantly gives us everything we need. If we have not been given what we pray to God for, it is not because He is sorry for His gift, but because He intends to give us something better. There is no and never was a prayer left unanswered. The answer we get may not be the one we expected or desired; but even if God refuses a prayer, then His refusal is dictated by love and wisdom.

Luke 11:14-23 Evil slanderer

One day He cast out a demon who was mute; and when the demon came out, the dumb man began to speak, and the people were surprised.

Some of them said: He casts out demons by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.

And others, tempting, demanded from Him a sign from heaven.

But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself will be desolate, and a house divided against itself will fall.

If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? and you say that by the power of Beelzebub I cast out demons.

And if I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub, by whose power do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.

If I cast out demons with the finger of God, then of course the Kingdom of God has reached you.

When a strong man guards his house with weapons, then his property is safe;

When his strongest attacks him and defeats him, then he will take all his weapons in which he hoped and divide what was stolen from him.

He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.

When Jesus' enemies could no longer directly contradict Him, they resorted to slander. They declared that His authority to cast out demons was based on His union with the prince of demons. They attributed His power not to the help of God, but to the help of the devil. Jesus gave them a twofold and convincing answer.

First, he dealt them a deft blow. In those days there were many spellcasters and sorcerers in Palestine. Josephus traces this activity back to King Solomon. Among other abilities wise Solomon there was knowledge of herbs and medicinal plants, and he invented magical formulas that made it possible to completely cast out demons so that they never returned; and Josephus states that he himself saw Solomon's methods successfully applied even in his own day (Josephus Jewish antiquities 8:5, 2). And Jesus strikes a successful blow to the slanderers. “If,” He says, “I received the ability to cast out demons because I am in union with the prince of demons, then what can you say about others, your loved ones, who also cast out demons? By judging Me, you condemn only yourself.”

Secondly, he makes an irrefutable argument. A kingdom in which there is civil war cannot survive. If the demonic prince began to direct his power to expel his own followers, then his kingdom would soon come to an end. A strong man can only be defeated even more strong man. “Therefore,” says Jesus, “if I cast out demons, this not only proves that I am in agreement with the prince of the demons, but, on the contrary, that the stronghold of the demons is broken, the strong man of evil is defeated, and the kingdom of God is coming.”

Certain enduring truths emerge from this passage.

1. A person by nature is ready to resort to slander if his ordinary arguments are exhausted and do not bring the desired result. A prominent English statesman of the last century, William Gladstone, showed great interest in the problem of moral correction of the fallen women of the streets of London. But his political opponents maliciously insisted that his interest was caused by completely different and base reasons. Slander is the most cruel and inhuman means, because it often leaves a stain on a person; after all, man is by nature inclined to humiliate, and not to elevate others. Do not think that we are not guilty of this. After all, how often are we willing to believe the worst about a person? How often do we deliberately attribute base motives to a person whom we dislike in some way? How often do we ourselves repeat slanderous and vile stories and destroy a person’s reputation over a cup of tea? Thinking about this will leave us no room for complacency, but a need for introspection.

2. Let us remind ourselves once again that Jesus, as proof of the approach of the Kingdom of God, emphasized that the afflicted were healed and the sick were made whole. Jesus' purpose was not only salvation shower; His goal is complete healing and salvation.

3. Luke concludes this passage with Jesus saying, “He who is not with Me is against Me; and whoever does not gather with Me scatters.” There is no place for neutrality in Christianity. He who shuns and shuns good automatically contributes to evil. A person either breaks through the road or stands across someone’s road.

Luke 11.24-28 The danger of an empty soul

When the unclean spirit leaves a person, he walks through dry places, looking for rest, and not finding it, he says: I will return to my house from where I came.

And when he came he found it swept and put away;

Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and live there; and for that person the last thing is worse than the first.

While He was saying this, one woman, raising her voice from among the people, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts that nourished You!

And He said: Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

Here is a dark and terrible story about how a demon was cast out of one man. This demon wandered in search of peace, but did not find it. And so he decided to return to man again. He found his soul clean - swept and tidied, but empty. Then he gathered seven other demons who were stronger than him, and together they again took possession of the man, whose fate became even worse than before.

1. This parable contains a fundamental truth: the human soul should not remain empty. It is not enough to simply drive out evil thoughts, bad habits and the old way of life from it, but to leave the soul empty. An empty soul is always in danger. Adam Welch often preached on the topic: “And do not get drunk with wine, wherein is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit ( Eph. 5, 18). He began it with the words: “A person must be filled with something.” It is not enough to simply banish evil; good must take its place.

2. It follows from this that no religion can be based only on prohibitions. Let's take a very clear example: the problem of observing the resurrection has not yet been resolved. Too often they talk with indignation about what people do on Sunday, and then give a list of things that are prohibited on Sunday. But the person to whom all these tirades are addressed may ask: “Well, what can I do?” And if we don’t answer this question, then it would be better if we didn’t tell him anything at all, because by giving an incomplete list of what not to do, we doom him to idleness, and that’s exactly what the devil is waiting for to keep him busy. the work of an idle man. Religion is always in danger of degenerating into a series of prohibitions and taboos. It is necessary to cleanse, but having eradicated evil, it is necessary to cultivate goodness.

3. The best way to avoid evil is to do good. The most beautiful garden I saw was so filled with flowers that there was no room for weeds; Flowers need to be planted in every free space; it is not enough just to pull out the weeds. This is more relevant than anywhere else in a person’s spiritual life. We are often bothered by bad thoughts. If we limit ourselves to just saying: “No, I won’t think about it,” then we will nevertheless begin to concentrate more and more on this thought. The way out of this is to think about something else, to displace the bad thought with a noble thought. You can't become pious without doing this or that; a person becomes like this when he fills his life with decent thoughts and deeds.

In verses 27 and 28, Jesus speaks sternly but truthfully. The woman shouting from the crowd was in a state of emotional excitement. And Jesus brought her back to reality. The state of spiritual impulse is a wonderful thing; but the most beautiful thing is the everyday everyday life in obedience to the Lord. No wonderful feelings can replace decent deeds.

Luke 11.29-32 Responsibility for privileges

When the people began to gather in large numbers, He began to say: This generation is wicked; he seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to him except the sign of the prophet Jonah;

For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

The Queen of the South will rise up in judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, there is more Solomon here.

The Ninevites will rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented from the preaching of Jonah; and behold, there is more Jonah here.

The Jews demanded that Jesus do something amazing and thereby prove that He was God's Anointed One. Somewhat later than Him, in 45, a certain Theudas appeared in Palestine, declaring himself the Messiah. He persuaded the people to go with him to the Jordan, promising them to divide the waters of the river and make a dry passage for them to the other side. It goes without saying that the waters did not divide, and the Romans easily dealt with the rebellion; but it was precisely this kind of sign that the Jews craved, believing that it was in this way that Jesus could prove his credibility to them. The Jews did not see that the greatest sign that God could send was Jesus himself.

Just as Jonah had once been a sign of God to the Ninevites, so now Jesus was a sign of God to the Jews, but they did not recognize Him. During the time of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba learned about his wisdom and came from afar to learn from him; When Jonah preached, the people of Nineveh recognized the voice of God in his voice and everyone repented. On the Day of Judgment, these nations will rise up and condemn the Jews of the era of Jesus, because the Jews who lived at that time had opportunities and privileges that they never had and will never have again, but they refused to accept them. The condemnation of the Jews will be all the more severe because their privileges were great.

Privileges and responsibilities are always closely linked. Let's think about two of our greatest privileges and how we use them.

1. The Bible, the Word of God, is available to each of us. And so it wasn't always and it's not it came naturally. There was a time when preaching the Bible itself in native languages was punishable by death. When Wycliffe wrote to a scholar in 1350, asking him to preach the Gospel to the common people in their own language, he received this answer: “I know well that by the law of Christ I must fulfill your request, but, nevertheless, we have now gone so far from the law of Christ that if I grant your request, I will perish; But you said well that a person should live as long as possible.” Fox later reported that in those days people sat up at night and read and listened to the Word of God on English language. “They gave a lot of money for a book, they gave a cartload of hay for several chapters from St. James or St. Paul, written in English." Tyndale gave England the first printed Bible. He did this, although he himself, in his words, “suffered from poverty, exile, bitter absence of friends, hunger, thirst and cold, great dangers and numerous large and heated conflicts.” In 1536 he died as a martyr. When, shortly before his death, the authorities burned the Bible printed in English, he said: “They did exactly what I expected of them; I would not be surprised if they burned me too.”

There is no more valuable book than the Bible. Nowadays there is a serious danger that people will give it a cynical definition - a classic book, that is, a book that everyone has heard of, but which no one reads. We are given the privilege of having the Bible, and this privilege obliges us, for we are responsible for our privileges.

2. We can serve God as we see fit. And this is also a privilege that is worth human lives. The tragedy is that many people have used this privilege to avoid serving God at all. And this right obliges us, because we will have to answer for it.

If a man is a Christian, and he has the book of Christ and the church of Christ, then he is an heir to the privileges of God; and if he neglects them, or refuses them, then he, like the Jews of the time of Jesus, is subject to condemnation.

Luke 11.33-36 hard heart

No one, having lit a candle, puts it in a secret place, not under a bushel, but on a candlestick, so that those who enter may see the light.

The lamp of the body is the eye; So, if your eye is clean, then your whole body will be bright; and if it is bad, then your body will be dark.

See therefore, is not the light that is in you darkness?

If your body is all light and does not have a single dark part, then everything will be light, as if a lamp illuminated you with radiance.

The meaning of this passage is not easy to understand, but perhaps it has the following meaning. The light of the body depends on the eye; if the eye is healthy, a person perceives enough light, but if the eye is unhealthy, the light turns into darkness for him. Similar the light of life depends on the heart" if a person has a morally healthy heart, then his whole life radiates light; if his heart is vicious, his whole life is plunged into darkness. Jesus strongly advises us to keep our inner light always shining.

But why does our inner lamp fade or dim? What can happen to our heart?

1. Our hearts can harden. Sometimes, when our hands have to do something unusual, we experience irritation of the skin and our hands begin to hurt: but if we repeat this often enough, the skin becomes rough, and then we can do without any difficulty what once caused us pain . The same thing happens with our hearts. When we first commit a bad act, we do it with trembling and fear, sometimes even with pain, these feelings become weaker and weaker, and in the end we commit them without remorse. Sin has a terrible power - it hardens hearts and souls. The first step of every person towards sin is always accompanied by a cry of warning in his heart, but if he sins quite often, the time comes when sin no longer worries him, and his heart does not beat. What once inspired fear in a person, and what he did extremely reluctantly, becomes habitual. We only have ourselves to blame if we allow ourselves to fall into such a state.

2. Our hearts are getting dumber. Man tragically easily gets used to evil. Sometimes at first our hearts even hurt when we see the suffering of the world, but then we gradually get used to it, take it for granted and stop worrying about it.

Most people feel and experience much more intensely in their youth than in adulthood. This is also true of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Florence Barkley told how she was first taken to church as a little girl. Was Good Friday, read the story of the crucifixion, and read it beautifully. She heard about Peter's denial and Judas' betrayal; she heard about the cross-examination of Pontius Pilate; she saw crown of thorns Him, the soldiers blow; she heard the decision to crucify Jesus and then she heard terrible final words: “And they crucified Him.” It seemed that this did not touch anyone in the church, but suddenly the girl buried her face in her mother’s dress, burst into tears and her voice rang in the silent church: “Why did they do this? Why did they do this?

This is exactly how we should perceive the story of the crucifixion, but we have heard it so many times that we now perceive it without any emotion. May God deliver us from a heart that has lost the ability to feel the agony of crucifixion, which He went to for our sake.

3. Our hearts can actively rebel. It is possible that some people know the true path, but deliberately choose the unrighteous path. A person may feel the Lord's hand on his shoulder, but push it away. A man with open eyes can choose his way to a distant land while God calls him to come home. May God deliver us from a hard heart.

Luke 11.37-44 Honoring the little things and neglecting the essential

While He was saying this, a certain Pharisee asked Him to have dinner with him. He came and lay down.

The Pharisee was surprised to see that He did not wash His hands before dinner.

But the Lord said to him: Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but your insides are full of robbery and wickedness.

Foolish! Didn't the same One who created the external also create the internal?

Better give alms from what you have: then everything will be clean for you.

But woe to you Pharisees, for you give tithes of mint, rue and all kinds of vegetables, and neglect the judgment and love of God: this should have been done, and not forsaken.

Woe to you Pharisees, because you love presiding in synagogues and greetings in public assemblies.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you are like hidden tombs over which people walk and do not know it.

The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus did not wash his hands before eating. This was not done for the sake of cleanliness; Washing hands before eating was of a ritual nature. The law states that a person must wash their hands properly before eating and that they should also be washed between meals. As usual, every detail has been designed. For this purpose there were special stone vessels with water, because ordinary water could be unclean; To wash your hands you had to use as much water as one and a half eggshells could hold. First, water was poured onto the hands, starting from the fingertips and towards the wrist. Then the palms of the hands were washed, and the palm was rubbed with the back of the other hand clenched into a fist. And finally, water was poured onto the hand again, this time starting from the wrist towards the fingertips. Even the slightest violation of this ritual was considered a sin by the Pharisees. Jesus replied that if the Pharisees had been as careful about the purity of their hearts as they were about the purity of their hands, they would have been better people.

An Orthodox Jew carefully paid the following duties:

A) The first fruits of the earth. The first fruits of the following six plants - wheat, barley, grapevine, fig tree, pomegranate tree, olive tree, as well as the first collected honey were brought as a sacrifice to the temple.

b) Terumu. While the first fruits of the earth were sacrificed to God, the terumah was reserved for the priests to support them. It was also brought from the first fruit of each plant, and its volume was 1/50 of the entire harvest.

V) Tithe. The tithe was paid directly to the Levites, who in turn gave a tenth of what they received to the priests. This tithe included a tenth of everything “that can be eaten and cultivated or grown on the earth.” The scrupulousness of the Pharisees is already evident from the fact that even the law said that one does not have to pay tithes from the rue. Regardless of the feelings and inclinations of the heart, no matter how much they neglected the laws of justice and love, the Pharisees never forgot to pay the tithe.

The privileged seats in the synagogue were located in the front and faced the worshipers. The most honorable places for parishioners were the first rows, and as they moved deeper into the hall, their honor decreased. The advantage of seats depended on how many could see them!

The more respect the people showed to the Pharisees in their greetings on the streets, the greater the pleasure they experienced.

The meaning of verse 44 is clear if we take into account the following: “Whoever touches in the field someone killed with a sword, or a dead person, or a human bone, or a tomb, will be unclean for seven days” (Num. 19:16). To be unclean meant to be excluded from all worship. But a person can touch a grave without even noticing it. But this did not matter: one touch made a person unclean. Jesus said that the Pharisees were like the same unnoticed graves. Although people did not know it, the very communication with the Pharisees brought them only harm. Completely unaware of it, the person who came into contact with them became involved in evil. People might not suspect evil at all, but it spread, for they were clearly infected with erroneous thoughts about God and His requirements.

There are two deviations that are especially noticeable about the Pharisees, for which Jesus condemns them.

I. They focused their attention on the external. While all external religious ceremonies, they howled with satisfaction. Their hearts could be black as hell; perhaps mercy and even a sense of justice were completely alien to them; but as long as they performed certain rituals at certain times, they considered themselves worthy people in the eyes of God.

A person can attend church regularly, study the Bible diligently, and give generously to the needs of the church; but if in his heart there are proud thoughts and contempt, if he lacks mercy in everyday relations towards his neighbor, if he is unfair to his subordinates, or is dishonest in his work, then he is not a Christian. No one can be a Christian if he only observes the external norms of religion, but forgets about normal relationships between people.

2. The Pharisees focused their attention on the details. Compared to love and kindness, justice and generosity, washing your hands and paying your tithe meticulously are but insignificant details. How often church courts and believers are concerned with petty problems of church leadership and administration, even quarrel and fight among themselves, but forget the great problems of real Christian life.

Luke 11.45-54 The sin of the lawyers

To this one of the lawyers said to Him: Teacher! By saying this, You offend us too.

But He said: woe to you lawyers too, because you impose unbearable burdens on people, but you yourself do not even touch them with one finger.

Woe to you, for you build tombs for the prophets whom your fathers killed:

By this you testify to the deeds of your fathers and agree with them; for they have killed the prophets, and you are building tombs for them.

Therefore, the wisdom of God said: I will send prophets and apostles to them, and some of them will be killed, and others will be driven out;

May the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, be required from this generation,

From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, killed between the altar and the temple. She, I tell you, will be required of this generation.

Woe to you lawyers, because you took the key of understanding; you yourselves did not enter and hindered those who entered.

When He told them this, the scribes and Pharisees began to press hard on Him, forcing Him to answer many things,

Climbing under Him and trying to catch something from His mouth in order to accuse Him.

Jesus makes three accusations against the scribes.

1. As experts in the law, they imposed on people numerous extremely inconvenient norms of ritual law; but they themselves did not observe them, because they were masters of evasion and evasion. Here are some of these evasions.

The Sabbath journey of a Jew was limited by law to the distance V 2000 cubits (915 meters) from the dwelling. But if a rope was stretched across the road, then this end of the street became his home and he could walk another 915 meters; if on Friday he left food in any place sufficient to satisfy him twice, then this place was also considered his home, and he could walk another 915 meters from it!

In addition to other work, it was forbidden to tie knots on the Sabbath: sailors' knots, camel drivers' knots, and rope knots. But a woman could tie her belt; therefore, if a bucket of water needed to be pulled out of a well, then a rope could not be tied to the bucket, but a belt could, and thus the bucket of water could be pulled out of the well!

It was also forbidden to carry weights, but the ritual law said: “he who carries anything in his right or in his left hand, or in his bosom, or on his shoulders is guilty; but one who wears something on the back of his hand, on his leg, in his mouth, on his elbow, on his ear, on his hair, or in his purse turned upside down, between the purse and his shirt, in the fold of his shirt, in his shoe or sandals “is not breaking the law because he does not wear it in the usual way.”

It’s hard to even imagine how people could think of the fact that God could establish such a law for someone, and that developing the details of such a law could be a matter of religious service, and their observance could be a matter of life and death. But this is precisely what the religion of the scribes consisted of. It is not surprising, therefore, that Jesus attacked the scribes in His speech, and they, in turn, called him an unbelieving heretic.2. The attitude of the scribes towards the prophets was contradictory. They proclaimed deep reverence for the prophets. But they only revered dead prophets. They tried to kill the living. They erected tombs and monuments to the dead prophets, but they dishonored, persecuted and killed the living.

“I can’t stand the New Moon and Sabbaths and holiday gatherings,” said Isaiah. “O man! “It has been told to you what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God,” said Micah ( Mich. 6, 8). This was the essence of the teaching of the prophets; and it was the direct opposite of the teaching of the scribes. It is not surprising, therefore, that the scribes, by deifying the external details they developed, hated the prophets, and Jesus also taught along the line of the prophets. The murder of the prophet Zechariah is described in 2 Steam. 24, 20.21.

3. The scribes hid Holy Bible from the people. Their interpretations of the Scriptures were so peculiar that to the common man it was difficult to understand anything in them, and therefore they became a book of riddles for him. In their delusion, they refused to see the true meaning of the Scriptures and did not allow others to study them. In the hands of scribes, they also became an incomprehensible mystery for the common man.

The same thing happens today. There are also those who demand from others compliance with standards of life and behavior that they themselves do not even think of fulfilling. For many more, all religion consists solely in observing external rules. Nowadays there are also those who make the Word of God so difficult to understand that the seeking mind is perplexed and does not know what to believe and who to listen to.

While the Pharisees and scribes denigrate the miracles of the Lord, the wife, an ingenuous and simple face, glorifies Him. Where are those who say that the Lord appeared in ghosts? For here is evidence that He also fed on breasts! And He pleases those who keep the word of God, however, not at all in order to deprive His Mother of pleasure, but in order to show that She would not have received any benefit from giving birth to Him and feeding Him with her breasts, if did not have all the other virtues. He says this together because he goes with the time. Since those who envied Him and those who did not listen to His words reviled those who listened, He, in spite of them, especially pleases those who listen. Perhaps He also says this for the sake of the healed deaf man, so that he, having heard the word, would observe it, so that the ability to hear (given to him) would not serve as a condemnation for him. - When the people began to gather in large numbers, the Lord began to rebuke the foolish. There were several among them who wanted Jesus to perform a sign from heaven; for they said: the signs that He does are from the earth, and He does them by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of peace, who has power over the earth; but He cannot do a sign from heaven, because He is not the Son of the Heavenly Father. Since some said so, the Lord denounces them and says: a sign will be given to you that will prove that I am the true Son of the Heavenly Father. Which one? The sign of Jonah, that is, the sign of the Resurrection. For just as he spent three days in the belly of the whale, so I will remain three days in the belly of the whale, the great animal, that is, hell, and will rise again. When Jonah, cast out by a whale and seemingly revived again, began to preach, the Ninevites obeyed; and even after My Resurrection this generation will not believe Me. Therefore they will be condemned for not imitating the Ninevites, although there is more Jonah here. For My dignity and the way of preaching make a great difference. I am the Master, he is the slave. I preach the Kingdom of Heaven, he is salvation from threatening destruction, I perform miracles, he did not perform any miracle. - In the same way, the queen of the south will condemn this generation, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. - By “queen of the south” we mean, perhaps, every soul that is strong and constant in goodness. I'll explain. The north, when it serves as a symbol of the location of the enemy, is not approved by Scripture, because it is cold and induces deadness and numbness; and the south (as the opposite of the north) is approved, because the south wind brings warmth, revitalization, and warms up the numb parts. Therefore, in the Song of Songs, the bride, driving away the north, says: “Arise from the north and be brought from the south” (Song. 4:16), and the prophet again says: “And him who came from the north I will remove from you,” that is, Satan (Joel 2:20). So, the soul, reigning in the south, that is, in the fertile country of spiritual life, and strengthened through exercise in activity, comes to listen to wisdom, that is, it ascends to contemplation. For the wisdom of Solomon, the peaceful king, is the contemplation of our Lord and God, which no one will achieve otherwise unless, through exercise in activity, he becomes a king and ruler in a virtuous life.