Orthodox readings for 29 September 2018

King James Version (en)

King James Version (en)

1 Corinthians, Chapter 1, verses 26-29

²⁶ and calleth not the wise, mighty and noble, ²⁷ but the foolish, weak, and men of no account

²⁶For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

²⁷But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

²⁸And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

²⁹That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Read more:1 Corinthians, Chapter 1

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1

1:26 Behold your calling - What manner of men they are whom God calls. That not many wise men after the flesh - In the account of the world. Not many mighty - Men of power and authority.

1:28 Things that are not - The Jews frequently called the gentiles, "Them that are not," Ezd2 1:56-57. In so supreme contempt did they hold them. The things that are - In high esteem.

1:29 That no flesh - A fit appellation. Flesh is fair, but withering as grass. May glory before God - In God we ought to glory.

John, Chapter 8, verses 21-30

¹² He preacheth himself the light of the world, and justifieth his doctrine

²¹Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

²²Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

²⁵Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

²⁶I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

²⁷They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

²⁸Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

²⁹And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him.

Read more:John, Chapter 8

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8

8:23 Ye are - Again he passes over their interruption, and proves what he advanced, Joh 8:21.Of them that are beneath - From the earth.I am of them that are above - Here he directly shows whence he came, even from heaven, and whither he goes.

8:24 If ye believe not that I AM - Here (as in Joh 8:58) our Lord claims the Divine name, I AM, Exo 3:14. But the Jews, as if he had stopped short,and not finished the sentence, answered, Who art thou?

8:25 Even what I say to you from the beginning - The same which I say to you, as it were in one discourse, with one even tenor from the time I first spake to you.

8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you - I have much to say concerning your inexcusable unbelief: but he that sent me is true - Whether ye believe or no. And I speak the things which I have heard from him - I deliver truly what he hath given me in charge.

8:27 They understood not - That by him that sent him he meant God the Father. Therefore in Joh 8:28-29 he speaks plainly of the Father, and again claims the Divine name, I AM.

8:28 When ye shall have lifted up - On the cross, ye shall know - And so many of them did, that I AM - God over all; and that I do nothing of myself - Being one with the Father.

8:29 The Father hath not left me alone - Never from the moment I came into the world.

NOTES

Speaking with the Pharisees, Jesus again and again tries to explain to them who He is and why He came into the world. But it was not easy for them to understand Him, because they wanted not testimony but proofs, formal proofs of the kind required from...

Speaking with the Pharisees, Jesus again and again tries to explain to them who He is and why He came into the world. But it was not easy for them to understand Him, because they wanted not testimony but proofs, formal proofs of the kind required from witnesses in an ordinary earthly court over ordinary everyday matters. Jesus speaks to them about the life that He can give to everyone who is ready to believe Him (v. 12), and in response He hears: where are Your witnesses? And if there are no witnesses, how can we believe You (v. 13)? In answering those who question Him, Jesus tries to speak with them in their own language. He says: there are two witnesses, I and the Father (vv. 16-17).

But such language does not change the essence of the matter: in order to believe Jesus, one needs not legal proofs but simply the ability to see the situation with spiritual sight. One need only understand who Jesus is, where He came from and where He is going, but this cannot be done by relying only on formal legal procedures, even if they are based on the norms of the Torah (v. 14). You, Jesus says to the Pharisees, evaluate (“judge”) everyone only by external, formal criteria (“according to the flesh”); I, He says of Himself, evaluate no one (v. 15). In this way Jesus lets His interlocutors understand that it is pointless to measure His ministry and testimony by earthly measures and formal criteria, for the Kingdom does not fit within any human framework. And Jesus Himself too, according to His own words, judges no one: as can be seen, He did not come into the world for that. His goal was to free people from the sin from which otherwise they would never be freed, and the question of accepting or not accepting Jesus therefore becomes a question of life and death both for those who accept and for those who reject (vv. 21-24).

And although, as can be seen, the listeners still did not fully understand the Savior (vv. 25-27), among them there were many whom Jesus’ words convinced and who believed Him (v. 30). Apparently a division took place among those present between those who were ready to disregard the opinion of the majority and of religious authorities for the sake of the Kingdom, and those who preferred not to risk it. A division between those who seek the Kingdom and those who are ready to live as before, remaining with their religion.

It cannot be said that Jesus never spoke directly to His listeners about His Messiahship: at times He does so quite clearly. Thus, calling Himself "the One Who Is from the beginning," He essentially uses one of the epithets applied to the Messiah already...

It cannot be said that Jesus never spoke directly to His listeners about His Messiahship: at times He does so quite clearly. Thus, calling Himself "the One Who Is from the beginning," He essentially uses one of the epithets applied to the Messiah already by the pre-exilic prophets. But at the same time Jesus behaves completely differently from how, according to generally accepted ideas of that time, the Messiah was supposed to behave: He says nothing about an uprising or about freeing the country from the power of the Gentiles. He does seem to call Himself the Messiah, but only in hints, and when the crowd around Him is already ready to proclaim Him Messiah, He hides. Besides, this strange Messiah breaks Shabbat, associates with sinners without being embarrassed by their company, and clearly does not place traditional piety very high. In short, if He is the Messiah, He is a rather strange one.

And meanwhile Jesus only intensifies this impression by saying something mysterious: that the people listening to Him will not be able to go where He is going. Of course, He is speaking to them about the Kingdom, which they will not enter if they do not accept Him as the Messiah sent by God. But they do not understand Him. They are convinced that the Messiah builds His Kingdom on earth the same way all other kingdoms are built there, although, of course, the laws of this Kingdom will not be like the laws of Gentile kingdoms, and anyone who accepts these laws and agrees to follow them will be able to enter. On this point all the Pharisees without exception were completely confident in themselves: would they be the ones to reject the Torah and the One who will build the Kingdom founded on the Torah!

It was this misunderstanding above all that made Jesus speak of His Messiahship only in hints. He wanted the people listening to Him to rely not on their own knowledge and their own understanding of the Kingdom, but on what He was trying to explain to them, so that the Kingdom would become for them not a concept, not a theory, but a spiritual reality that had already entered the world, and entered through Him. But for His listeners, as is clear, it is too hard to abandon their views, so familiar and so "right."

What makes up the foundations of our life, its most basic realities? Birth and death, water, food, truth, light... All these...

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