Notes for  25 November 2021

John's testimony about Jesus is the chief meaning of his ministry. Including, and first of all, his ministry as a prophet. Indeed, a prophet is above all a witness. God's witness. A witness of the Kingdom. A person who in himself, however paradoxical this may seem at first glance, has less importance than anyone else, at least as far as his ministry is concerned. Indeed, how much is required of a witness?

In essence, only one thing: to distort nothing. To tell everything exactly as he saw it. So that the narrator himself is not in the story at all. Or is present so little that his presence has no effect on the story. If ordinary human testimony is in view, this means that the witness must be as dispassionate as human nature allows.

No emotions, no semantic accents arranged according to one's own view of the situation. Only facts, in as much detail as possible. Of course, such testimony is an unattainable ideal, but a conscientious witness always strives toward it. And if the testimony is prophetic? Here everything is more complicated, because one cannot communicate with God in a detached way, and one cannot speak of what God reveals as something extraneous. Here the personality of the witness is unquestionably important.

But along with personality comes the problem, well known to physicists, of the observer: observation is also a kind of interaction with the object, and it happens that this interaction in itself changes the state of the object observed. A pure experiment does not result. In a person's communication with God something similar sometimes happens, though in another sense. Touching human nature, the revelation given by God changes through that very contact. How, then, can one remain an unbiased witness? God finds a way: He takes a person's consciousness fully under His control.

Of course, for a time and with that person's consent. And He speaks in the language of the witness. Literally. The problem of human nature is solved. But what if the issue is the Messiah? The One for whom the very fact of His existence becomes testimony? Here only one thing is possible: to point to Him and disappear. To step aside. To become a completely ordinary person, unremarkable in terms of ministry. And John does exactly this. "He must increase, but I must decrease."

The subject turns to the evil and cruelty that exist in the world. The people around Jesus tell Him what has happened, but they do not dare ask the question troubling everyone: “What did they do to deserve this? Why did those particular Galileans meet such a fate?” Similar questions sometimes come to mind, do they not, when we hear of another terrorist attack or disaster? This is not the first time Jesus answers a question asked “inwardly” (see Mk 6:11). Almighty God sees and knows everything, yet leaves people free—to do good or to commit evil deeds. It is precisely freedom that enables a person to love and to give this love to other people and to God, who longs for it so much. The human person was created for a relationship of love with the Creator and the surrounding world. And each person is given time to find the right use for the freedom granted to them—time for their first independent steps, their first falls, and the renewed discovery that they can walk again. But the Lord warns us: this time is not endless, and one day He will come to see in which direction we are going.

The terrible picture of Jerusalem's destruction is revealed in this passage in all its fullness. As the details accumulate, they become ever more horrifying. The climax is the death of people from “fear and foreboding of what is coming” alone. What could be more terrible? It is precisely at that moment that the Savior comes, and with Him everything takes on a new meaning.

No one among us knows when Christ's second coming will occur. But many people have lived through a moment when the darkness became so dense that not even a tiny gleam of light remained. It is often at just such a time that the Lord visits us and reveals His power to us. Therefore, when we encounter trials, we must not only suffer and grieve, but also try to see God behind them.

This psalm describes very accurately the pattern of behavior of a person upon whom troubles rain down from every side. It is precisely this behavior that draws the greatest criticism from unbelievers: “Where is this God of yours? You keep asking and asking Him, yet look at what is happening in the world.” And indeed, when we ourselves go through terrible, tragic events, we very often approach God with accusations. How could He have allowed this?

But the path proposed in the Psalm is radically different from our prosecutorial habit of prayer. “The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He helped me.” A simple-hearted person is not someone who meekly and humbly accepts what is happening, because the Lord Himself asked us to hate many such things rather than accept them. Nor is it someone who, while accusing God of mortal sins and human deeds, is confident that he will put everything right himself. A simple-hearted person is not someone who meekly and humbly accepts what is happening, because the Lord Himself asked us to hate many things rather than accept them. It is beyond human strength to defend oneself against most afflictions. Only God can help us, but only if we ourselves acknowledge the need for His intervention in our affairs.

Having gathered the people for the last time, Joshua not only sums up the long journey into the promised land from the time of Abraham and not only recalls the stages by which it was taken. Before his death Joshua sets the people before a choice: whether to serve the Lord or other gods.

More than once the Bible shows us moments of choice, when the people decided which path they would take and thereby determined not only their own fate but also the spiritual paths of humanity. And this time, when Joshua made a covenant with the people about faithfulness to God, the choice was confirmed once more. Ahead lay a long and difficult road, with many falls and betrayals of the covenant made, but the memory of the choice already made would not disappear and would again and again urge those who stumbled to return to the Lord.