Notes for  25 January 2023

A little first about the second half of the verse. Since, as it is in judicial cases: to the criminal is given a sentence somehow corresponding to the gravity of offence, but after is likely certain appeasement of his fate - by amnesty or by grace. Or another variant: the offence is achieved, but the offended party forgives the guilty, and the affair does not even reach at the court. In both situations we see that mercy is more effective, "more important" than judgment. It is what the apostle James means.

But from there ensues then what is said in the first half of the verse. If someone does not recognize in his own life (not in words, but by deeds) the primacy of mercy on the judgment (righteousness), then shall not also be applied to him in case of his guilt (and we are all guilty before God) the principle of righteousness: a judgment without mercy, with all the severity of the law. Shouldn’t we remember here what the Christ says "blessed are the merciful ", and not "blessed are the righteous".

The conversion of the Apostle Paul is an event that has influenced the lives of billions of people and changed the destinies of countries and continents. Yet we must understand that the man who became the apostle to the Gentiles had not known Jesus personally, had not come to the empty tomb, and had not passed with the other apostles through the first sanctification by the fire of the Holy Spirit. Paul had been one of the most zealous and relentless persecutors of Christians. Besides his fervent faith and thirst for truth, and the other personal qualities that we discover as we read his epistles, Paul is living proof of the principle expressed by his teacher Gamaliel. To this day, there is no more reliable way to discern whether something before us is human or eternal. “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God” (Acts 5:34-39). Believing that he had to persecute Christians, Paul encountered the risen Jesus. The light blinded him, the voice stunned him, and when he realized that he had become an enemy of God, he submitted to the God who revealed Himself as humiliated and crucified in order to draw everyone to Himself.

Today's passage is devoted to one of the main themes of the entire New Testament: the theme of the Kingdom of God. What is especially important here is that Jesus Himself gives the explanations concerning the Kingdom. At the center of His story is the image of a child, who symbolizes those who occupy the first places in the Kingdom of God (vv. 36-37). A person who causes a child to stumble is worse than a murderer, for even a murderer deserves trial, while Jesus compares such a tempter with a person who is thrown into the sea to be drowned without any trial (v. 42). This image, of course, does not appear by accident. In a traditional, patriarchal society, in large families, children as a rule did not occupy the honorable first places they often occupy in modern families. Children were regarded as natural servants and helpers, as the younger members of a large family or patriarchal clan. They truly were younger, and therefore the position of such a "natural servant" did not wound them at all and was not perceived by them as humiliation or as a lack of attention or love. Almost any adult in such a position feels a certain second-class status and dependence, which is understandable, given how important social position and the status connected with it are in an adult's eyes. Children do not think about this, and therefore for them there is no problem here. Apparently this is exactly what Jesus has in mind when He gives a child as an example, as the model of a resident of the Kingdom of God: for those who want to be its residents, it is important to renounce traditional ideas about the importance of social position and social status. Of course, in this case there always remains the danger that nearby there may be people who want to take advantage of such a state of affairs, just as in every age there have been people ready to take advantage of a child's familiar naivete and abuse it. It is precisely this sin that Jesus says is worse than murder and unworthy even of trial, for the person who acts this way not only rejects the fullness of the life of the Kingdom of God himself, but also prevents others from receiving it. Meanwhile, in a person's life there is always something that prevents him from becoming a child in the sense in which Jesus speaks of it: it may be a "hand," or a "foot," or an "eye," in short, anything a person uses in order not to be the child who can enter the Kingdom. Jesus advises getting rid of whatever interferes without regret (vv. 43-48). Sometimes it may seem that in doing so one loses something vitally important, something without which life will become damaged; but on closer inspection it turns out that the imagined "fullness" leads somewhere very different from the place where the fullness of life can be found, while apparent impairment at the end of the road turns into the fullness of the Kingdom of God.

The commandments of Deuteronomy are aimed primarily at strengthening monotheism among the people and sustaining their morality and responsibility for their own lives. Yet the good news that love is greater than faith and hope continually breaks through the stern statutes and laws. This is especially often the case in one's direct relationship with God or in marriage, two themes that are closely connected in the Bible. Thus, the two commandments about marriage in this chapter teach us what love is: how it is connected with respect and self-giving; how love differs from affection; and whether love is compatible with possessiveness, as seen in the prohibition against selling a captive wife. The Song of Songs and Paul's words about marriage as an image of divine love will gradually grow out of these commandments.

Even before the king who wished to question Jeremiah, the prophet has no intention of being untrue to himself and says what has been revealed to him. Military defeat lies ahead, and it will be neither accidental nor temporary. The Lord, who fought many times on the Israelites' side, now fights against them. Yet it is not He who has betrayed the people He Himself chose; the betrayal was committed by those who had long and stubbornly turned away from their Lord. As the saying goes, do not foul the well from which you may need to drink: now the time has come to pay for unfaithfulness. But even as He fights against the people, the Lord continues to call them to come to their senses; even now He is ready at any moment to receive His prodigal children.

Here Jeremiah's tragic path begins. His bitter prophecies are taken by his compatriots not as a call to reconsider their deeds but as the preaching of treason. Similar situations have since recurred many times in many countries: bitter times came, and the people regarded the most clear-sighted persons, who spoke uncomfortable truths, as traitors. Time showed that love for their people more often lay behind such people's stern rebukes than behind the speeches of false optimists and pseudo-patriots. Yet very many people have had, and apparently will have more than once, to repeat or even multiply the grievous trials that befell Jeremiah...