Notes for  8 July 2026

Behind these words of the apostle Paul stands his sense that the process of creation is not yet complete, and that since the creation of man two creative forces have been acting in the world: God's and man's. This is very consonant with the picture described in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis (Gen. 1-2), where all creation is shown as directed toward the human being created in the image of God: it is the human being who is entrusted with cultivating and preserving the whole created world (the "garden"), it is the human being who gives names, that is, gives meaning to the existence of all other living creatures; but it is also the human being who, falling into sin, brings distortion into creation, which God intended as the co-creation of the Creator and man.

Therefore Paul notes in one of the following verses (v. 22) that "the whole creation has been groaning together and suffering together until now." But it is not only suffering; it "waits with hope." What does it wait for? For what Paul speaks about in the previous verse and here: that glory will be revealed in us, that there will be the revelation, our manifestation as sons of God. For when this happens, these two creative forces will begin to act hand in hand, and the grace of God will freely fill the whole world. It follows that in the light of these words our turning to God, our knowledge of His will in Jesus Christ, and the transformation of life by the action of the Holy Spirit acquire truly cosmic significance.

Comparing the Kingdom to a mustard seed and to leaven, Jesus draws attention to some of its features that at first glance can appear paradoxical, although, if one thinks about it, the matter concerns an antinomy characteristic of spiritual life in general. Indeed, if the Kingdom, at some stage of its formation, can be completely unnoticed, like a mustard seed or leaven in dough, if it fits within the human heart, then the matter would seem to concern a purely subjective reality, an inner spiritual state of a person. On the other hand, at the end of the path the Kingdom turns out not to be subjective at all; on the contrary, it is hard to imagine anything more manifest and objective, anything that so fully determines not only the eternal destiny of individual people, but the fate of all God's creation as a whole. So what is the Kingdom: an inner experience, or an objective reality revealing itself more and more in the world?

Judging by Jesus' words, it is both at once. And if one thinks about what the Kingdom is, it turns out that it cannot be otherwise. Indeed, when speaking of the Kingdom, both Jesus Himself and all the apostles have in mind above all relationships: the relationships of Christians with one another, their relationships with Jesus, and finally the relationship of Jesus Himself with the Father. But relationships are born, to use biblical language, in the depths of the human heart; they are manifestations of that spiritual "I" which determines the whole quality of a person's life, his intentions, his system of values and priorities. That is why the path into the Kingdom begins in the heart of the seeker - as, indeed, does the path of righteousness. But when relationships between a person and God are established and strengthened, they acquire their own dynamic, their own spiritual space, existing as objectively as God and the person who seeks Him. And when the matter concerns Christ and the Kingdom, He Himself enters into this dynamic, He who brought the Kingdom into the world and is ready to open the way there to every seeker.

That is why the Kingdom is born first of all in the heart: a person's relationship with Christ is established in the same way as any other relationship - from the same spiritual depth. And if sprouts of new life, the life of the Kingdom, can appear somewhere in the untransformed world, it is precisely there, in the depth of the human heart. There is no other place for the Kingdom in a fallen world. And then these sprouts, having broken through, will reach toward what is kindred to them. And the Kingdom will be revealed in the world in all its transforming fullness.

These are the verses that are usually read with extreme inattention: a list of names - what is more boring? Who remembers the names of all twelve apostles? Twelve seconds, time starts now. Hard to remember? There is no harm in that. The main thing is that the Lord remembers them.

Yet it is important that the evangelist considered it necessary to name each one. He could simply have said that there were twelve - and that would have been all. He could have. But then they would have remained completely faceless. By naming each one, the evangelist reminds us that every person is important and dear in God's eyes precisely because he is himself. The Lord does not love "everyone in general"; He does not choose "someone," but concrete people.

God shows Israel that its history is woven from constantly repeated apostasies and iniquities, to which He responds with faithfulness and forgiveness. But the Lord does not intend to allow this again and again. One day He will cleanse His people of rebels and the disobedient during a new exodus from the land of slavery. This promise is addressed to us as well: God does not want to leave a person alone with his sins; He will lead him ever farther - toward the adoption about which the apostle Paul writes.

Christ called Himself bread, and that alone was hard for His listeners to understand. But for those who remembered the unusual images characteristic of prophetic speeches, it would not have been hard to take the words about bread as one of those parables. Jesus says that His teaching, and He Himself, are as necessary as daily food - why not agree with this?

Such an understanding cannot be called wrong, and yet it is clearly insufficient. For twenty centuries already, for many people who accept Christ only as a sage and moral teacher, His words about Flesh and Blood have remained closed and incomprehensible - just as they were for many of His listeners then. It is enough to imagine a Jew who had firmly learned that the law of Moses not only forbids the eating of blood, but also regards everything connected with bleeding as defiling and requiring rites of purification. And suddenly he hears about the necessity of drinking blood, and human blood at that, and moreover the Blood of this strange preacher. Even for prophetic allegory such a call sounds excessively scandalous!

For us, reading the Gospel many centuries later, it is easier to see that Christ is speaking here about the Eucharist; but we should not stop there. The meaning of the Eucharist is deep and incomprehensible in its fullness. At times it is useful to remember how shaken the ancient Jews were when they first heard Jesus' call to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. Perhaps this will help us feel anew what the Last Supper was for the first generation of Christ's disciples. Unlike the other evangelists, John does not mention the disciples' partaking of the Body and Blood at the Last Supper. But the words of the Savior that he has preserved for us are just as important for understanding the essence of what was taking place then.

Each of the tribes of Israel is precious to God, and therefore, so that one tribe does not swallow up another, the land allotment must remain within its own tribe and not pass to others. Perhaps this order shows us how God relates to every person, how He loves us all. This love will be fully revealed when clan consciousness gives way to personal consciousness, which will gradually lead people to the possibility of calling God Father.