Notes for16 May 2026

There is an inner logic of its own in the Pharisees' reasoning about Christ. Indeed, if this Carpenter from Nazareth casts out evil spirits and heals the sick, then there must be some explanation for it. What power is at work in Him? Why is His will to heal ("I am willing; be cleansed," "Be silent, and come out of him"...) so effective?

Unbiased people say, "A great prophet has arisen in Israel," supposing that God's will is acting through Jesus - and this is a completely natural hypothesis. But the Pharisees do not agree that God's will can act without informing them, that God can allow Himself to do something unexpected for the Pharisees. And therefore their assessment naturally follows from denial: He casts out demons by the power of their own prince.

It is characteristic, first, that the impulse of denial, generally speaking, develops by itself in the direction of cursing. Second, it is clear that in taking Jesus for an impostor, a false messiah, the Pharisees are extremely inattentive: false messiahs (and there are plenty of them even today), when doing something unusual, always use it to confirm their own prestige. The Pharisees, hearing about Jesus' miracles, presume that He acts the same way. They simply do not trouble themselves to find out the matter to the end, and they pass judgment without learning that Jesus constantly forbids people to spread the news of such miracles.

That is how we sometimes drive ourselves into a trap and fail to meet God solely because of our own prejudice.

In its own way, it is very comforting that the apostles, as it turns out, were living human beings too. Despite the fact that the Lord made them His great servants, they, it appears, also knew how to make mistakes, quarrel, and sometimes fail to get along with one another.

Paul and Barnabas, two men led by the Spirit, still cannot come to an agreement about whether to give a young disciple, who once failed to meet their hopes, a second chance. Their opinions differ so much that they part in different directions, and Paul chooses another helper for himself. It is even a little sad to realize that with them too everything sometimes happened "in a human way"...

But still, later everything will return to where it should be. Evidence that Paul and Mark will eventually be reconciled is at least the fact that they will even be imprisoned together (see Col 4:10).

For us, this story is extremely instructive. On the one hand, it helps us understand that things are not as bad with us as they might be: the saints also sinned. On the other hand, it reminds us that we still have room to grow, because these imperfect people nevertheless became saints.

This may be the shortest description of Christ's mission: He came - and He went away. But between these two moments something very important was accomplished, something that changed the world forever. The world into which Jesus came and the world He leaves behind Him are, in a certain sense, different worlds.

The world 2,000 years ago is like a room with one door, from behind which a foul stench comes; the coming of Christ cuts a new door through it, giving another way out, and as He goes to the Father, He leaves that door wide open. On the day of Pentecost, through this open door a fresh wind bursts into the room, carrying away all the stench and mustiness in a draft. Life changes qualitatively - a positive perspective appears in it.

When we look at our everyday life, we sometimes lose this perspective. The dirt creeping into our life from behind that first door - through gossip, abuse, rumors - keeps us from breathing freely. But the door to God remains open: we can both push our way toward it ourselves and bring other people there.

Jesus gives old words new meanings. He tells His opponents the ancient parable from the prophet Isaiah (ch. 5) about how his (Isaiah's) friend planted a good vineyard, but thorns and wild grapes grew in it - yet the main meaning of this parable is radically changed by Him.

There the Lord did not receive fruit from His vineyard because His people did not fulfill the elementary moral demands of the law: they oppressed, killed, and deceived one another; this is precisely how their unbelief and "not knowing God" were revealed. Jesus' parable, on the contrary, is addressed to righteous, devout people who are certain that they are the very ones who know God and bring Him the best fruits. Here the "fruitlessness" of the vineyard is caused by the fact that its "vinedressers" do not know how to believe: they reject the prophets and Christ Himself. It is Jesus Himself who here takes the place of Isaiah's moral demands: He is the One in whom the people of God's Kingdom must bear fruit, and the One for whom all the vineyards of the earth were planted.

A catastrophe can carry meaning within itself... The coming captivity will become a turning point in the history of the development of the people of Israel, a time for reflection and for the formation of faith. There, on foreign soil, without temple or worship, without hope for the military triumph of a theocratic state, a community joined by faith is born out of the people. In Babylon the people will truly live: here the meaning of the very name "people of God" is sharpened and realized; here new life will replace the long dying of the semi-pagan Israelite-Judean period.

But in order to see - or more precisely, to prophetically perceive - this meaning behind the grief, the despair over the desolation of the holy city and the destruction of the Temple, one must remember and believe that behind everything that happens under this heaven, in one way or another, stands God, the Master of history, the Lord and Creator of heaven and earth.

We have already seen many definitions of holiness in the Book of Leviticus: as dedication to God, as belonging to His people, as religious and moral purity. Today's chapter also begins with a call to holiness: "You shall be holy, for I am holy." But most of the commandments in this chapter we would perhaps call "norms of social behavior" or "signs of civil society." Among them are commandments about mercy to the poor, honesty in trade, peace with neighbors, and care for parents. It turns out that these are not merely "worldly concerns" unrelated to religion, but no less than the path of holiness.

This path is different in that it cannot be walked only alone. It is the path of society as a single whole - a society that begins with our families and ends with an entire country and the world community. Those accustomed to thinking that holiness is each person's private matter should remember that it can also be a work done together - with the whole world.