(English) 🇬🇧
Glory be to Jesus Christ!
🌞💙💛
There were two readings today, one of which was in honour of the luminaries of faith and piety, three great saints and teachers.
(Luke XV, 11-32)
The parable of the prodigal son (hence the name of Sunday) was read from the daily Gospel - very
deep, meaningful, detailed, well studied. Therefore, I will dwell only on one point - on the name of
the parable in the tradition - the younger son, called prodigal
, was not because he spent his
property with harlots
, as the older son accused him in front of his father, but because of
wandering
before the younger son really became worthy son In the parable. It is said that the son
spent his property in vain, wastefully
, but it does not mention harlots. He was accused of having
affairs with them by his elder son, who in his thoughts must have condemned the younger one many
times in just such an imaginary way.
(1 Corinthians VI, 12-20)
From the daily Apostle it was read about the life of the present and future age (after the
general resurrection), about food and bodily relations, generally about the body. A meaningful
place, I will briefly dwell on some important points.
1) Everything is permitted for me, but not everything is good. Everything is permitted for me, but
nothing should possess (dominate over) me
- everything that is in a person, created by God, and in
itself is good. The problem may lie in the wrong attitude, wrong actions. Sins and passions are
hurtful, and when a person succumbs to them, commits them, they begin to rule over (against) him /
her.
2) Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food, but God will destroy both. The body is not
for debauchery, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body
— a bad Ukrainian (well, and here,
probably bad English) translation.
stomach
- in the original abdomen
, that is, the place where the organs are located, which are
responsible for the digestion of food and reproduction, the birth of children, it can be generally
said - the place of vital functions of the body.
will destroy
— in the original make useless, inactive, idle
— means that after the general
resurrection people will not need food to sustain life, and there will be no digestive processes as
such necessary for life. Digestive organs will be idle
in the sense that although people can eat
after the resurrection, and there is nothing wrong with that - in particular, they can drink new
wine in the Kingdom of God
, the Kingdom of God is called the wedding feast
of the Lamb, but that
food will not be needed for life. The source of life will be God, not food (but food can be consumed
for some other purpose, for example, Jesus after the Resurrection ate honey and fish not because He
needed food to live, but to assure that is He Himself in a real physical body, not phantom; these
words partially reveal the secret of the future age and resurrection - people will not need food to
live, but will be able to consume for something else. Digestive organs will not function as they are
now.
for
is simply the dative case in the original, it can be translated more literally food is for
(to) the body and the body is for (to) food, the body is not for (to) debauchery, but for (to) the
Lord, and the Lord is for (to) the body.
The latter speaks about the meaning of the words - it is
about needs and connection, the realization of God's design. Now the body needs food, and the Lord
is always needed. The body is connected with food, the body is connected with carnal life, in
particular with sexual relations, but the goal is to be with God. And carnal sexual relations in the
future age will also be unnecessary, like food, which is why Christ says that in the resurrection
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are equal to the angels in heaven, being the
children of the resurrection
(in a conversation with the Sadducees about the resurrection of the
dead). And the Lord is always needed.
3) For God also resurrected the Lord
- here it is said that God by nature, Who is Jesus Christ (as
well as man) could not remain dead in the grave, therefore He was resurrected by the power of the
Godhead. The Holy Trinity will resurrect the dead with His divine power, and will transform the
living at the time of the general resurrection of the dead.
4) Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ?… ye are not your own, for ye have been
redeemed with a price…
— a line of thought in several verses that our nature, especially after
union with God in Sacraments, has the gift of the Holy Spirit, has grace and is not the property
of the person him-(her-)self (as sometimes completely unbelieving people mistakenly reason, saying,
the body is mine, therefore, what I want that I do with it
). God wants our bodies and souls to be
His temple (the body in its own way, as a body, and the soul in its own way, as a soul). For this He
saved us, for this He suffered, resurrected, ascended, for this He will come again. It is necessary
to understand that the gift of the Holy Spirit
is here as a down payment, which is given in
advance to outline and show the immediate intention to then fully redeem
, as Paul briefly says in
another place.
5) Whoever joins a harlot becomes one flesh with her
are multi-meaningful words, and there is a
clear reason to avoid sexual relations and the like with harlots (prostitutes). And not only avoid
such a relations, but also everything that is a sin.
6) Whoever unites with the Lord becomes one spirit with Him
- in contrast to the previous one -
this one is what we are called to do. Union with God is actually true spiritual life,
sanctification, to which we are all called.
7) Glorify God in your body [and in your souls, which belong to God]
— that is, live so as to be
God's temple with your whole being — soul and body.
The words of Jesus are also mentioned on a
slightly different occasion, but a close topic - Is not the soul greater than food, and the body
greater than clothing?
. Regarding these, I think that I wrote earlier that to a certain extent it
is necessary to at least saturate with the soul and at least clothe with the body.
Glory be to You, our God, glory be to You!
Source: https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/ Facebook page of the author