🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
To the Virgin Mary in honour of the laying on of the veil in
Blachernae:
These readings
(in particular from the Gospel) are often read on the feasts of the
Theotokos. See, for example, the following link:
01042023.html
Romans IX, 5 – Christ is called God over all in the
ages
.
Paul testifies to his love for the Israelites, from whom he himself
comes. He lists God’s promises to them in relation to themselves, but
this does not exclude that other nations are to inherit the adoption by
God through Christ. The order here indicates that it is the Old
Testament promises that are being referred to – up to Christ. But after
Christ, these promises were essentially extended to all believers in
Christ. Consider, for example, Christ’s words: He who receives a
prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And
he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall
receive a righteous man’s reward
, spoken to the people of the New
Testament (Matthew X, 41).
In this sense, the desire to suffer for others is unfeasible. Paul
cannot redeem
others from suffering by his suffering (see the next two paragraphs, added 16/07/2023 and the next further two paragraphs, added 17/07/2023). It is Jesus
Christ, Who redeem others by His suffering. But Paul’s great love for
people, even those who persecuted him personally, is worthy of note. The
Scripture mentions such love, for example, in Moses.
(Next paragraph added 16.07.2023)
Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer. He took upon Himself our sins, suffering, death, and abandonment
by God in order to save us – the Only sinless One for sinners. As sinless, as God-man, He should not
have suffered, but by God's will and permission (here they coincide) He took upon Himself the
suffering that creation has experienced since the sin of human beings. He did not have to die, but
the death that entered the world through sin and death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of
Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam
(Romans V, 12-21), He
took upon Himself by the will and permission of God (here they are the same). He, being the God-Man,
experienced our abandonment by God because of our sins, and descended into hell with His soul,
although He should not have gone there as a sinless human being. He did all this as a sinner, being
without sin, he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
(Isaiah LIII, 4-5). Paul also testifies
to this when he says: Was Paul crucified for you?
(1 Corinthians I, 11-13). Even if Paul had given
himself up to suffering for people, it would not have had redemptive power, because it would not be
God's will, only God's permission, for your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these
little ones should perish
(by the way, the name Paul is translated as little one
) (Matthew XVIII,
12-14). But Christ took all things upon Himself voluntarily, He is the only One who is such, He came
to seek and to save the lost (by becoming, suffering all that is characteristic of) and to save (by
remaining sinless, faithful to God, and rising from the dead) the lost (sinners, creation that
suffers without its sins)
(Luke XIX, 10). See also:
15062023.html
https://www.facebook.com/Oleksandr.S.Zhabenko/
27042023.html
https://sites.google.com/view/rozdumy23/home/priklad-1-pro-boze-pikluvanna-i-dvoh-malenkih-ptasok
(The following paragraph was also added on 16.07.2023)
This is with regard to the question on the part of God (the actual theological component, God's housebuilding). But in life, self-sacrifice for the sake of other people is possible, for example, the feat of heroes and saints who give themselves, sacrificing to keep others alive or save others.
(Next two paragraphs added on 17/07/2023).
We should also mention the holy apostles and martyrs. Many of them accepted martyrdom as a gift from God. But as mentioned above, their suffering, even if free, has no redemptive power. That is, they are not needed for God. God has mercy on the saints not because of their deeds, but out of His grace through the Redemptive Sacrifice of Christ. Christ is the only Redeemer. It is in this sense that it is not God's will that anyone but Christ should suffer. But it is God's will that the faithful remain faithful. It is God's will that the faithful should be an example to others. God wants the martyrs and apostles to be faithful even in suffering, and He wants their patience and love, hope and faith to be a model for others to follow. That is why God permits them to suffer. Suffering is not needed for God, but the fact that the faithful accept it brings them closer to God, testifying to their faithfulness and their establishment in goodness.
God may even direct the faithful saints to suffer (as, for example, according to Tradition, the Saint Apostle Peter did), not because He wants others to suffer, but because this may be the best way of salvation.
(The following paragraph was added on 05.01.2024.) It should also be said that God does not need the suffering of creation, He did not create the world for suffering.
The resurrection of the daughter of a Jewish ruler (synagogue leader, another Gospel preserved the name Jairus) and the healing of a bleeding woman. Examples of the faith of a Jewish ruler and a woman. Both testified to their faith by their deeds, but they also professed it verbally.
The other synoptic Gospels give more details.
I also wrote earlier about some of the details in the other Gospels, and I quote:
‘The girl is sleeping,’ was said so as not to attract too much
attention; a miracle should delight, but keep one sane, and not cause
‘craving for miracles’.
Talitha, kum!” – these words of Jesus in Aramaic
even became the name of a Ukrainian music band. Twelve years old is a
kind of pinnacle of childhood, when a girl combines both childhood and
adolescent and youthful traits, which is why parental love for her (in
this case, Jairus and the family) is especially reverent.”
I would add that the woman also suffered from bleeding for twelve years, meaning that these two events are linked in time twice.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!