🇬🇧 Glory be to Jesus Christ! 🌞
1 Corinthians IX, 15 – ‘εμοι’ – ‘emoi’ - ‘me’ (literally ‘in me’).
Paul writes about the preachers of the Gospel who devoted themselves entirely to this work, actually entrusting themselves into the hands of God, the hands of Christ. And the Lord takes special care of them, in particular through the commandment. Paul himself, although he could have relied on this commandment, did not do so in order not to put any additional obstacles to the preaching and acceptance of Christ on the part of those who were supposed to care about Paul at the time. This was his personal position, but it was also a kind of zeal that he appreciated.
Here he also distinguishes between preaching the gospel willingly and unwillingly. Preaching the Gospel is called a reward for those who do it willingly, because it is an opportunity to devote themselves completely to a beloved and blessed work; and it is called a duty for those who, being called to it, do not enjoy it, and work unwillingly. So, it depends largely on the person themselves whether they will preach the Gospel willingly or not, whether it will be their beloved work, and the Lord, on His part, has given them the opportunity to devote themselves completely to their beloved work – preaching the Gospel.
Matthew XVI, 4 – literally, an evil generation
(by results of activity) and adulterous seeks a sign
.
There is a logic and a relation here. We need to go deeper to understand it.
A sign
is a signal to action, specifically, to conversion,
repentance, and change. In other words, a person who is not established
in goodness (and often inclined to evil), who sometimes turns away from
God (from the Gospel commandments; unfaithfulness to God is often compared to adultery, as Israel is sometimes referred to in the prophets as God's Bride, just as the Church is the Bride of Christ in the New Testament — note added on 25/07/2023), may be aware that something is wrong
with him/her, but for a real change they want a signal, an impetus. But
if a person realises that they need to repent, what signal do they need
for this? After all, the time of repentance is always actual, until the
Kingdom of God comes, God is always ready to accept a person in
repentance, at any time. There is no need to look for the right time
for conversion and repentance, it is always now, at present. It is the
same with circumstances – any circumstances are suitable for conversion
and repentance. Therefore, there is simply no real logic in looking for
a signal for conversion, a signal for repentance.
If a person does not realise that they need to repent, what should
the signal mean to them? Won’t they take it as a sign of… their
righteousness (of which they are already convinced)? Or even worse, as a
sign that they can control God
by receiving the signals they want from
Him?
That is why Christ does not want to meet the logic of the Pharisees,
because it is false. Instead, He does not reject the signals themselves.
But He wants people to see the special manifestations of God’s love and
to receive them properly. Therefore, as an example of this, He gives His
future Resurrection (the sign of Jonah
). Indeed, all the perfections
of Jesus’ Resurrection far exceed those of any other sign. Truly, the
resurrection of Jesus Christ is so powerful, life-giving, glorious,
bright, holy, miraculous, triumphant, joyful, good, full of so much
love, giving so much hope, strengthening so much faith, this list can be
continued on and on like for no other sign.
Then Christ warns against the leaven of the Pharisees
, that is, the
way of thinking, feeling, will, aspirations, direction, etc. that has
just been described.
To the co-apostolic princess Olga:
I wrote about the readings from the Apostle earlier:
08072023.html
Paul
writes about the apostolic work, with many challenges, but with many
fruits – in the same way, Saint Olga was likened to that work not so
much in the way she lived, but in the fruits and significance for entire
nations.
For more information about the Gospel reading, follow this link:
20062023.html
Before
her baptism, Saint Olga had a tough character, but after accepting
Christ she changed and repented.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!