The last will become the first value. Guide to the Bible

The Holy Church reads the Gospel of Matthew. Chapter 20, art. 1 - 16

1. For the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.

2. And having agreed with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard;

3. When he went out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace,

4. And he said to them, “Go you also into my vineyard, and whatever is proper I will give you.” They went.

5. Going out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same.

6. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly?

7. They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows.

8. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager: Call the workers and give them their wages, starting from the last to the first.

9. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius.

10. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius;

11. And having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house.

12. And they said: These last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the hardship of the day and the heat.

13. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

14. Take what is yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I gave you;

15. Don’t I have the power to do what I want? Or is your eye envious because I am kind?

16. So they will last ones first and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen.

(Matthew 20:1-16)

This parable is well known to us from the words of the Easter message of St. John Chrysostom, in which he, addressing all those who came to the Easter holiday and rejoicing at the Resurrection of the Savior, says: “Come, all you who labor, all who fasted and did not fast, all enter into the joy of your Lord "

Today's parable sounds like it is describing an imaginary situation, but it is not. A similar situation often happened in Palestine at certain times of the year. If the harvest was not harvested before the onset of rains, then it perished, so any worker was welcome, regardless of the time at which he could come, even if he could work for the shortest period of time. The parable presents a vivid picture of what could happen in the market square of any Jewish village or city when there was an urgent need to harvest the grapes before the rains came. We must understand that such work might not have existed for the people who came to the square today. The payment was not that big: one denarius was only enough to feed his family for one day. If a man who had worked even half a day in the vineyard came to his family with less than one denarius, the family, of course, would be very upset. To be a servant to your master is to have permanent income, constant food, but being a hired worker means getting by, receiving some money from time to time, the life of such people was very mournful and sad.

The owner of the vineyard first hires one group of people, with whom he negotiates a payment of one denarius, and then, every time he goes out into the square and sees idle people (not from idleness, but because they cannot find anyone to hire them), calls them to work. This parable tells us about the consolation of God. Regardless of when a person enters the Kingdom of God: in his youth, mature age or at the end of his days, he is equally dear to God. In the Kingdom of God there is no first or last person, no more beloved or one who stands on the margins - the Lord loves everyone equally and calls everyone equally to Himself. Everyone is valuable to God, whether he came first or last.

At the end of the working day, the master instructs the manager to distribute the due salary to everyone who worked in the vineyard, doing it in the following way: first he would give it to the last, and then to the first. Each of these people was probably waiting for his pay, how much he could work and earn. But to the last ones, who arrived at the eleventh hour and worked for one hour, the manager gives one denarius, to the others - also one denarius, and everyone receives equally. Those who came first and worked all day, seeing such generosity of the gentleman, might think that when their turn comes, they will receive more. But this did not happen, and they complain to the owner: “Why is this so? We worked all day, endured the heat and heat of the whole day, but you gave us as much as they did.”

The owner of the vineyard says: "Friend! I don't offend you; Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?” The people who worked in the vineyard seem to be divided into two groups: the first entered into an agreement with the owner that they would work for one denarius, others did not agree on payment and waited for exactly as much money as he would give them. This parable shows the justice of the owner and can well characterize us: every person who is in the Church or turns to God from childhood, perhaps also expects some kind of encouragement or great merit for himself in the Kingdom of Heaven. But we know the promise - the Lord promises us the Kingdom of Heaven, we, like the workers of the vineyard, agreed with Him about this, and we have no right to grumble if God is merciful and good to other people, because, as we remember, He is the first to enter heaven robber.

The paradox of Christian life is that everyone who strives for reward will lose it, but whoever forgets about it will gain it, and let the first be last, and the last become first. “Many are called,” says the Lord, “but few are chosen.” This is how God wisely reveals to us what the Kingdom of Heaven is.

Priest Daniil Ryabinin

Transcript: Yulia Podzolova

25th ordinary Sunday (year A)

Sermon on the Gospel of Matthew 20, 1-16a

At that time: Jesus told His disciples the following parable: The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And having agreed with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard. Coming out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace. And he said to them: “You also go into my vineyard, and whatever is proper I will give to you.” They went. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same. Finally, going out around the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: “Why are you standing here all day idly?” They tell him, “nobody hired us.” He says to them: “You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows.” When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager: “Call the workers and give them their wages, starting from the last to the first.” And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius. Those who came first thought that they would receive more; but they also received a denarius. And, having received it, they began to grumble against the owner of the house, and said: “These last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the burden of the day and the heat.” In response, he said to one of them: “friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I give you. Don't I have the power to do what I want? Or is your eye envious because I am kind?” So the last will be first, and the first last. (Mt 20:1-16a)

Dear brothers and sisters.

Today’s entrance antiphon (note: “I am the salvation of people,” says the Lord. “In whatever tribulation they call on Me, I will hear them and will be their Lord forever”) is a promise given by God Himself. The promise is that He is always there, always close, always listening. It should evoke consolation in the soul of a believer. As if an echo of this entrance antiphon is the responsorial psalm (Ps. 144) with the refrain “The Lord is close to those who call upon Him.” Close. Close.

But it’s worth thinking about how close God is. That is, close - how is it? Where is it? We, who live in space-time, always having some limitations, are accustomed to counting distances. Close, far - these are flexible concepts. How close is God to us?

If we look at creation - at the truth of faith that we profess every Sunday when we say “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible” - what are we talking about when we repeat these words? We are talking about the fact that this world was created by God. But what does it mean created by God? Did God really create the world and then hide somewhere? Like the Great Clockmaker, who created a certain mechanism, started it, and then left.

If this were really the case, then God would not be God. Why? Because if He could leave, it means that He would belong to this Universe, would be a part of it. But He is the Creator in the full sense of the word. He is not a master, not an artisan who took something and made something else out of it or gave shape to some material. God created the world, as they say in theology ex nihilo, out of nothing. And the fact that the world still exists means only one thing - that every second, every moment, God supports the existence of this world. Every bit of it. We can say that in every drop of rain, in every flower, in every cell of all living things and in every molecule of all inanimate things there is the great power of God. Which sustains existence. Without God this world cannot exist. And we all abide in God.

This means that God is so close to us that we cannot even imagine it. Wherever you look - everywhere. We can say that this world is thoroughly saturated with God. This is an important truth that is worth not only believing, that is, saying it every Sunday. After all, many of our difficulties arise precisely because we forget that God is near. That He is very close to each of us.

And one might wonder: what then do the words of the prophet Isaiah mean: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him when He is near” (Is 55:6)? That is, there are times when God is not near? The following paradox arises: on the one hand, He is very close, on the other, He can be very far away. Or better said, we are sometimes far from God. Already on a spiritual level.

Due to our limitations, we sometimes focus our attention on something and everything else falls out of sight. We seem to forget about everything else for a while. Indeed, because of this concentration, we often forget about God. And when we commit sin, we simply walk away from God. And I hope that at least in the temple we try to be focused on God.

It is customary to communicate with another person face to face. When we turn away, we thereby refuse to communicate with this person, we move away from him. And something similar happens in our relationship with God. When we ourselves move away from Him. It turns out strange. He is close to us, but we, thanks to our freedom, have the opportunity to leave Him. We are sometimes like Adam and Eve in paradise after the Fall. God asks: “Adam, where are you?” And he answers: “I heard Your voice and disappeared. Because I was afraid. Because I became afraid” (cf. Gen. 3:9-10).

After the Fall, unfortunately, the whole world was damaged. The harmony that God created is broken and spoiled. And we, in relation to God, are in the same state of being damaged by sin. And we need to make an effort, try to turn our face to Him. Over and over, every day, every moment.

It is no coincidence that in the book of the prophet Isaiah, immediately after the words “Seek the Lord when He can be found; call upon Him when He is near,” the words about sin sound: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the wicked his thoughts, and let him turn to the Lord.” Because lawlessness, wickedness, sin and all indecency are precisely the very barrier that prevents us from seeing God, hearing God, feeling God. That God who is so close to us that it is even difficult to imagine.

You can get out of this state only through obedience. Leave your wicked way. Abandon your lawless thoughts. And again and again turn to God. There was a fall - what to do... The fall itself is not as scary as its consequences. Because with the fall comes a certain false shame. Which prevents us from turning to God. This false shame that pride feeds prevents you from admitting your sin.

Already in ancient times, even before the atoning sacrifice was made, the words of the repentant fiftieth psalm were already heard. When the prophet Nathan comes to King David after committing a serious sin and denounces him. And the king immediately repented and said, “Yes, I have sinned before the Lord.” And he begins to complain and then says, “I have revealed my sin to You. You have taken away from me the guilt of my sin.”

This openness, this turning to God destroys all barriers, no matter how big they may be. And God, Who in essence, in being is very close to us, becomes close to us in spirit. Then we have the ability to see His works in our lives. Then the fear leaves the heart. Fear goes away so much that a person ceases to be afraid even of death.

Today's Word from Philippians may seem strange to some. When Paul says: “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). He talks about death as if it were something good. Only by uniting with God in faith, only by becoming like Christ in our lives, can we see that for a believer, death is actually not terrible. If he has no barrier between himself and God. A barrier whose name is sin.

In the parable of today's Gospel you can see one temptation that can strike believers, so to speak, with experience. When the Lord talks about the Kingdom of Heaven, He often uses the form of a parable. This is a certain image that helps to understand what cannot be expressed by ordinary human language. The Lord says “The Kingdom of Heaven is like...” and gives various examples.

Today He says that the Kingdom of Heaven is like the work of hired hands in the master's vineyard. From here it is already clear that a believer is a person who followed Christ, who bears his cross, who makes efforts. This is not a person who is constantly looking for entertainment. To be a believer means to work in the vineyard of the Lord. To be a believer means to sacrifice your strength, means, and abilities. That is, everyone uses the gift that they received for the sacrifice. And God, through the Apostle, proclaims: “Serve one another, each one with the gift which he has received, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).

The Lord speaks of one more interesting detail. There are workers who came with early morning, there are workers of the third hour, sixth hour, ninth and eleventh hour. Here we're talking about about people who came to church in different time. We can say that we are talking about people who responded to the call of the Lord in different periods own life. Because in no case can one say that God called someone late. No. God calls from the beginning, always and everyone. Unfortunately, we often respond late. But from this parable it is clear that it is better late than never.

The Lord says that the reward that we will receive later cannot be counted, it cannot be divided. You can’t say, “You’ve been in church since childhood - you’ll get more. Since your youth, you have been a little smaller. You came in old age - you’ll have just a little bit left.” No, there is only one reward - eternal life. Only one salvation. In the end, every person will either be saved or not saved.

If we look at this reward - a denarius for the day. This is an image of a reward that is given for a lifetime, for conversion. It is worth remembering that this is only an image, because it is part of the parable. What reward? This is eternal life, this is infinity. It is impossible to divide it into parts. What is greater, infinity divided by five or infinity divided by a thousand? Mathematicians will confirm that this is the same thing - infinity. Therefore, there is one reward for us.

And now about that subtle temptation that enters the hearts of Christians, let’s say, with experience. “I came earlier, I do more, so I must have some privileges. Everyone here knows me, but now someone new has come. Moreover, he is a sinner and generally unworthy.” This is a dangerous thought. If something like this even begins to appear in someone, it must be torn out in the bud from one’s heart, burned out with a hot iron. No means, even the crudest ones, will be superfluous here. Why? Because it is a subtle poison that over time permeates the heart and grows such pride, which they say is “difficult to recognize and difficult to eradicate.” About such a person who knows the commandments well, who regularly confesses, who does a lot for the church, but who has allowed such subtle arrogance in his heart towards the new ones, they say “he is pure, like an angel, but proud, like a demon.”

This is difficult to deal with. Therefore the Lord says: “So the last will be first, and the first last.” Even to such a person the Lord addresses himself with the word: “Friend! I don't offend you. You worked hard - good. But why do you look down on your brother, who, perhaps through no fault of his own, has done a lot of terrible things during his life? But he finally came, finally heard My voice, finally believed. Receive it with love. Because he is also your brother. He, too, was created in My image and likeness.” And the God who is near speaks about this.

Today's takeaway message is from the prophet Isaiah: “Seek the Lord when you can find him, when He is near.” And when can He be found? First of all, in the sacrament of repentance. This is the sacrament in which the mercy of God is most felt. Because without knowing the horror of sin, you cannot know the greatness of His love. This is the time, those moments in which God is close to you in a special way. Why? Because He is waiting for you. And you found the strength to face Him.

This is also the place and time of the Divine Liturgy. When in the sacrament of the Eucharist we see God under the guise of bread and wine. He is just as close every time we stand for personal prayer. Every time we open Holy Bible when we turn to Him at work, when we try to forgive the person who caused us some pain and suffering. These are all those moments in which God is nowhere nearer.

And if irritation arises in your heart, melancholy or some kind of despondency arises, discontent or something similar... or temptation comes - remember this word. First of all, God is very close to you. Secondly, if you start looking for Him, you will find Him. He will reveal himself to you. You will see Him, hear Him and feel Him.

– The Kingdom of Heaven is like an owner who went out early in the morning to hire people to work in his vineyard. He agreed with them that he would pay them a denarius for a day's work, and sent them to his vineyard. At three o'clock he went out again and saw that there were still people standing in the square without work. He says to them: “Go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you justly.” They went. At the sixth and ninth o'clock he went out again and did the same thing. Then he went out at the eleventh hour and found again standing people. “Why are you standing here all day doing nothing?” - he asked them. “Nobody hired us,” they replied. “Go and work in my vineyard,” the owner tells them. When evening came, the owner said to his manager: “Call all the workers and give them wages. Start with those who were hired last, and at the end pay off those who were hired in the morning.” The workers who were hired at the eleventh hour came and each of them received a denarius. When it was the turn of the first hired workers, they expected to receive more, but each of them also received one denarius. When they were paid, they began to grumble at the owner: “The last ones you hired only worked for one hour, and you paid them the same as you paid us, and we worked all day in this heat!” The owner answered one of them: “Friend, I’m not deceiving you. Didn't you agree to work for one denarius? So take your fee and go. And I want to pay the last ones I hired the same as you. Don't I have the right to manage my money the way I want? Or maybe my generosity makes you jealous?” So, the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Jesus speaks about His death and resurrection for the third time

On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and said to them:

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and teachers of the Law.” They will sentence Him to death and will be handed over to the pagans to be mocked, scourged and crucified. But on the third day He will rise again.

Don't dominate, but serve

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus along with her sons. Bowing, she turned to Him with a request.

- What do you want? - He asked her.

“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus answered. “Can you drink the cup that I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

Jesus said to them:

When the other ten disciples heard this, they became angry with the brothers. Jesus called them and said:

“You know that pagan rulers rule over their peoples, and the people own them to know them. It won't be like that for you. On the contrary, whoever wants to become the greatest among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be your servant. After all, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.

Last will be first

Last will be first
From the Bible. The New Testament (Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 19, Art. 30 and Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, Art. 31) says: “But many who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first.” The same is in the Gospel of Luke (chapter 13, v. 30): “And behold, there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.”
Allegorically: about hopes for social revenge, for social success as compensation for a period of failure, bad luck, poverty.

Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions. - M.: “Locked-Press”. Vadim Serov. 2003.

See what “Last will be first” means in other dictionaries:

The last will be the first. See LIFE DEATH...

Wed. You who have followed Me... for My name's sake... will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first. Matt. 19, 28 30. Wed. 20, 16. Wed. Brand. 10, 31. Luke. 13, 30…

The last will be the first. Wed. You who have followed Me... for My name's sake... will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first. Checkmate. 19, 28 30. Wed. 20, 16. Wed. Brand. 10, 31. Luke. 13, 30…

Sura 9 AT-TAUBA REPENTANCE, Medina, last two verses Meccan, 129 verses- 1. Allah and His Messenger renounce those with whom you have made a vow from those who share faith in Allah with faith in images. 2. Walk on Earth in safety for four months and know that you cannot escape from Allah and that Allah will expose the infidels... ... Koran. Translation by B. Shidfar

έσχατος - η, ο last, extreme, ultimate: η έσχατη μέρα της ζωής the last day of life; The last ones will be first (there are last who will be first, Luke 13:30); ΦΡ. έσχατα τ ... Η εκκλησία λεξικό (Nazarenko Church Dictionary)

A smile will set your teeth on edge. Live nimblely (rollily), die tartly. When you live you won't look back, when you die you won't know. You live like a cart: you die on your hump. Lives neither in a sieve nor in a sieve. Living is bad, but dying is no good either. Life is bitter... IN AND. Dahl. Proverbs of the Russian people

- (foreign language) to have time, to gain value, to increase Wed. He has been involved in contracting and building houses for a long time and everything was going uphill. P. Boborykin. China town. 1, 8. Wed. ...After all, Godunov is just looking to climb the mountain! He sat down below everyone, and in the end became... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary

To go up a mountain, to climb (in other words) to keep up, to gain value, to rise. Wed. He had been involved in contracting and building houses for a long time and was always on the rise. P. Boborykin. China city. 1, 8. Wed. ....After all, Godunov is looking like he can climb up... ... Michelson's Large Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

FIRST, or southern, western. first, counting, in order of counting, initial; one, once, from which the count begins. The first, the second, the third and the number was wrong! not much, little. This is not the first time I've told you this. Roosters first, midnight. (Second, two hours; third, three).… … Dictionary Dahl

adv. after, then, later, after, then. | Preliminary since birth I'll come later. Think first, and then say. After, no time, no one knows when. After the holiday, on Thursday, refusal. After you, he is the first. After and after, and when will there be after? Believe... ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

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It does not follow from the words of verse 29 that the reward will be the same for everyone. On the contrary (δέ), many first will be last and last will be first. This idea is proven (γάρ -) by a further parable, which, judging by the course of thoughts, should, firstly, explain who exactly is meant by the first and last, and, secondly, why an order that is completely different should prevail in the relations of the Kingdom of Heaven to the one that exists in earthly relations.

The vineyard should be understood as the Kingdom of Heaven, and the owner of the vineyard should be understood as God. Origen understood the vineyard as God's, and the market and places outside the vineyard ( τὰ ἔξω τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος ) is what is outside the church ( τὰ ἔξω τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ). Chrysostom understood the vineyard as “the commandments and commandments of God.”

. and, having agreed with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard;

With our money, a denarius was equal to 20–25 kopecks (corresponding to the cost of 4–5 g of silver. – Note ed.).

. going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idly in the marketplace,

. and he said to them, “Go you also into my vineyard, and whatever is proper I will give you.” They went.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke adopt the Jewish reckoning of time. There is no trace of the division of day and night into hours in the Old Testament writings. There were only the main divisions of the day, which were distinguished by their primitive nature - evening, morning, noon (cf.). Other designations for the time of day were “heat of the day” (), σταθερὸν ἧμαρ (– “full day”), “cool of the day” (). The times of the night were sometimes distinguished (except for the division into watches) by the expressions ὀψέ (evening), μεσονύκτιον (midnight), ἀλεκτροφωνία (roosters crowing) and πρωΐ (dawn). In the Babylonian Talmud (Avoda Zara, sheet 3, 6 et seq.) there is a division of the day into four parts of three hours, which served to distribute the time of prayer (at the third, sixth and ninth hour of the day; this is also indicated by). The division into hours was borrowed by both the Jews and the Greeks (Herodotus, History, II, 109) from Babylonia. The Aramaic word for hour is "shaa" in Old Testament found only in the prophet Daniel (etc.). In the New Testament, counting by the hour is already common. The twelve hours of the day were counted from the rising of the sun to the setting, and therefore the 6th corresponds to noon, and at the 11th hour the day ended (verse 6). Depending on the time of year, the hours varied in duration from 59 to 70 minutes.

Thus, the third hour is equal to our ninth in the morning.

. Coming out again around the sixth and ninth hours, he did the same.

In our opinion, around twelve and three o'clock in the afternoon.

. Finally, going out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing idly, and said to them: Why have you been standing here all day idly?

About 11 o'clock - in our opinion about 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

. They tell him: no one hired us. He says to them: You also go into my vineyard, and you will receive what follows.

. When evening came, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.

. And those who came about the eleventh hour received a denarius.

. Those who came first thought that they would receive more, but they also received a denarius;

. and having received it, they began to murmur against the owner of the house

. and they said: these last worked for one hour, and you made them equal to us, who endured the hardship of the day and the heat.

To compare the former with the latter and vice versa, to explain and prove that this happens and can be, at least not always, and that equal pay simply depends on the very kindness and goodness of the Supreme Householder - this is the main and essential idea of ​​the parable. And we must admit that it is precisely this idea that Christ fully explained and proved. When interpreting the parable, like many other sayings of Christ, one must generally avoid, if possible, abstractions. Understood more specifically, the parable means that those who are first should not be proud of their primacy, or exalt themselves before others, because there may be such cases in human life, which clearly show that the former are completely compared with the latter and the latter is even given preference. This should have been instructive for the apostles, who reasoned: “What will happen to us?”(). Christ says something like this: you ask who is greater and what will happen to you. There will be a lot for you who followed Me (), but do not accept this in the full and unconditional sense, do not think that it should always be this way, it will certainly be. Maybe (but Not it must be, this certainly happens or will happen) and this is what (the parable of the workers). The conclusion that the disciples who listened to Christ should have drawn from here is thus completely clear and understandable. There is no command given here to be necessarily compared with the latter, no advice is offered, but a principle is explained by which the workers in Christ's vineyard should carry out their work.

. He answered and said to one of them: friend! I don't offend you; Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

. take yours and go; I want to give this last one the same as I gave you;

. Don't I have the power to do what I want? Or is your eye envious because I am kind?

. So the last will be first, and the first last, for many are called, but few are chosen.

The words spoken in , here (verse 16) are repeated, and this clearly shows that this is the purpose, main idea and the moralizing of the parable. The meaning of the expression is not that the last should always be first and vice versa, but that this may be the case under certain, almost exceptional circumstances. This is indicated by the use of οὕτως (“so”) at the beginning of the verse, which can here mean: “here, in such or similar cases (but not always).” To explain the 16th verse, they find a parallel in the 8th chapter of the Second Catholic Epistle of the Apostle John and think that it “gives the key” to the explanation of the parable, with which one can agree. Jerome and others connect the verse and the whole parable with the parable of prodigal son, where the eldest son hates the younger one, does not want to accept his repentance and accuses his father of injustice. Last words 16th verse: “For many are called, but few are chosen”, should be recognized as a later insertion, both on the basis of the evidence of the best and most authoritative manuscripts, and for internal reasons. These words were probably borrowed and transferred here from Matt. 22 and greatly obscure the meaning of the entire parable.

. And going up to Jerusalem, Jesus called the twelve disciples alone on the way, and said to them:

Matthew's words are not connected by any adverbs with the previous one, with the exception of the conjunction “and” (καί). One can even assume that there is a gap here in the presentation of events that took place shortly before the last Easter (the 4th year of the public ministry of Jesus Christ), only partially filled in. The disciples were recalled, obviously, because the Savior’s speech required secrecy in its content, or, as Evfimy Zigavin thinks, “because this should not have been communicated to many, so that they would not be tempted.”

. behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death;

. and they will deliver Him over to the pagans to be mocked and beaten and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.

By "pagans" we mean the Romans.

. Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee and her sons approached Him, bowing and asking Him for something.

In the Gospel of Mark, disciples named by name make a request to Christ: James and John, sons of Zebedee. It is absolutely clear that in the historical narrative it was possible to talk about the mother together with her sons, and about the sons alone, without mentioning the mother for the sake of brevity. To clarify the reasons for the request, one should, first of all, pay attention to the addition (which other weather forecasters do not have), where it is reported that the disciples did not understand the words of Christ about His suffering. But they could pay special attention to the word “resurrect” and understand it somewhat, albeit in a wrong sense.

The question of what the mother of James and John was called by name is quite difficult. In those places in the Gospel where the mother of the sons of Zebedee () is mentioned, she is nowhere called Salome, and where Salome () is spoken of, she is nowhere called the mother of the sons of Zebedee. Only mainly on the basis of comparison of testimonies do they come to the conclusion that it was Salome who was the mother of the sons of Zebedee. This is easy to see from the following. At the cross there were women looking at the crucifix from afar: - “Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Josiah, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”; – “There were also women here who looked from afar: among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the Less and Josiah, and Salome.”.

From this it is clear that "mother of the sons of Zebedee" mentioned in Matthew where Mark speaks of Salome. Further, the Evangelist John says () that “at the cross of Jesus stood His Mother and His Mother’s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene”. This passage can be read in two ways, namely:

1. His (Christ) Mother

2. and the sister of His Mother, Mary of Cleopas,

3. and Mary Magdalene;

1. His Mother,

2. and His Mother's sister,

3. Maria Kleopova,

4. and Mary Magdalene.

According to the first reading, therefore, only three women stood at the cross, according to the second - four. The first reading is refuted on the grounds that if Mary of Cleopas were the sister of the Mother of God, then the two sisters would be called same name, which is highly unlikely. Further, in the Gospel of John, two groups of women are indicated, and the names of the first and second, and then the third and fourth are connected by the conjunction “and”:

1st group: His Mother And sister of His Mother,

2nd group: Maria Kleopova And Mary Magdalene.

Thus, here too, under the “sister of His Mother” it is possible to see Salome or the mother of the sons of Zebedee. This identification by various reasons cannot, of course, be considered completely certain. But he cannot be denied some probability. If, on the one hand, Salome was the mother of the sons of Zebedee, and on the other hand, the sister of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, then it means that James and John Zebedee were cousins Christ. Salome was among the women who accompanied Jesus Christ, who followed Him in Galilee and served Him (;).

In all likelihood, the idea of ​​asking Jesus Christ arose from the apostles themselves, and they asked their mother to convey the request to Jesus Christ. In Mark, the disciples’ request is expressed in a form that was only appropriate when addressing the king, and in some cases was even pronounced and proposed by the kings themselves (cf. ;). Based on Matthew's testimony, it can be concluded that Salome, with all her respect for Jesus Christ, did not have sufficient information about the nature and purpose of His ministry. She approached Jesus Christ with her sons, bowed to Him and asked for something (τι). She, no doubt, spoke, but her words were so unclear and vague that the Savior had to ask what exactly she wanted.

. He said to her: what do you want? She said to Him: Tell these two sons of mine to sit with You alone. right side, and the other on the left in Your Kingdom.

Wed. – Christ addresses the disciples with the question of what they want. Instead of “tell”, Mark has a more categorical “give” (δός). Instead of “in Thy Kingdom” - “in Thy glory.” Other differences in the speech of the evangelists are due to the fact that the request is put into the mouths of different petitioners. Salome asked that in His future Kingdom the Savior would seat her sons: one on the right, and the other on left side From him. The customs referred to here have not disappeared to this day. Places on the right and left, i.e. in the very proximity of some important person are still considered especially honorable. It was the same among the ancient pagan peoples and Jews. The places closest to the royal throne were the most honorable. This is mentioned in the Bible (;). Josephus Flavius ​​(“Antiquities of the Jews”, VI, 11, 9) sets out the famous biblical story about the flight of David, when Saul, on the New Moon holiday, having purified himself according to custom, reclined at the table, and his son Jonathan sat on his right side, and Abner on the left. The meaning of the request of the mother of the sons of Zebedee was, therefore, that Christ would provide her sons with the main, most honorable places in the Kingdom that would be established by Him.

. Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you are asking.” Can you drink the cup that I will drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized? They say to Him: We can.

The Savior points out that the disciples do not know or understand what His true glory and His true dominion and kingdom are. This is the glory, dominion and kingdom of Jehovah's Servant giving Himself as a sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. Chrysostom expresses this well, paraphrasing the speech of the Savior: “You remind Me of honor and crowns, but I speak of the exploits and labors that lie before you.” In essence, the words of the mother of the sons of Zebedee and themselves contained a request for admission to the suffering that lay ahead of Christ and about which He had already spoken earlier. Therefore, the real meaning of the request was terrible, but the disciples did not suspect it. The Savior, in full agreement with the message, or rather doctrine, just taught (verses 18-19), exposes its true meaning. He points to the cup that He had to drink (), which the Psalmist () calls mortal diseases, hellish torments, oppression and sorrow (Jerome points to these texts in his interpretation of verse 22). The Savior does not say that the disciples’ request was based on the disciples’ misconception of the nature of His spiritual Kingdom and does not predict here that He will be crucified among two thieves. He only says that suffering, self-sacrifice and death do not and cannot be the path to worldly dominion. He speaks only of the cup, without adding, however, that it will be a cup of suffering. It is very interesting that the word “cup” was used in the Old Testament scriptures in two senses: to designate both happiness () and disasters (; ;). But it is doubtful whether the disciples understood the words of Christ in the first sense. The most likely assumption is that their understanding was, so to speak, something in between (cf.). They did not understand the full depth of the meaning of the word “cup” with everything that was implied here, but, on the other hand, they did not imagine the matter in such a way that there would only be suffering and nothing more. They could present the matter this way: in order to acquire external, worldly dominion, they first needed to drink the cup of suffering that Christ Himself had to drink. But if Christ Himself drinks it, then why shouldn’t they take part in it? This should not and will not exceed their strength. And so, to Christ’s question, the disciples boldly answer: we can. “In the heat of zeal, they immediately expressed their consent, not knowing what they said, but hoping to hear consent to their request” (St. John Chrysostom).

. And he says to them: You will drink My cup, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized, but to let you sit on My right side and on My left does not depend on Me, but on whom My Father has prepared.

This verse has always been considered one of the most difficult to interpret and has even given rise to some heretics (Arians) to falsely claim that the Son of God is not equal to God To my father. The opinion of the Arians was rejected by all the fathers of the church as unfounded and heretical, for from other places of the New Testament (; ;, 10, etc.) it is clearly seen that Christ everywhere arrogates to Himself power equal to God the Father.

To correctly interpret the sayings of the Savior set forth in the verse under consideration, attention should be paid to two very important circumstances. Firstly, if the disciples and their mother in the 21st verse ask Christ for the first places in His Kingdom or in glory, then in the speech of the Savior, starting from the 23rd verse and ending with the 28th (and in Luke in the section set in another connection, which is sometimes given here in the form of a parallel), there is not the slightest mention of either the Kingdom or glory. Coming into the world, the Messiah appeared as the suffering Servant of Jehovah, the Redeemer of mankind. From here it is clear that sitting on the right and left sides of Christ does not mean, first of all, to participate in His glory, but indicates a preliminary approach to Him in His suffering, self-denial and bearing the cross. Only after this will people have the opportunity to enter into His glory. By the will and advice of God, there are always people who take part in the suffering of Christ and thus become especially close to Him, as if they sit on His right and left sides. Secondly, it should be noted that the two evangelists, Matthew and Mark, use two different expressions here: "for whom my Father has prepared"(Matthew) and simply: "who is destined"(Mark). Both of these expressions are precise and strong and contain the same idea - about the providential meaning of suffering in the earthly life of mankind.

. Hearing this, the other ten disciples were indignant at the two brothers.

The reason for the indignation of the ten disciples was the request of James and John, which tended to belittle the other apostles. Emergence similar phenomena shows that the disciples of Christ, even in His presence, were not always distinguished by love for each other and fraternal unity. But in the present case this was not out of malice, but rather, apparently, out of simplicity, underdevelopment and insufficient assimilation of the teachings of Christ. The struggle for the first places in the new Kingdom, localism, was repeated at the Last Supper.

. Jesus called them and said, “You know that the princes of the nations rule over them, and the nobles rule over them;

Luke has a completely different connection. Mark's language is stronger than Matthew's. Instead of the more unambiguous “princes of nations” ( ἄρχοντες τῶν ἐθνῶν ) at Mark's οἱ δοκοῦντες ἄρχειν τῶν ἐθνῶν , i.e. “those who think that they rule over the nations, pretended rulers.”

. but let it not be so among you: but whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant;

(Wed ; ). The opposite of what is said in the previous verse. It’s like this for the “peoples”, but it should be completely different for you. The Savior’s words are highly instructive not only for spiritual leaders, but also for all rulers and bosses, who usually want to have full power, without thinking at all that true (and not imaginary) Christian power is based only on services provided to people, or in serving them, and, moreover, without any thought about any external power that comes by itself.

. and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave;

The idea is the same as in verse 26.

. for the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His soul as a ransom for many.

The highest and most understandable example and model is offered to all those familiar with the life of Christ. Christ was served by both Angels and people (; ; ; ), and He demanded and demands for Himself this service and even an account of it (). But no one will say that the teaching revealed in the verse under discussion contradicts His own teaching and behavior or does not correspond to reality. On the contrary, it seems that the indicated passages from the Gospels not only do not contradict, but only further emphasize the idea that the Son of Man came to earth only to serve. To His service to people, and they responded to Him in some cases with service full of love, and, thus, being a servant, He was fully Lord and Teacher and Himself called Himself so (see especially, etc.). But how different everything here is from the usual manifestation of power on the part of various rulers and princes of this world!

The expression ὥσπερ (in Russian translation - “since”) means, in fact, “just as” (German gleichwie; Lat. sicut), indicates a comparison, not a reason. Thus, the meaning is this: whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came and so on. But in the parallel in Mark the same words are given as a reason (καὶ γάρ, in Russian translation - “for and”).

The word “came” indicates Christ’s consciousness of His highest origin and coming to earth from another world, from higher sphere being. On the idea of ​​redemptive self-sacrifice cf. .

Λύτρον, used in Matthew (and Mark in parallel) only here, comes from λύειν - to untie, resolve, free; used by the Greeks (usually in plural) and is found in the Old Testament in the sense:

1) ransom for your soul from threatening death ();

2) payment for a woman to a slave () and for a slave ();

3) ransom for the firstborn ();

4) in the sense of propitiation ().

The synonymous terms ἄλλαγμα (Isa. 43, etc.) and ἐξίλασμα () are usually translated through “ransom”. The only λύτρον is obviously placed in correspondence with the only ψυχήν. Christ does not say that He will give His soul to redeem Himself, but - "for the ransom of many". The word “many” aroused a lot of bewilderment; if only for the redemption of “many” people, then that means not all. The redemptive work of Christ does not extend to everyone, but only to many, perhaps even a relatively few, the elect. Jerome adds: to those who wished to believe. But Evfimy Zigavin and others consider the word πολλούς to be equivalent to πάντας here, because Scripture often says so. Bengel here introduces the concept of individuals and says that here the Savior speaks of giving Himself as a sacrifice for many, not only for all, but even for individuals (et multis, non solum universis, sed etiam singulis, se impendit Redemptor). They also said that πάντων is an objective, πολλῶν is a subjective designation of those for whom Christ died. He died for everyone objectively, but subjectively only a huge multitude will be saved by Him, which no one could count, πολλο... . In the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Romans () there is a change between οἱ πολλοί and simply πολλοί, and πάντες. The actual meaning of ἀντὶ πολλῶν is expressed in a place that can serve as a parallel for the present (), where λύτρον ἀντὶ πολλῶν , as here in Matthew, is replaced ἀντὶλυτρον ὑπὲρ πάντων . All these interpretations are satisfactory and can be accepted.

. And when they left Jericho, a multitude of people followed Him.

The order of events among the three evangelists here is quite contradictory. Luke () begins his story like this: "When He approached Jericho" (ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἰεριχώ ); Mark(): "they come to Jericho" (καὶ ἄρχονται εἰς Ἰεριχώ ); Matthew: "And when they came out of Jericho" (καὶ ἐκπορευομένων αὐτῶν ἀπό Ἰεριχώ ). If we take these testimonies of the evangelists in their exact meaning, then first we need to place the story of Luke (, there is a parallel story of the first two evangelists (;), and finally, Luke () joins them. With this order, however, great difficulties are not eliminated, that it will be clear from what follows.

Jericho was located on the western side of the Jordan, slightly north of where the Jordan flows into the Dead Sea. In the New Testament it is mentioned only six times (; ; ; ). In Greek it is written Ἰεριχώ and Ἰερειχώ. Often mentioned in the Old Testament, it was one of the oldest Palestinian cities. The area where the city is located is one of the most fertile in Palestine and at the time of Christ was probably in a flourishing state. Jericho was famous for palm trees, balsam and other fragrant plants. On the spot ancient city Currently, the village of Erich stands, full of poverty, dirt and even immorality. There are about 60 families in Erich. During the procession of Christ from Jericho to Jerusalem, He was accompanied by a large crowd of common people (ὄχλος πολύς).

. And so, two blind men who were sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, began to shout: have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!

Matthew speaks of two blind men whom the Savior healed upon leaving Jericho; Mark talks about one thing, calling him by name (Bartimaeus); Luke also speaks of one whom the Savior healed before His entry into Jericho. If we assume that all the evangelists are talking about the same thing, then we get obvious and completely irreconcilable contradictions. Even in ancient times, this provided a powerful weapon to the enemies of Christianity and the Gospels, who considered this place as irrefutable proof of the unreliability of the Gospel stories. Attempts to reconcile stories on the part of Christian writers, therefore, date back to ancient times. Origen, Euthymius Zigavinus and others accepted that this speaks of three healings of the blind, Luke speaks of one healing, Mark speaks of another, and Matthew speaks of a third. Augustine argued that there were only two healings, of which one is spoken of by Matthew and Mark and the other by Luke. But Theophylact and others consider all three healings to be one. Of the new exegetes, some explained the disagreement by the fact that there were only two healings and only two blind men, about whom Mark and Luke speak separately, of which one took place before entering Jericho, and the other after leaving it. Matthew combined both healings in one story. Others - because the diversity of the evangelists depended on the fact that the sources from which each evangelist borrowed his story were different.

It must be admitted that the stories of the evangelists do not allow us to recognize either three persons and their healings, or to unite them into one. There is simply ambiguity in the story, something left unsaid, and this prevents us from imagining and understanding how it really happened. Most reliable way to the resolution of this issue may, apparently, consist in the following. Reading stories about the healing of blind people, we should not imagine that as soon as one of them shouted, calling on Christ for help, he was immediately healed. In an extremely compressed and short story events that could have occurred over a more or less long period of time are brought together. This is indicated, by the way, general indication all the weather forecasters that the people forbade the blind to shout and forced them to remain silent (; ; ). Further, from Luke’s story it is absolutely impossible to conclude that the healing of the blind man took place before Jesus Christ entered Jericho. On the contrary, if we assume that it was already after Christ’s exit from Jericho, then all the details of Luke’s story will become clearer to us. First, the blind man sits by the road, begging. When he hears that a crowd is passing by, he asks what it is. Having learned that "Jesus of Nazareth is Coming", he starts screaming for help. Those walking ahead force him to remain silent, but he screams even louder. It is not visible from anywhere that he was standing in one place at the time when all this was happening. He stopped only when he came out of Jericho and ordered the blind man to be brought to Him. If he ordered him to be brought, it means that the blind man was not at the closest distance from Him. To this it must be added that when passing through a city, it can be crossed in both a long and short time. a short time, depending on its size. Even through the most Big city you can walk in a short time, crossing, for example, the outskirts. It is not clear from anywhere that Jericho was then big city. Thus we have every right to identify the blind man of whom Luke speaks, either with Bartimaeus of Mark, or with one of the unnamed blind men of Matthew. This means that all three evangelists are in complete agreement regarding the fact that the blind were healed after the departure of Jesus Christ from Jericho. Having dealt with this difficulty, we must, as far as possible, clarify another.

According to Mark and Luke, there was one blind man, according to Matthew there were two. But the question is, if only one blind man was healed, then why did Matthew need to say that there were two of them? If, as they claim, he had before him the Gospels of Mark and Luke, did he really want to undermine the credibility of these evangelists by giving a different testimony without any reservations about the incorrectness of their messages? Did he really want to artificially increase the glory of Christ as a healer by adding one miracle that was supposedly invented by him? All this is extremely incredible and inconsistent with anything. Let's say that it would be absurd to argue even with the most hostile attitude towards the Gospels. Further, even if Mark and Luke knew that two blind men were healed, but wished intentionally (in the present case no special intention is noticeable) to report only about one healing and the healed one, then even then not a single conscientious critic familiar with the documents, and especially the ancients, I would not dare to accuse the evangelists of fiction and distortion historical facts. True, we cannot explain why Matthew talks about two blind men, and Mark and Luke only about one. But in fact, it could well have been that two blind men were healed during the movement of the crowd; this does not at all contradict any historical probability.

. The people forced them to remain silent; but they began to shout even louder: have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David!

Why did people force the blind to remain silent? Perhaps blind people passing by forced them to remain silent simply because they “disturbed public silence” and their cry did not comply with the rules of public decency of the time.

). Mark further reports interesting and lively details about the conversation with the blind person who called him, and about how he, having thrown off his clothes, stood up (jumped up, jumped up - ἀναπηδήσας) and went (it is not said “ran”) to Jesus Christ. Christ's question is natural.

. They say to Him: Lord! so that our eyes may be opened.

The speech of the blind in Matthew (and other weather forecasters) is abbreviated. The full speech is: Lord! We want our eyes to be opened. The blind do not ask for alms, but for a miracle to be performed. Obviously, they had heard about Christ as a Healer before. The healing of a man born blind, as described by John (εὐθέως (“immediately”), indicates sudden insight, as also spoken of by Mark and Luke ( εὐθύς ώ παραχρῆμα ).