Sunday
\nLuke 15: 11-32 on the Prodigal son<\/p>\n
The son\u2019s request for his portion of goods (Gr. ousia, lit. \u201cessence\u201d) indicates man receiving his free will and his rational mind from God. As Adam did in Eden, the younger son uses these possessions to rebel against his father. The far country represents life in exile from God. Feeding swine could rightly be called \u201cJewish Skid Row.\u201d He could not sink much lower. \u00a0Came to himself: A person immersed in sin is \u00a0living outside his true self . The prodigal realizes his hopeless condition. The bread symbolizes Christ, who is known through the Scriptures and the Eucharist. Though it was considered unseemly in Jewish culture for an old man to run, the father did not passively stand by waiting for his son to return. He ran to him. This self-humiliation for the sake of the lost indicates the way in which our Father, through Christ\u2019s sacrifice, actively seeks those who stray. The significance of the robe is righteousness granted by baptism , the signet ring is family identity , and the sandals refer to walking according to the gospel.Fatted calf is more closely translated \u201cwheat-fed bull-calf,\u201d or even more literally \u201ca bull-calf formed from wheat.\u201d This animal is a male calf raised on wheat in preparation for use as a religious offering. As the reconciliation of the prodigal son was not complete without the sacrifice of the calf, so man\u2019s reconciliation to God is not by his repentance alone, but by Christ offering Himself on the Cross. The festive dining on an animal offering \u00a0\u201cformed from wheat\u201d is a clear reference to our partaking of the eucharistic bread he resentful older son illustrates the hardheartedness of the Pharisees to whom Christ was telling this parable . God requires His followers to rejoice when even the most blamable man is called to repentance \u00a0I never transgressed your commandment at any time: The failure of the older son to recognize his own sins leads to his self-righteous and merciless attitude. Contrast this with the contrition of the younger son. \u201cThe one who seems to himself to be righteous, who does not see the beam in his own eye, becomes angry when forgiveness is granted to one who confesses his sin and begs for mercy\u201d. The older son\u2019s ingratitude is also apparent in his charge you never gave me a young\u00a0goat to his father, who has given him all he has.<\/p>\n
Monday<\/p>\n
Jesus directed the servants to fill the waterpots [over 20 buckets each in capacity] \u00a0with water, \u201cand they filled them up to the brim\u201d.<\/em> Jesus further orders them to draw some of it out and present it to master of the feast, so that he would be convinced in the authenticity of the accomplished miracle. As we can see, the Lord without even a touch, at a distance performed this miracle, what especially clearly testifies of His Divine power. As the Saint Chrysostom explains: \u201cSo as to show that He is the One Who converts the water into grapes and the rain into wine through the root of the grape; and that, what happens in the plant over a lengthy period of time, He accomplishes in an instant at the wedding\u201d. Not knowing where the wine came from, the master calls the bridegroom and gives witness through his words to the authenticity of the accomplished miracle, testifying with his words the veracity of the accomplished miracle and even emphasizing that the miraculous wine is of much higher quality than that which they had. From the words \u201cwhen the guests have well drunk\u201d<\/em> one should not draw the conclusion that at this wedding, everybody was drunk. The conversation here is about the general custom and not about the specific usage concerning this case. It is well known that the Jews were noted for their moderation in the use of wine, which in Palestine was considered an ordinary drink and was diluted with water. To get drunk was regarded as extremely improper \u2014 and of course, the Lord Jesus Christ would not participate in a feast where many could have been drunk. The purpose of the miracle was to bring happiness to the poor people, fulfilling their family celebration. In this the Lord\u2019s mercy became apparent. According to the Evangelist\u2019s testimony, that was the first miracle that the Lord performed, having stepped on the path of His public service, which was also performed with the aim of revealing His glory as that of the Son of God, and to ratify His Disciples\u2019 faith in Him. After this miracle and spending some time in Nazareth, the whole Holy Family headed to Capernaum, in order to travel from there to Jerusalem for the feast day of Pascha.<\/p>\n Tuesday<\/p>\n At the feast day of Passover, up to two million Jews gathered in Jerusalem, who were obliged to kill the Paschal lambs and bring the sacrifice to God in the Temple. According to the testimony of Joseph Flavius, in the year 63 AD, on the day of the Jewish Passover, some 256,500 lambs were given to the priests for slaying, not counting minor livestock and birds. For the sake of ease in selling such a large amount of animals, the Jews converted the so called area of \u201ccourtyard of the heathen\u201d into a market-place: they gathered the sacrificial animals, placed cages with birds, erected shop-fronts for the sale of everything, necessary for sacrificial offerings and set up money-exchange centers. At the time, the official money in circulation was in Roman coins, while the law demanded that contributions to the temple were in Jewish shekels. The Jews arriving for Passover had to change their money, and this exchange brought great profit to the moneychangers. Striving for the maximum profit, the Jews were selling in the temple\u2019s courtyard the other items, which had nothing to do with sacrificial offerings, for example, oxen. The high priests themselves took part in breeding doves for their sale at high prices.<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/p>\n The Lord, having made a whip out of ropes, which were apparently used to restrain the animals, drove the lambs and oxen out of the temple, overturned the money-changers\u2019 tables, scattering their coin, and walking up to those who sold doves, said: \u201cTake these things away! Do not make My Father\u2019s house a house of merchandise!\u201d <\/em>Thus, for the first time, calling God His Father, Jesus declared Himself publicly as the Son of God. Nobody had the audacity to oppose the Divine authority of the act, because apparently John\u2019s witness of Him as of the Messiah had already reached Jerusalem, and it might be that the traders\u2019 conscience woke. Only when He reached the doves (thereby affecting the self-interests of the high priests), He received a query: \u201cWhat sign do you show to us, since you do these things?\u201d<\/em> Jesus answered to that: \u201cDestroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up\u201d.<\/em> Furthermore, as the Evangelist explains further, what Christ meant was the \u201ctemple of His Body\u201d<\/em>, i.e. what He wanted to say with this to the Jews was: You are asking for a sign from Me \u2014 it will be given to you, but only not now: when you destroy the temple of My Body, I shall raise it up in three days and this should serve as a sign of that authority, with which I am doing this. \u00a0The high priests did not understand that with those words, Jesus predicted His Own death, destruction of His body and His resurrection from the dead on the third day. They took His words regarding the temple literally, relating them to the Jerusalem temple, and attempted to provoke the people against Him.<\/p>\n Thursday<\/p>\n …seizing upon the literal meaning of Christ\u2019s words, the Jews got armed with the outer sense of the words of Christ and attempted to make them absurd and impossible to fulfill. They pointed to the fact that that temple \u2014 the pride of the Jews \u2014 took them 46 years to build, so how could it be raised up in three days? They talk here about the restoration of the temple by Herod…Further on, the Evangelist states that during the feast of Pascha, the Lord worked wonders, and many who saw them, believed in Him. However, \u201cJesus did not commit Himself to them\u201d<\/em>, i.e. did not count on them or their faith, for the faith, based on wonders only, not warmed up by the love for Christ, cannot be counted as stable. The Lord \u201cknew all men\u201d as the Almighty God, \u201cknew what was in men\u201d \u2014 what was hidden in the depths of everyone\u2019s soul, and therefore, did not trust the words of those, who, seeing His miracle, professed one\u2019s faith in Him.<\/p>\n Friday<\/p>\n Driving the seller out of the temple and the miracles performed by the Lord in Jerusalem, so strongly influenced the Jews that one of the \u201cprinces\u201d \u2014 or leaders of the Jews \u2014 Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin, came to see Jesus. Apparently, he wanted very much to hear His teachings, but fearing to incur the wrath of his associates that were hostile towards the Lord, he arrived at night. Nicodemus calls the Lord \u201cRabbi,\u201d i.e. the teacher and thus acknowledging His right to teach, which, according to the view of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus was not allowed to have \u2014 not having finished the Rabbinic school. This already shows Nicodemus\u2019s disposition towards Christ. Later, he calls Him \u201ca Teacher come from God,\u201d accepting that He works wonders with the Divine power, typical of Him. Nicodemus speaks not only from his own name but from all the Jews, who believed in the Lord, and perhaps even from the name of some members of the Sanhedrin \u2014 although the majority of them was hostile towards the Lord.<\/p>\n Saturday<\/p>\n The whole following discourse is remarkable, for it is directed towards destroying the false Pharisee outlook on the Kingdom of Heaven, and the conditions under which a human can enter this Kingdom. This conversation is divided into 3 parts: The spiritual rebirth as the basic demand for entry into God\u2019s Kingdom; Redemption of humanity through the sufferings of the Son of God, without which, people would not be able to inherit God\u2019s Kingdom; The nature of the judgment over the people that have not believed in the Son of God. \u00a0The type of a Pharisee at that time was the embodiment of the narrowest and fanatical, national particularity: they regarded themselves as completely different from the rest of the people. A Pharisee thought that just being a Jew, particularly being a Pharisee, he is a certain and worthiest member of the glorious Messiah\u2019s Kingdom. According to their belief, the Messiah Himself must be like them, and will free the Jews from the foreign yoke and establish the world kingdom, in which they, the Jews, will occupy the leading position. Apparently Nicodemus, sharing these common for the Pharisees\u2019 opinion, possibly felt that they were false deep down in his heart. Therefore, he came to Jesus…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sunday Luke 15: 11-32 on the Prodigal son The son\u2019s request for his portion of goods (Gr. ousia, lit. \u201cessence\u201d) indicates man receiving his free will and his rational mind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-orthodox-daily-devotional","has_no_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3012"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3019,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3012\/revisions\/3019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orthodoxinsight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}