Толкование Евангелие от Матфея 5 глава 0 стих - Экзегет

It then follows, “Seeing the crowds, he went up on a mountain and sat down. His disciples came to him, and opening his mouth, he taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matt 5:1–3, and the rest that follows. Ready to lead his disciples from earthly and humble things to those that are high and lofty, the Lord climbed up a mountain—specifically the Mount of Olives—in order to show the gift of his divine mercy by the very significance of this name. 2. The Lord went up the mountain, therefore, that he might give the precepts of the heavenly commandments to his disciples, who are to leave behind earthly things and seek the things high up see Col 3:1, as though already placed on high. He went up that he might now give the divine gift of the long foreseen blessings, according to what David had earlier declared when he said, “For indeed he who gave the law will give blessings” Ps 84:7. 3. And that he might more openly show the grace of the apostles and the author of this very great blessing, he went on to say, “They shall walk from strength to strength; the God of gods shall be seen in Zion” Ps 84:7, that is to say, the Son of God, who gave blessings to the apostles on Zion. For on this mountain he gave his apostles a blessing, he who had once given the law of Moses on Mount Sinai, proving that he was the author of both laws. This agrees with what the Lord himself makes clear through Jeremiah when he says, “And I will give them a new covenant, not like the one I gave long ago to their fathers, when I led them from the land of Egypt, but this is the covenant that I will give them: I will write my laws on their hearts and I will write them on their minds” Jer 31:31–33. 4. And indeed when the law was given long ago on the mountain, the people were forbidden to draw close see Exod 19:12. But now, as the Lord was teaching on the mountain, no one is forbidden. Rather, all are invited to listen, because there is severity in the law and grace in the gospel see John 1:17. In the former, terror is instilled in the unbelievers; in the latter, a gift of blessings is poured out on the believers. 5. If therefore you too want to receive blessings from the Lord, forsake an earthly way of life, seek a higher life; ascend to the height of faith like a mountain, that you may deserve to be rightly blessed by the Lord. But let us see what now these words of blessings are.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matt 5:3. We know many poor people, indeed, but they are not blessed merely because they are poor. For the distress of poverty does not make each of us blessed, but faith from poverty accompanied by devotion. For we know many indeed who lack worldly resources, yet they do not cease sinning and are estranged from faith in God. Clearly we cannot call these people blessed. 2. And therefore we ought to inquire just who these blessed are of whom the Lord says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Surely he means that those poor persons are blessed who have willed to be poor in the world, by showing contempt for the riches of the world and by having spurned the material resources of the age, in order to become rich in God. Indeed, such people seem to be poor in the sight of the world, but they are rich in God, needy in the world, but wealthy in Christ. 3. The apostles were the first to offer us an example of this blessed poverty in themselves. They deserved to be his disciples by their showing contempt for all their worldly resources and by immediately following the Lord’s voice see Mark 1:16–18. Even in the times of the apostles we find this kind of poor people, who as the first believers sold all their possessions and obtained riches by this form of poverty of being devoted to the Lord see Acts 2:45. 4. And this is why the apostle shows that heavenly wealth consists in this kind of poverty, when he says, “As having nothing, and possessing everything” 2 Cor 6:10. After all, this is why Peter, when he went up to the temple and was asked for alms by the lame man, said, “Silver and gold I do not have; but what I have I give you: In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ rise and walk” Acts 3:6. 5. O truly blessed poverty, which, though it has none of the resources of the world, gives generously only from heaven! To be sure, he does not give silver and gold, but he restores health to the body, which is more than all riches. He did not have the image of Caesar on the coin he could give see Matt 22:20–21; but he refashioned the image of Christ in the man. The Lord is speaking of poor people like this in the present passage. David also testifies about them in many passages, when he says, “The poor are needy and shall be satisfied; and their heart will live in the age of the age” Ps 22:26. And again, “He will judge the poor of the people and save the children of the poor” Ps 72:4. And again, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him” Ps 34:6. 6. The Lord is showing that the kingdom of heaven belongs to those who are poor like this, who for the sake of religion and faith have made themselves poor, in order to possess the riches of the Holy Spirit see Matt 7:11; Luke 11:13. Or certainly he calls the poor blessed who are not puffed up by any of the devil’s pride see 1 Tim 3:6, they are not extolled by any ambition of the world, but they preserve the humility of the Spirit with the devotion of faith. Hence David says in the psalm, “A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; God does not spurn a contrite and humble heart” Ps 51:17. Those who are poor in spirit like this then are blessed before God.

  Then he says, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled” Matt 5:5. He speaks here of those who mourn as he had done of the poor higher up. The blessed of whom he speaks are not those deeply mourning over the death of a spouse or the loss of dear children. Rather, he is indicating those blessed persons who either strive to atone for the sins they have committed by a constant tearful weeping, or who with a pious, duty-bound sentiment do not cease to mourn over the iniquity of the world and the transgressions of sinners. 2. To those who mourn in a holy way like this, therefore, not without reason the Lord promises the consolation of eternal rejoicing. After all, after his sin saint David even drenched his own couch with a constant tearful weeping, saying, “I will wash my bed every night, I will drench my couch with tears” Ps 6:6. And again, “My tears were my bread day and night, when it is said to me daily, Where is your God?” Ps 42:3. 3. And again, “I ate ashes like bread, and I mingled my drink with weeping” Ps 102:9. And again, “You will feed us with bread of tears, and will cause us to drink tears by measure” Ps 80:5. Do you want to know the pious mourning of the saints? Listen to the statement of the prophet Samuel, that he will mourn for King Saul until the day of his own death see 1 Sam 15:35. Jeremiah, too, while weeping bitterly for the sins of the people, says the following: “My eyes shall pour down rivers of water, for the contrition of my people” Lam 3:48. And again: “Who will give water to my head, and a fountain of tears to my eyes? Then I would weep for this people day and night” Jer 9:1. 4. Daniel too is afflicted with deep mourning for the sins of the people, as he himself attests when he says, “And I was mourning for three weeks of days, eating no bread and drinking no wine” Dan 10:2–3. The holy apostle too weeps bitterly for some of the Corinthians with a similar grief, saying, “And I shall come to you to mourn many of them that sinned before and have not done penance for the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness that they have committed” 2 Cor 12:21. 5. The Lord compensates mourning of this sort, then, with the consolation of everlasting joy. This agrees with what Isaiah related when he said, “To give to them that mourn in Zion glory instead of ashes, the oil of gladness to the mourners, the garment of glory for the spirit of sadness” Isa 61:3. This is also why David says, “You have turned my mourning into joy for me, you have torn up my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness” Ps 30:11.

Then it says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth as an inheritance” Matt 5:4. The graces of the divine promises differ because the degrees of merits differ. Thus he says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.” The meek are gentle people, humble and modest, simple in faith and patient of every injury, who have been instructed by the precepts of the gospel to imitate the example of the Lord’s gentleness, who says in the gospel, “Learn from me, for I am meek and humble in heart” Matt 11:29. 2. Finally, Moses long ago found the greatest favor before God because he was meek. For that is what is written of him: “And Moses was meek beyond all men who were on the earth” Num 12:3. This is why David says in the psalm, “Lord, remember David, and all his meekness” Ps 132:1. 3. He shows that meek people like this are blessed, to whom not in the present life but in the future he has promised the possession of this blessed land, of which we read the statement in the psalm: “But the meek shall possess the land, and they shall delight in a multitude of peace” Ps 37:11. And again: “Those who wait for the Lord shall possess the land as an inheritance” Ps 37:9. And the Holy Spirit testifies to this through Solomon when he says, “For the upright shall dwell in the earth, and the holy shall dwell in it” Prov 2:21. 4. The Lord is pointing to these as the meek who are blessed, who follow the Lord’s mildness and gentleness. They will enjoy the everlasting inheritance of this blessed land as their possession. But he is speaking in particular of the land of our body in which land the transfigured saints, according to the apostle’s statement, will reign in glory with eternal happiness see Phil 3:21; Rev 5:10; 20:4, 6.

Он научил, что мы должны достигать праведности не простым желанием, не пустым порывом страсти. Поэтому он называет блаженными тех, кто стремится к ней, пылая внутренним желанием, наподобие голода и жажды. Ибо если каждый из нас стремится к ней с голодом и жаждой, то он не может искать иного, кроме праведности, которую он считает праведностью; поскольку необходимо, чтобы он, испытывая голод и жажду, желал то, к чему он испытывает голод и жажду.

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Итак, Тот, Кто есть хлеб небесный и источник живой воды, справедливо обещает этим алчущим и жаждущим постоянное насыщение, говоря: Блаженны алчущие и жаждущие правды, ибо они насытятся. Он обещает именно той правды веры в Бога и Христа, о которой говорил апостол: Правда Божия чрез веру в Иисуса Христа во всех и на всех верую­щих (Рим. 3:22).

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Поднимемся, братья, на четвертую ступень: «Блаженны алчущие и жаждущие правды, ибо они насытятся». И правда, после покаяния, после плача и слез о грехах, чего другого можно начать алкать и жаждать, если не правды? Ведь как тот, кто пережил ночную тьму, уже ждет с нетерпением близкого света; и тот, кто победил жестокую холеру, вожделеет еды и питья, — так и душа человека-христианина, победив свои грехи через плач и слезы, алчет и жаждет уже одной только правды Божией; и по заслугам возрадуется, насытившись тем, чего желала.

Then he says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied” Matt 5:6. He taught that we must seek after justice, but not with a desire that is unserious and not with passionate ardor that is fleeting. Indeed, he calls those persons blessed who in their search for justice burn with passionate longing internally, in their hunger and thirst. For if each one of us hungers and thirsts for justice with desire, we can do nothing else but think and seek after justice. For one who is hungry and thirsty necessarily eagerly longs for that for which he hungers and thirsts. 2. Rightly, then, the one who is the heavenly bread and the fountain of living water see John 6:41, 51; 4:10, 14 promises in return to those who thus hunger and thirst in such a manner the satisfaction of this perpetual refreshment: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied.” This surely is that justice of faith that comes from God and Christ, of which the apostle says, “The justice of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all who believe in him” Rom 3:22. 3. And surely it is our Lord and Savior himself, who according to the apostle “became for us justice and sanctification and redemption” 1 Cor 1:30. The blessed always burn with a longing for him, as for food and drink, in accordance with what the Lord himself attests through Solomon, speaking under the persona of Wisdom: “They who eat me will yet be hungry, and they who drink me will yet be thirsty” Sir 24:21. 4. We likewise should always hunger and thirst for this justice, then, that we may deserve to be satiated with the food of perpetual refreshment. But he spoke well when he added in the present passage, “Blessed are those who hunger for justice,” for there are others who hunger not for justice but for injustice, namely those who long for gold and silver, who yearn for wealth and secular honors and who are never satisfied by earthly resources and the desires of the flesh. But those who are like this are not blessed, but are wretched, since to them is owed not the hope of the promised glory but the punishment of damnation.

Then he says, “Blessed are the merciful, for God will be merciful to them” Matt 5:7. The Lord challenges us to practice mercy in a great number of testimonies indeed, both in the Old Testament and in the New. But as a summary of the faith, we deem it enough and more than enough what the Lord himself in the present passage brings forth with his own voice, when he says, “Blessed are the merciful, for God will be merciful to them.” 2. The Lord of mercies says that the merciful are blessed, showing that no one can earn God’s mercy unless he is merciful himself. This is why he also says in another passage, “Be merciful, just as your Father who is in heaven is merciful” Luke 6:36. 

3. Then he says, “Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God” Matt 5:8. The pure of heart are those who have gotten rid of sin’s filth, have cleansed themselves of all the pollution of the flesh, and have pleased God through works of faith and justice. This agrees with what David testifies in a psalm when he says, “Who will climb up the Lord’s mountain, or who will stand in his holy place? The one with innocent hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul in vain” Ps 24:3–4. 4. And David, rightly knowing that God can be seen only with a pure heart, prays as follows in the psalm: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” Ps 51:10. So the Lord shows that it is pure-hearted people like this who are blessed. They are the ones who, living by faith in the Lord with a pure mind and unstained conscience, will win the right to see the God of glory in the heavenly kingdom to come, “no longer in a mirror and in a riddle, but face to face” 1 Cor 13:12, as the apostle related. 5. For although now we contemplate God with the eyes of faith, yet we cannot see his brightness in view of the weakness of the flesh; but then we will see him, when we have received immortality and have been transformed into heavenly glory, and we will begin to look upon the immortal God with immortal eyes. And at that time, the following Scripture will be truly fulfilled in us: “As we have heard, so too we have seen in the city of the Lord of powers” Ps 48:8. 6. When the same David showed the glory of the time to come in which glory the saints will dwell with God, not without cause did he relate the following: “And yet the just shall acknowledge you, and the upright shall dwell with your face” Ps 140:13.

Then he says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” Matt 5:9. The peacemakers are those who, standing apart from the stumbling block of disagreement and discord, guard the love of fraternal charity and the peace of the church under the unity of the Catholic faith. In the gospel the Lord particularly urges his disciples to guard this peace, saying, “I give you my peace; I leave you peace” John 14:27. 2. David earlier testified that the Lord would give this peace to his church, saying, “I will listen to what the Lord speaks in me, for he will speak peace to his people and over his holy ones and to those who turn to him” Ps 85:8. The apostle also warns about guarding this peace when he says, “Preserving the unity of the Spirit with the bond of peace” Eph 4:3; cf. Rom 12:18. 3. And again, “May the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and bodies from evil” Phil 4:7; cf. 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 3:10–11. For the apostle shows the Hebrews that nothing is so critical to the servants of God, so salutary for the church, as the preservation of charity, as the esteeming of peace, without which one cannot see God. He says, “Above all esteem peace, without which none of us will be able to see God” Heb 12:14. 4. Thus it is fitting for us to preserve peace in the church with all zeal and devotion and to summon back with zeal for peace and faith those who are estranged from peace to the church’s charity, as far as it lies within us. This agrees with the example of the prophet who says, “I was peaceable with those who hated peace; when I spoke with them, they fought against me for no reason” Ps 120:7. It is fitting that in the gospel as well, in the exultation of the angels who were proclaiming the Lord’s nativity, this voice came that is reported: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to people of good will” Luke 2:14. 5. Of this peace David related, “Those who love you have great peace, and they have no stumbling block” Ps 119:165. And Isaiah likewise says, “And I shall set your children in great peace and you will be built in justice” Isa 54:13–14. For if the Son of God deemed it fitting to receive flesh and suffer in order to make us at peace with God through the blood of his cross see Col 1:20, surely, in accordance with what the apostle has related, we ought to be peaceable in all things. Then we would truly deserve to have the God of peace himself in us see Phil 4:9. 6. For this is written: “His place has been in peace, and his dwelling place in Zion” Ps 76:2. And so, not only will we be children of God, but “heirs of God, and coheirs of Christ” Rom 8:17. For the apostle said this: “If sons of God, also heirs of God, and coheirs of Christ” Rom 8:17.

Then he says, “Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” Matt 5:10. Not without cause did the Lord mention higher up hungering and thirsting for justice see Matt 5:6. He instructs us so to thirst in our desire for justice that for its sake we should despise the world’s persecutions, the punishments of the body, and death itself. 2. He is proclaiming the martyrs above all, those who for the justice of faith and the name of Christ endure persecutions in this world. To them a great hope is promised, namely, the possession of the kingdom of heaven. The apostles were chief examples of this blessedness, and all the just people who for the sake of the justice of the law were afflicted with various forms of persecution. By the merit of their faith they have reached the heavenly kingdom.