Ομιλία στην γενεαλογία του Χριστού

Anthony Bloom (Metropolitan of Sourozh (1914- 2003))

Εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ Πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ Υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος

Κάθε χρόνο πρὶν τὰ Χριστούγεννα, διαβάζουμε ἀπὸ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιο τοῦ Ἀποστόλου Ματθαίου τὴν γενεαλογία τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ γιὰ χρόνια ἀναρωτιόμουνα, γιατί; Γιατί πρέπει νὰ διαβάζουμε ὅλα αὐτὰ τὰ ὀνόματα ποὺ σημαίνουν τόσο λίγα πράγματα γιά μᾶς, ἐὰν δὲν σημαίνουν τίποτα; Καὶ τότε μοῦ ἔγινε αἰσθητὴ ἡ σημασία ποὺ ἔχουν γιὰ μᾶς αὐτὰ τὰ ὀνόματα. 

Τὸ πρῶτο στοιχεῖο εἶναι, ὅτι εἶναι οἱ ἄνθρωποι ποὺ ἀπὸ τὶς οἰκογένειές τους προέρχεται ἡ ἀνθρώπινη φύση τοῦ Κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Εἶναι ὅλοι συγγενεῖς Του, καὶ αὐτὸ μᾶς εἶναι ἀρκετὸ γιὰ νὰ μᾶς προκαλοῦν βαθιὰ συγκίνηση: ὁ Χριστὸς εἶναι αἷμα τους, ἀνήκει στὴν οἰκογένειά τους.

Ὁ καθένας τους ὅταν σκέφτεται τὴ Μητέρα τοῦ Θεοῦ, μπορεῖ νὰ πεῖ, «εἶναι παιδὶ τῆς οἰκογένειάς μας», καὶ γιὰ τὸν Χριστό, «καὶ Ἐκεῖνος εἶναι παιδὶ ποὺ προέρχεται ἀπὸ τὴν οἰκογένειά μας, ἂν καὶ εἶναι ὁ Θεός, ὁ Σωτήρας μας, ἡ ἀληθινὴ Θεικὴ παρουσία ἀνάμεσά μας» . Ἐπιπλέον, κάποια ὀνόματα ξεχωρίζουν: ὀνόματα Ἁγίων, ἡρώων τοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ ὀνόματα ἁμαρτωλῶν.

Ἀνάμεσά τους οἱ Ἅγιοι θὰ μποροῦσαν νὰ μᾶς διδάξουν τί σημαίνει νὰ πιστεύουμε· ὄχι ἁπλὰ νὰ ἔχουμε μία πίστη διανοητική, μία ἄποψη γιὰ τὸν κόσμο, ποὺ συμπίπτει, στὸ βαθμὸ ποὺ μπορεῖ, μὲ τὸ ὅραμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ μία πίστη ποὺ σημαίνει μία πλήρη ἐμπιστοσύνη στὸν Θεό, μία πίστη χωρὶς ὅρια, ποὺ σημαίνει ὅτι εἴμαστε ἕτοιμοι νὰ δώσουμε τὴ ζωή μας γι’ αὐτὸ ποὺ ἀντιπροσωπεύει, γι’ αὐτὸ ποὺ εἶναι, ἐξαιτίας τῆς γνώσης ποὺ ἔχουμε γιὰ τὸν Θεό,. Ἂς σκεφτοῦμε τὸν Ἀβραὰμ τοῦ ὁποίου ἡ πίστη δοκιμάστηκε στὸ μέγιστο βαθμό. Πόσο δύσκολα προσφέρουμε στὸν Θεὸ κάτι δικό μας: Στὸν Ἀβραὰμ ζητήθηκε νὰ προσφέρει ὡς θυσία αἵματος τὸν γιό του, καὶ δὲν ἔχασε τὴν πίστη του ἀπέναντι στὸν Θεό. Καὶ ὁ Ἰσαάκ; Παραδόθηκε χωρὶς ἀντίσταση, ὡς δεῖγμα τέλειας ὑπακοῆς στὸν πατέρα του, καὶ μέσα ἀπ’ αὐτὸν- στὸν Θεό.

Μποροῦμε νὰ θυμηθοῦμε τὴν πάλη τοῦ Ἰακὼβ μὲ τὸν Ἄγγελο στὸ σκοτάδι, ὅπως κάποιες στιγμὲς ποὺ παλεύουμε γιὰ τὴν πίστη μας, γιὰ τὴν ἀκεραιότητά μας, στὸ σκοτάδι τῆς νύχτας, ἢ στὸ σκοτάδι τῆς ἀμφιβολίας μας, στὸ σκοτάδι ποὺ μᾶς κυριεύει κάποιες φορὲς ἀπὸ παντοῦ.

Ἀλλὰ ἐπίσης μποροῦμε νὰ διδαχθοῦμε κάτι ἀπὸ ἐκείνους πού, στὴν ἱστορία, στὴν Ἁγία Γραφή, ἐμφανίζονται σὰν ἄνθρωποι ἁμαρτωλοί. Ἦταν ἄνθρωποι ἀδύναμοι, μὲ μιὰ ἀδυναμία ποὺ εἶχε καταλάβει τὴ ζωή τους, δὲν εἶχαν τὴ δύναμη νὰ ἀντισταθοῦν στὶς σωματικὲς καὶ ψυχικὲς παρορμήσεις τους, στὰ πολύπλοκα πάθη τῆς ἀνθρώπινης φύσης. Καὶ ὅμως πίστεψαν μὲ πάθος στὸν Θεό. Ἕνας ἀπὸ ἐκείνους ἦταν ὁ Δαυίδ, καὶ ἕνας ἀπὸ τοὺς ψαλμοὺς του τὸ ἐκφράζει αὐτὸ τόσο καλά : «Ἐκ βαθέων ἐκέκραξά σοι, Κύριε..» Ἀπὸ τὰ βάθη τῆς ἀπελπισίας του, τῆς ντροπῆς, τῆς πτώσης του, ἀπὸ τὰ βάθη τῆς ἀποξένωσής του ἀπὸ τὸν Θεό, ἀπὸ τὰ πιὸ βαθιὰ σκοτάδια τῆς ψυχῆς του, δὲν σταμάτησε νὰ ἀναπέμπει κραυγὴ ἱκεσίας πρὸς τὸν Θεό. Δὲν κρύφτηκε ἀπὸ Ἐκεῖνον, δὲν ἔφυγε μακρυά Του, ἔρχεται σ’ Ἐκεῖνον μὲ τὴν ἀπελπισμένη κραυγὴ ἑνὸς ἀπελπισμένου ἀνθρώπου. Τὴν συγκεκριμένη συμπεριφορὰ ἔχουν καὶ ἄλλοι ἄνθρωποι τῆς Παλαιᾶς Διαθήκης, ὅπως γιὰ παράδειγμα, ἡ Ραχάβ, ἡ πόρνη- καὶ τόσοι πολλοὶ ἄλλοι.

Ἐμεῖς, ὅταν περνᾶμε τὴν πιὸ σκοτεινὴ περίοδο τῆς ζωῆς μας, ὅταν εἴμαστε παγιδευμένοι στὸ σκοτάδι ποὺ ὑπάρχει μέσα μας – στρεφόμαστε στὸν Θεὸ γιὰ νὰ Τοῦ ποῦμε: Σὲ σένα, Κύριε, κραυγάζω! Ναὶ εἶμαι στὸ σκοτάδι, ἀλλὰ ἐσὺ εἶσαι ὁ Θεός μου. Εἶσαι ὁ Θεὸς ποὺ δημιούργησε τὸ φῶς καὶ τὸ σκοτάδι καὶ Ἐσὺ ὑπάρχεις μέσα στὸ σκοτάδι καὶ στὸ ἐκτυφλωτικὸ φῶς· ὑπάρχεις στὸν θάνατο ὅπως καὶ στὴν ζωή· στὴν κόλαση ὅπως στὸν οὐράνιο Θρόνο Σου· καὶ μπορῶ νὰ σοῦ φωνάζω ἀπ’ ὅπου καὶ νὰ βρίσκομαι.

Ὑπάρχει ἀκόμα ἕνα τελευταῖο πράγμα ποὺ θὰ ἤθελα νὰ σκεφτεῖτε. Ἐκεῖνοι οἱ ἄνθρωποι γιὰ ἐμᾶς εἶναι ὀνόματα· γιὰ κάποιους ἀπὸ αὐτοὺς γνωρίζουμε λίγα πράγματα ἀπὸ τὴν Βίβλο, γιὰ ἄλλους δὲν γνωρίζουμε τίποτα. Ἀλλὰ ὅλοι ὑπῆρξαν συγκεκριμένα πρόσωπα, ἄνδρες καὶ γυναῖκες σὰν κι ἐμᾶς μὲ ὅλες τὶς ἀδυναμίες καὶ τὶς ἐλπίδες, τοὺς κλυδωνισμοὺς στὸ θέλημα καὶ τοὺς δισταγμούς τους, μ’ ὅλη τὴν ἀρχικὴ ἀγάπη ποὺ τόσο συχνὰ ἀμαυρώνεται κι ὅμως παραμένει φλογερὴ καὶ φωτεινή. Εἶναι ἀληθινὰ πρόσωπα καὶ μποροῦμε νὰ διαβάζουμε τὰ ὀνόματά τους νοιώθοντας, ὅτι, ναὶ-δὲν σᾶς γνωρίζω, ἀλλὰ εἶστε ἀπὸ ἐκείνους ποὺ προέρχονται ἀπὸ τὴν πραγματικὴ καὶ συγκεκριμένη οἰκογένεια τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ποὺ παρὰ τὶς ἀντιξοότητες τῆς ζωῆς, ἐξωτερικὲς ἢ ἐσωτερικές, ἀνήκουν στὸν Θεό. Κι ἐμεῖς μποροῦμε νὰ προσπαθήσουμε, καὶ νὰ μάθουμε, μέσα στὴν συγκεκριμένη ζωὴ ποὺ ἔχουμε, κατὰ πόσον εἴμαστε ἀδύναμοι ἢ δυνατοὶ σὲ μία δεδομένη στιγμὴ καὶ ἂν ἐξακολουθοῦμε νὰ εἴμαστε δικοί Του.

Λοιπὸν ἂς σκεφτοῦμε τὴν σημερινὴ Εὐαγγελικὴ περικοπή, τὴν ἑπόμενη φορὰ ποὺ θὰ ἔλθουμε νὰ τὴν ἀκούσουμε, ἂς τὴν δεχτοῦμε μὲ μιὰ λάμψη στὰ μάτια, μὲ μιὰ ζεστὴ καρδιά· αὐτὸ θὰ εἶναι δυνατὸ μονάχα στὸν βαθμὸ ποὺ ὁ Χριστὸς θὰ γίνεται ὁλοένα πιὸ ἀληθινὸς στὴ ζωή μας καὶ μέσα ἀπὸ Ἐκεῖνον, θ’ ἀνακαλύπτουμε ὅτι ὅλοι ἐκεῖνοι οἱ ἀνθρώπου εἶναι πρόσωπα ἀληθινά, ζωντανά, ποὺ ἀνήκουν σέ μᾶς καὶ στὸν Θεό. Ἀμήν.

Μετάφραση: www.agiazoni.gr

Πρωτότυπο Κείμενο

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Every year before Christmas we read the genealogy of Christ from St. Matthew's Gospels, and for years I asked myself, why? Why have we got to read all these names that mean so little to us, if anything at all? And then I became more perceptive of what they convey to us.

For one thing, they are the people to whose family the Lord Jesus Christ belongs through His humanity. They all are relatives of His, and this should be enough for us to find their names deeply moving: Christ is of their blood, Christ is of their family. Each of them, thinking of the Mother of God can say, 'She is a child of our family', and of Christ, 'He also is a child of our family, although He is our God, our Saviour, the very Divine Presence in our midst'. Furthermore, some names stand out: names of Saints, heroes of the spirit, and names of sinners.

The Saints among them could well teach us what it means to believe; not simply to have an intellectual faith, a world-outlook which coincides, as far as it is able, with God's vision, but a faith which means a complete trust in God, an unlimited faithfulness to Him, the readiness, because of what we know of God, to give our lives for what He stands for, for what He is. In this context think of Abraham whose faith was tested to the utmost. How difficult we find it to give to God something of ours: but Abraham was asked to bring as a blood-offering his own son - and he did not doubt God. And Isaac? He surrendered without resistance, in perfect obedience to his father, and through him - to God.

We can remember the struggle of Jacob with the Angel in the darkness, as we at times struggle for our faith, for our integrity, for our faithfulness, in the darkness of the night, or the darkness of doubt, in the darkness that seizes us at times on all sides.

But we can also learn something from those who in history, in the Bible, appear to us as sinners. They were frail, this frailty conquered them, they had no strength to resist the impulses of their bodies and of their souls, of the complex passions of men. And yet - and yet, they believed in God passionately. One of them was David, and one of his Psalms expresses it so well: "From the deep I cry unto Thee .." From the depths of despair, of shame, from the depths of his fall, from the depths of his alienation from God, from the darkest depths of his soul he still cried to God. He does not hide from Him, he does not go away from Him, it is to Him he comes with this desperate cry of a desperate man. And others, men and women have this same concreteness as, for instance, Rahab the harlot - and so many more.

Do we, when we are at the darkest point of life, when we are wrapped in all the darkness that is within us - do we, from within this darkness turn to God and say: It is to You, oh Lord, I cry! Yes - I am in darkness, but You are my God. You are the God who created the light, and the darkness, and You are within the darkness as You are within the blinding light; You are in death as You are in life; You are in hell, as You are on the Throne; and from wherever I am I can cry to You.

And then, there is a last thing I would like you to think about. To us these people are names; of some of them we know a little from the Bible, about others we know nothing. But they all were concrete human beings, men and women like us, with all our frailty and all our hope, all the wavering of the will and all the hesitations, all the incipient love that is so often marred, and yet remains light and fire. They are concrete and real, and we can read their names with the feeling, that, Yes - I don't know you, but you are one of those who are of the family of Christ, concrete, real, who through all the vicissitudes of life, inner and outer, belong to God. And we ourselves can try and learn, in the concreteness of our lives, whether we are frail or strong at a given moment still to be God's own.

So let us reflect on this genealogy, let us next time we come to hear it receive it with a spark in our eyes, with a warm feeling in our hearts; but this will be possible only to the extent to which Christ becomes more and more real to us and when it is in Him, through Him that we discover them all - real, living, our own and God's own. Amen.