The Beginning of the Lord Jesus Christ’s Ministry for the Salvation of Mankind
Glory to Thy power, O Lord…
Mary’s high calling was to bestow salvation on us through her life. She awaited the promised Kingdom of her Son that was to come, and at last, when Jesus Christ was thirty years old, that day too arrived. According to Jewish custom, no one could receive the title of teacher or instructor of the people before this age; since the God-man obeyed the law, He did not begin to preach the Gospel until the appointed age. He went from Nazareth to the banks of the Jordan, where John the Forerunner was carrying out his ministry and calling all to baptism with water — to repentance and cleansing.
He who bore the sins of mankind did not disdain to take “the form of a servant” and be baptised in the Jordan by the hand of John the Baptist, to teach all who would follow Him the necessity of baptism. At that moment the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove (the dove has always been the symbol of purity, gentleness and faithfulness) came down upon Him, and the voice of the Father was heard: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” The appearance of the Holy Trinity bore witness to the Saviour’s divinity.
After coming up out of the water Jesus withdrew into the wilderness of the Jordan to prepare by prayer and fasting for the work appointed Him before the ages — the salvation of mankind. Forty days and nights He spent in those wild places, where He overcame the devil the tempter, and, strong in spirit, accompanied by disciples and people, He returned to His All-holy Mother.
A short while later the Lord Jesus was invited with the Theotokos to a wedding feast at Cana of Galilee; tradition tells that it was Simon the Canaanite who was being married, who came of a poor family and was a kinsman of the Virgin Mary. The Mother of God noticed the anxiety of the bridegroom and the bride: it turned out that they had not enough wine, and she turned to her divine Son to intercede: “They have no wine.” The words of the Archangel Gabriel and the accounts of the shepherds and the Magi were hidden in her heart; and so, when she saw that her Son had come forth from His secluded and unnoticed life to serve men, being assured that He was indeed the promised Messiah, she for the first time ventured to intercede before Him for the sorrowing and those in need: “My Son, they are in trouble; help them, comfort them: they have no wine,” she said to her Son, who sat close by her. Jesus answered: “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” He said these words so quietly that no one could hear them. As Saint John Chrysostom teaches, He wished as it were to instruct her that the work of His coming into the world is governed by the Heavenly Father. He Himself had come to do the Father’s will, and the showing forth of His divine dignity has a higher purpose than even a comfort above nature for men’s earthly needs. The Saviour’s words were not a refusal that could hurt Mary. The All-holy Virgin so believed in her Son’s mercy that she did not take His words as a refusal. With this unshaken faith she calmly says to the servants of the feast: “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
According to ancient custom a large earthen vessel always stood at the entrance of a Jewish house, holding water for washing the hands and feet. “Fill the waterpots with water”; when they had filled them to the brim, the Lord commanded again: “Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast.” All this He said quietly, so that no one knew anything; but when the governor of the feast tasted the water made wine, he had the host called: “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now,” he said to him. So the Lord began to work wonders at the intercession of His All-holy Mother, to impress on people that the fervent intercessor will always entreat her Son to bring down divine mercy upon the sorrowing and those in need, upon those wounded by sins.
The first wonder worked at Cana of Galilee was followed by many others, which bore plain witness to the divine nature of the Messiah who had come: at His word the storm was stilled, sicknesses were healed, demons were cast out, the dead rose, health and life were given back, and all was granted that God alone can bestow.
Jesus Christ stayed a little while in Cana and then went with His All-holy Mother and His disciples to Capernaum, to settle the Virgin Mary there for the time of His ministry. In Capernaum was the house of the Apostles Peter and Andrew. The Lord used to stay with them, and here too He left the Theotokos.
The Lord began to preach the Kingdom of Heaven from Capernaum: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The very first words of His preaching were about the necessity of repentance. Before the eyes of the hard-hearted people of Capernaum He worked many a wonder to awaken faith in them, but by their unbelief and blindness they brought down upon their land the terrible wrath of the righteous God. This once rich trading town no longer exists today: it has become an utter wilderness, not even a single path can be seen, and heaps of black stones are covered with high, impassable brambles.
Travelling about Palestine, Jesus Christ came to Nazareth and, as was His custom, preached in the synagogue; the grace of His words amazed everyone.
“What wisdom is this which is given unto him?” Where did this new prophet and teacher of the law come from? — the Pharisees and scribes, filled with envy, asked one another. — “We know Him, He is the son of a Galilean carpenter.” They brought up His origins and attacked Him with mockery and indignation. “No prophet is accepted in his own country,” said the Lord. Many were waiting for a wonder, but to the unbeliever no wonder is given. There were many widows in the days of the prophet Elijah, but Elijah was sent to only one — to Sarepta, a city of Sidon. And in the time of the prophet Elisha there were many lepers, but none of them was cleansed, save Naaman the Syrian.
The rulers who were in the synagogue heard the rebuke, and their hearts were filled with wrath. They drove Jesus out of the synagogue and led Him up to the top of the hill, to cast Him down from there. According to tradition, the All-holy Theotokos was in Nazareth at the time. When she heard what had happened in the synagogue, she hurried there and saw a great crowd of people on the hillside. From the angry shouts of the Nazarenes and their embittered faces she understood what danger threatened Jesus, and her strength failed her for fear.
But His hour had not yet come, and no one could lay hands on His life until He Himself gave them leave. Blindness came over the enraged crowd; Jesus Christ passed unseen through the midst of them and returned to Capernaum, and the All-holy Theotokos followed Him there together with Mary the wife of Cleophas and her kin.
Tradition points out the place of this event as well: the hill lies to the south of Nazareth; its sheer cliffs rise fifteen sazhens to narrow slopes, from which a new cliff begins that hangs over the abyss and runs down to the plain of Esdraelon.
Constantly surrounded by people, Jesus worked many miraculous healings in Capernaum; but even the greatness of wonders cannot have a good effect on an enemy whom envy and malice have blinded.
Over the healing of a man possessed, a heated dispute broke out in the synagogue at Capernaum. The Pharisees and the Saviour’s other enemies insisted that all these wonders came from Beelzebub working in Him. Jesus Christ overthrew the charge of the slanderers and silenced them. Their words He called a sin that is never forgiven — blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
The All-holy Theotokos, and with her His other kinsfolk according to the flesh, knew of the enemies’ fierce hatred of Jesus and, alarmed by it, came to protect Him from their fury. But in the press of people they could not even come near Him. His enemies took advantage of this. To interrupt His preaching and stir up among the people distrust of His divine origin, they pointed to His kinsfolk according to the flesh: “Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.” But Jesus Christ, wishing to show the people that He was the Son of Mary according to the flesh but at the same time the true Son of God, who had come into the world to save men from sin, that He was bound to preach the Gospel and above all to do the will of the Heavenly Father, answered: “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?” — and pointed to the people sitting around Him: “Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” With these words He plainly pointed to the high purpose for which He had come into the world, and set the spiritual above the fleshly. With these words He shows forth the dignity of the Theotokos, who was the most attentive hearer and doer of His divine teaching; and He Himself confirms the truth of these words: once while He was preaching, when a woman cried out aloud, “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked,” He at once answered: “Blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.” With these words Jesus Christ exalted the dignity of His Mother, who is blessed not only because she bore the God-man, but most of all because no one listened to His words and kept them in the heart with such sympathy as His All-holy Mother.
The Theotokos never departed from godly custom and went up every year to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. Surrounded by the believing women who served her, she often went with her Son.
As He went about preaching from Judea to Galilee, Jesus visited many towns; He was constantly surrounded by people, to whom He preached and showed wonders. At His word those born blind saw, the lame walked, lepers were healed, the dead rose, the poor came to prosperity, demons were cast out — to each was mercy given according to his faith. The Saviour wept over the hardened hearts that did not see their own ruin. He was not indifferent to the tears of a poor widow who mourned the death of her only son. “Weep not,” He said to her with almighty compassion; He touched the dead young man, raised him up and gave him to his mother. For all and at all times the Lord did nothing but good; but the power of hell raged in His embittered enemies, and they sought to kill Him. “Many good works have I shewed you; for which of those works do ye stone me?!” He said to them, but they would not listen. Their hatred grew beyond measure. The time of the Passion of Christ the Saviour drew near, and the sufferings of His All-holy Mother began. A cruel inward trembling rent her heart. Because of her love for her divine Son, the sight of His torments terrified her. But since she submitted to the will of God, she had to bear without murmuring the sacrifice which God and His Only-begotten Son were taking upon Themselves out of love for sinners, out of the desire to redeem them; for all had been determined in the divine counsel before the ages. Jesus Christ as man suffered with His Mother’s grief; as God He gave her strength to bear this trial. The Mother was in torment when she saw her Son surrounded by enemies and insulted; but as the Mother of the God-man she prayed that she might bear a torment beyond human strength and, trusting wholly in her Son, awaited His hour with steadfastness.
