THEOSISGregory of Nyssa
In response to this, the torturer’s fury intensified towards the supervisors and the Israelites, leading to an escalated burden of work. Not only were they tasked with merely gathering straw, but they were also compelled to exert themselves further in their labors (Ex. 5:12).
The proclamation of freedom was indeed legitimate; the audience embraced and yearned for it. Consequently, this displeased the adversary, resulting in harsher trials for those who heeded the message. A similar situation persists today. Many individuals who accepted the liberative teachings have faced ongoing temptations from those who oppose it.
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Some who gain strength through their sufferings become wiser and sturdier; others, however, feel disheartened, expressing that it might have been better for them to have never heard the message of liberation than to endure such hardships. This predicament was also true for the Israelites, who, out of fear, blamed their deliverers. Yet, despite such hesitance, the call to embrace noble ideals must not weaken, even if the immature, unaccustomed to challenges, react with fear.
The damaging spirit leads those who submit to him to gaze downward rather than upward, coaxing them into complacency with earthly matters. It is evident to all that material pleasures are derived from the earth or water. What is carefully sourced for consumption, deemed wealth, is essentially comprised of elements from both. Those consumed by these transient pleasures find themselves in a perpetual state of emptiness, unable to retain what they seek. Similarly, the plinth maker, preoccupied with crafting one plinth after another, realizes this enigma; once satisfied with one achievement, he finds himself yearning for something else and thus experiences dissatisfaction anew. This cycle of fulfillment and emptiness persists throughout our temporal existence.
What do the waste and insignificant remnants signify for him who is forced to add them to the plinth? The Holy Gospel and the resounding message of the Apostle clarify that both “wheat... and straw” (Matt. 3:12; 1 Cor. 3:12) serve the same end—being fuel for the fire. Therefore, when a person devoted to righteousness seeks to redirect those ensnared by falsehood towards a life of virtue and freedom, the adversary, as noted by the Apostle, employs various schemes against our souls (Eph. 6:11) to undermine the Divine truth with alluring lies. Those who surrender to base desires consider only the material and physical as worthy of reverence.