Беседа 21

“No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other.” (Matt. 6:24) Exposition 6:24–27. The double harm of wealth. – You can be rich, but not serve mammon. – Why is wealth called mammon? – Christ forbids caring for everyday needs. - The ease of fulfillment of the commandment. – Why does this commandment seem impossible to fulfill? – Generous alms are the path to complete non-covetousness. 1. Do you see how Christ little by little removes the attachment to real goods, and, by offering an extensive word about the contempt of riches, overthrows the dominion of the love of money? He was not satisfied with what he had said before, although he spoke a lot and forcefully; but he also adds other motives, more formidable. What could be more striking than the words now spoken, if wealth, in fact, can separate us from serving Christ? And what is more desirable if, despite despising wealth, we can have true disposition and love for Christ? What I have always said, I will say now: namely, just like a skilled doctor, showing that illness comes from inattention to his advice, and health comes from obedience, Christ, by both means, that is, by benefit and harm, encourages listeners to obey His words. So, see how Christ, destroying the obstacle, indicates and arranges our benefit. Not only, He says, is wealth harmful to you because it arms robbers against you and completely darkens your mind; but mainly because it, making you captives of soulless wealth, removes you from serving God, and thus harms you both by making you slaves of things over which you should dominate, and by preventing you from serving God, whom you should serve most of all. Just as He previously showed a double harm for those who gather wealth on earth - both the one that collects wealth where aphids smolder, and the one that does not collect it where the guards are the safest, so now He shows the double harm - both the fact that wealth removes us from God, and the one that it enslaves mammon. However, he does not immediately expose this, but expresses general thoughts in advance, saying in this way: “no one can serve two masters.” Here, by two masters, He means masters who command something completely opposite to one another: otherwise they would not even be two. After all, the multitude of believers “had one heart and one soul” (Acts 4:32). Although the faithful were divided in body, they were one in mind. Then, reinforcing what was said, the Savior says: not only will he not serve, but he will also hate and turn away. “Or he will hate one,” He says, “and love the other; or he will be zealous for one and neglectful of the other.” In these two sayings the Savior seems to express the same thought; but it is not without reason that He says this, but with the intention of showing how convenient it is to change for the better. Whatever you say: I am once and forever enslaved by wealth, oppressed by it, He shows that it is possible to change, it is possible to go over to both sides. So, having expressed a general thought in order to force the listener himself to be an impartial judge of His words and to pronounce judgment on the basis of the deed itself, Christ, as soon as he saw that the listener agreed with His words, immediately revealed His thought: “you cannot,” he says, “serve God and mammon.” Let us think and be horrified at what we made Christ say - to compare wealth with God! Even if this is terrible to imagine, isn’t it much more terrible to actually work for wealth, and to prefer its autocratic dominion to the fear of God? So, what, someone will say, couldn’t the ancients have had this? Not at all. How did Abraham and Job please God, you ask? Do not mention to me the rich, but those who slavished to wealth. Job was rich, but did not serve Mammon; had wealth and possessed it, was its master and not its slave. He used it as a steward of someone else's property, not only not stealing someone else's, but also giving his own to the poor; and most of all, he did not enjoy what he had, as he himself testified to this, saying: “Did I rejoice that my wealth was great” (Job 31:25)? That is why, when he lost his wealth, he did not grieve. But these days the rich are not like that; they, being more unhappy than any captive, pay tribute to mammon, as to some cruel tyrant. The love of wealth, having taken possession of their hearts, as if with some kind of fortress, constantly gives them its commands from there, breathing lawlessness, and not one of them resists these commands. So, don't overthink it! God once and for all said that serving God and mammon cannot be combined together. Therefore, don’t say what can be connected. When Mammon orders you to steal someone else’s property, and God commands you to give away your own property; when God commands to lead a chaste life, and mammon - to live a prodigal life; when mammon commands one to get drunk and be satiated, and God, on the contrary, commands to bridle the belly; when God commands us to despise real worldly goods, and mammon to cleave to them; when mammon makes one marvel at marbles, walls and roofs, and God makes one despise all this and honor true wisdom: how do you say that serving God and mammon can be united together? 2. Further, Christ called mammon mistress, not because mammon was a mistress by nature, but because of the pitiful state of those who subservient to her. In the same way, the womb is called god not because of its dignity, but because of the plight of those who serve it, which can torment the captive worse than any punishment and even before torment. In fact, what condemned people will not be more unfortunate than those who, having God as Lord, overthrow His meek power and voluntarily submit to the cruelest torment, despite the fact that the greatest harm occurs from here in real life? Hence the unspeakable harm, hence the quarrels, insults, strife, labor, spiritual blindness; and, what is most intolerable of all, serving mammon completely deprives one of heavenly blessings. The Savior, having proven above that contempt of wealth has its own benefits, namely, it preserves wealth itself and brings spiritual joy, contributes to the acquisition of wisdom and protects piety, now proves that His commandment can be fulfilled. The point of the best legislation is not only to prescribe what is useful, but especially to make it easy to implement. Therefore, the Savior adds: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat” (Matthew 6:25). But perhaps they would say: well, should we really give up everything? Then how will we live? The Savior answers these objections in advance. If He had said from the very beginning: “Do not worry,” then His commandment would have seemed burdensome; but as soon as He showed the harm from the love of money, He thereby already made His present admonition acceptable. Therefore, now he did not just say: “do not worry,” but added a reason to the commandment. After he said: “You cannot serve God and mammon,” he says: “Therefore I say to you: do not worry,” that is, because of great harm. Not only is caring about acquiring wealth harmful for you, but excessive concern for the most necessary things is even harmful, since it undermines your salvation; it removes you from the God who created, provides for and loves you. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry!” Having shown the greatest harm from addiction to wealth, Christ extends His command further. He not only commands to despise wealth, but also forbids worrying about necessary food, saying: “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat.” Christ did not speak as if the soul had a need for food - it is incorporeal - but in relation to the usual way of expression among people. After all, although the soul has no need for food, it cannot remain in the body if it is not nourished. And Christ does not leave this instruction like that, but again 11 gives evidence here, borrowing them from our nature and from other examples. From our nature: “Is not the soul greater than food, and the body than clothing”? That is, He who gave more will not also give less? Will He who formed the flesh, which needs food, not give it food? Therefore, he didn’t just say: “don’t worry about what to eat or what to wear,” but added: “body and soul,” because from here he wanted to borrow His evidence through comparison. Further, God once gave the soul, and it always remains the same, and the body grows every day. This is what I really want to show, i.e. e. the immortality of the soul and the perishability of the body, the Savior added further: “Who among you can add even one cubit to his stature” (Matthew 6:27)? Having kept silent about the soul as not receiving growth, He spoke only about the body, showing that it is not food that grows the body, but God’s providence. Paul, explaining this in other words, said: “both he who plants and he who waters is nothing, but God who makes all things grow” (1 Cor. 3:7). This is how the Savior convinced with evidence borrowed from our nature! With other examples He taught: “Look at the birds of the air” (Matthew 6:26). So that no one says that we need care, He deviates from this by comparisons - as they say - both from the greater and from the lesser, from the greater - by the example of the soul and body, from the lesser - by the example of birds. That is: if God cares so much about the lowest creatures, then will he really not give you what you need? This is how He speaks to the common people, but this is not how He answered the devil. How? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Here He speaks about birds, and very convincingly; their example has great power. However, some wicked people have reached such madness that they condemn this example too. Whoever wants to act on free will, they say, should not borrow examples from physical nature for this, because necessity operates here. 3. What should we say to this? Although there is definitely a necessity here, we can do the same of our own free will. The Savior did not say: look at the birds - they fly; this is impossible for a person; but he said: look - they feed without care. And this is easy for us to do if we want. And this was proven by those who actually did it. That is why we should especially be surprised at the prudence of the Lawgiver, that, although He could present people as an example and point to Elijah, Moses, John and others like them, who did not care about food, but in order to further amaze the listeners, he mentioned the dumb. If He had pointed to those righteous people, the listeners could have told Him that we have not yet become like them. And now, having kept silent about them and citing the birds of the air as an example, he cut off any reason for an apology, imitating in this case the ancient law. And the Old Testament sends now to the bee, now to the ant, now to the turtle dove, now to the swallow. It brings us no small honor when we do by force of will what we naturally have. So, if God has such concern for the things created for us, then how much more for us; if he cares about the slaves, then much more about the master. That is why the Savior said: “look at the birds”; and did not add that they neither grub nor trade (since among the Jews this was considered despicable deeds), but added: “they neither sow nor reap.” So, is it really wrong to sow, someone will say? No, He did not say what should not be sowed, but what should not be taken care of; and did not say that one should not work, but that one should not be cowardly and exhaust oneself with worries. He ordered to be fed, but not to worry about food. David also hints at this thought when he says: “You open Your hand and satisfy every living thing with good pleasure” (Psalm 145:16); and in another place: “he gives food to the cattle and to the raven’s chicks that cry to Him” (Psalm 147:9). Who, you say, didn’t care? Have you not heard how many righteous people I have presented to you as examples? Do you not see Jacob among them, who left his father’s house without anything? Can't you hear his prayers? “He will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear” (Gen. 28:20), he said. This meant that he did not care about anything, but asked for everything from God. The apostles did the same, who, having rejected everything, cared for nothing; those five thousand and three thousand who believed showed the same thing. If, hearing such words, you do not want to free yourself from the heavy bonds of life, then, at least, thinking about the futility of your concern, leave it. “Which of you,” said the Savior, “by being careful can add one cubit to his stature” (Matthew 6:27)? See how He, having presented an already obvious example, made clear what might have seemed incomprehensible to you. Just as a body, He says, with all your care, you cannot increase its growth at all, so you certainly cannot obtain food, although you consider it possible. From this it is clear that it is not our efforts, but God’s providence that brings into fulfillment everything that, apparently, we do ourselves, so that if God leaves us, then neither care, nor care, nor labor, in a word, nothing will help us, but everything will be in vain. 4. So, let us not think that the commandments (of God) are impossible to fulfill; and now many are fulfilling them. If you don’t know this, then there is nothing surprising. And Elijah thought that he was the only one left, but he heard from the Lord, “I have left seven thousand men among the Israelites” (1 Kings 19:18). From this it is clear that even now there are many who lead the apostolic life, just as there were then three thousand and five thousand who believed. If we do not believe this, it is not because there are no virtuous people, but because we ourselves do too little. One who indulges in drunkenness cannot easily believe that there is any person who does not even drink water, although many of the monks do this before our eyes. The lustful person will not suddenly believe that one can easily maintain virginity; the predator will not soon believe that there are those who willingly give up theirs; Likewise, those people who daily exhaust themselves with countless worries will not soon accept the teaching that one can be free from the worries of life. And that many have fulfilled this teaching, we can prove by the example of those who are so philosophical in our time. But for the first time it will be enough for us if you learn not to covet, consider alms good, and learn what you should give from your property to the poor. If, beloved, you do this, you will soon be able to do this too. So, first of all, let’s abandon unnecessary pomp, let’s adhere to moderation, and let’s learn to acquire everything that we think to receive through righteous labors. So Blessed John, when he talked with tax collectors and soldiers, commanded them to be content with their salaries. Although he wanted to lead them to another, much higher wisdom, but since they were still incapable of this, he offers a lower commandment. If he began to instill the highest commandments, then not only would they not listen to them, but they would not fulfill the lower ones either. Therefore, we occupy you with lower truths; We know that the burden of lack of covetousness exceeds your strength, and as far as heaven is from earth, so much wisdom is from you. So, at least let's keep the last commandments. Not small and this is a lesson. True, some of the Hellenes also fulfilled the commandment about which we are discussing, and left all their property, although not with the disposition with which they should; however, it will be enough for you if you begin to give alms with a generous hand, because when we behave in this way, we will soon begin to fulfill that commandment. If we do not fulfill this, then how worthy of forgiveness will we be - we, who are obliged to surpass the Old Testament, and yet we turn out to be worse than the Hellenic sages? What will we say when, obliged to be angels and sons of God, we do not observe human duties? Stealing and coveting the things of others is characteristic of ferocious beasts, and not of meek people; even those who steal the property of others are incomparably worse than the beasts themselves. Animals have this by nature; And we, being adorned with reason, but humiliating ourselves to unnatural ignobility, what kind of forgiveness will we receive? So, presenting the degrees of wisdom indicated to us, let us at least reach the middle, so that we can be freed from future punishment, and, thus succeeding, achieve the highest blessings, which may we all be worthy of by the grace and love of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. That is, as with the doctrine of non-covetousness. See previous conversation, ch. 2 You might be interested in: