Homily for the Third Sunday after Pentecost. Met. Korniliy (Titov)
Gospel: Matthew, Reading 18, Chapter 6:22–33
Dear brothers and sisters!
In today’s Gospel, the Lord gives us very beneficial teachings—that we must first and foremost care for our soul, and also assures us that the Heavenly Creator, through His Providence, constantly cares for us.
At the beginning of the Gospel, speaking of our soul, created in the image and likeness of God, the Lord says: “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” If the eye is pure and clear, then the whole body is filled with light, and we walk without stumbling. But if the eye is impure and dark, then the whole body is full of darkness. The same is true of our mind. The lamps of the body are our mind and heart. If our mind, heart, and conscience are not enlightened by the light of the Gospel but remain darkened within us, then how great is that darkness—our thoughts, desires, and actions? It becomes a dreadful, pitch-black darkness—a harbinger of the outer darkness of hell.
We need constant attentiveness to ourselves, the vigilance of conscience and will, and love for God’s truth, so that our soul and heart are not darkened by deceit and envy, anger and wrath, pride and vanity, despondency and faint-heartedness, drunkenness and fornication, and other works of darkness.
In the absence of spiritual light in the very source of that light—the mind—we can judge how endangered such a person is, who may pass from temporal darkness into the realm of eternal darkness: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?”—asks the Lord.
All will be well in our life if the mind is enlightened, if it strives toward God and is guided by Christian convictions. All of this lies at the foundation of spiritual life, is expressed in moral conduct, and is reflected in will and conscience. Our mind often turns away from God toward vanity, temporality, and sin, whereas it ought always to turn to Christ, asking for mercy and forgiveness, for peace and love. Through such piety, grace descended upon the ascetics of old—the grace of the Holy Ghost; peace and love for God and neighbor settled in their souls, and the mysteries of divine knowledge were revealed. But the enemy of mankind—the devil—seeks to turn people away from truth and holiness, leading them through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16), to deprive them of faith in God and of eternal life. And if our soul is filled with a multitude of sinful images, spectacles, and carnal sensations, then the mind, weighed down by all this, becomes passionate, fanciful, sluggish, immoral, and incapable of independent thought. That is, a person estranged from God, from prayer, from the pursuit of truth, undergoes a kind of demonic possession of the mind: his will, feelings, memory, and freedom all become subject to Satan.
“In a mind that is storm-tossed and struggling, neither a good thought nor the grace of God can abide,” says Cyril the Great. And St. Isaiah says: “If our will submits to the law of God and the mind begins to govern all the inner feelings, then virtue is accomplished and righteousness is fulfilled, and our desires are directed toward God and His will.” He continues: “If shameful thoughts enter your mind, resist the evil so that it may not overpower you. Try to remember God, Who hears all and sees all, and call upon Him for help. ‘Pierce my flesh with Thy fear; for I am afraid of Thy judgments’ (Ps. 118). From these thoughts will come the fear of God, and the passions will not draw you away, for it is written: ‘They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abideth forever’ (Ps. 124). Keep in mind that God sees every thought of yours, and you will never sin.”
The human eye is not merely an organ of sight—it is so closely connected with our reason that it is sometimes equated with it. Having seen something with the eye, we may interpret what we saw in different ways. St. Dorotheos gives this example: “Two people at night see a man walking down the street. One thinks: ‘He is going to rob someone.’ The other thinks: ‘This servant of God is going early to church to pray.’ Such different thoughts arise because one has a darkened eye and the other a bright one that sees good in everything.” Popular wisdom says that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. In the eyes is reflected the inner state of a person—whether anger and hatred, or love; the lust of fornication or chastity and modesty, and so on.
The Lord says: “The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” Therefore, if your soul is full of light, you yourself will be filled with light.
Why does sin nevertheless overcome us? Because we forget about God, about His judgment, we please the flesh, we do not strive in spirit for the heavenly homeland, but are as though chained to the earth, to sinful pleasures. Therefore, the Lord teaches us: “No man can serve two masters” (Matt. 6:24), that is, both God and the devil, both the soul and the sinful flesh, both the Kingdom of God and the adulterous world. Pleasing our flesh in its lusts, we cannot please the Lord, for, as the apostle says: “They that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8).
The things of God and the things of the world are opposed, largely incompatible. And if someone draws near to one, he departs from the other; if he loves the one, he will hate the other: “Either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other” (Matt. 6:24). Our eyes cannot look both upward and downward at once; our mind cannot think of heavenly and earthly things at the same time; our heart cannot love both God and the world—either the one or the other, but not both at once. “No man can serve two masters… God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24)—that is, material wealth, and, by extension, all worldly goods and service to sinful inclinations.
God demands the whole person to serve Him—but the world also demands the whole person for its service. The laws of God are often opposed to the customs of the world, and it is impossible to submit to two opposing laws at once. God desires that modesty and meekness be honored, that justice be observed, that evil be restrained, that order and virtue be glorified. But the world desires pride, enmity, injustice, and shamelessness to reign; it desires vice to rule and self-love and impiety to prevail.
No one in the world—whether a wise man or a ruler—can satisfy both laws at once: God’s and the world’s. The venerable Arseny the Great, because of his righteousness and wisdom, was invited to the royal court and was forced to serve two masters—two kings: one earthly and the other Heavenly. One night, he heard a voice from heaven: “Arseny, flee and save yourself; you cannot be an ascetic in a palace, amid worldly glory, where you cannot care for the salvation of your soul.” Arseny fled the royal palace and settled in a solitary monastery. From this example, we see that the cares and distractions of the world draw us away from Heaven and bind us to the earth. “Those who are overly attached to worldly cares,” says St. Basil the Great, “are like fattened birds, who, though they have wings, nevertheless wander the earth like sheep.”
How often do we serve the vain concerns and false pleasures of this world, forgetting that we are mortal, that we are but pilgrims here, and that our true homeland is in Heaven, as the apostle says: “For here we have no continuing city” (Heb. 13:14), “but our conversation is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). And if we desire to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, then we must serve only God, that we may be made worthy of His good gifts according to the promise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God… and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30)—thus commands God. But we, born and raised in the world, are at times entangled in the world’s bonds and chains. The Son of God came to earth to help us break these worldly bonds. Strong are the ties of the world—our attachments to parents and children, to brothers and sisters, to each other and even to our own lives.
Christ says that He came to bring a sword upon the earth; that is, He gives us a sword to cut through these bonds: “For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.” Therefore, “he that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:35–37). Christ commands that people love God more than parents and children—even more than their own lives, for “he that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it” (Matt. 10:39).
Other bonds of this world are worldly cares: concerns about what we shall eat, what we shall drink, what we shall wear, how we shall live. Christ, who says that He came to bring a sword upon the earth, wishes to cut even these bonds with that sword.
Therefore, the Lord teaches: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matt. 6:25). Instead of caring for the soul—its cleansing and correction—we often serve and please our hungry belly and passionate flesh, while the immortal soul, perishing in sins, we neglect, leave starving, and so destroy. The Lord has commanded us to labor, but at the same time teaches that we must not allow our labor and cares to consume our whole soul, to take it away from the Lord. Bishop Mikhail Semyonov writes: “Work is work, but we must remember that above all is the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Cares are cares, bread is bread, but above all, the soul must not be left hungry and poor. The food of the soul is prayer and love in Christ. While laboring, we must not forget the needs of the soul, nor neglect its bread, so that it too may be satisfied in the Lord.”
Therefore, the Lord gives us an example: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” (Matt. 6:26). The Lord points to the birds of the air for us of little faith, to show the Father’s constant providence for all earthly creatures—especially for man, the crown of creation—that through the example of birds fed by Him, we might be convinced of His care for mankind.
Then He says: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow,” calling us to marvel at their unique, God-given beauty, and to compare how far man falls short when he seeks to adorn himself with man-made garments: “Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” The Lord teaches us to view man as the crown of His creation, who can expect far greater care from the Creator than His care for flowers or birds. He says: “Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Therefore, “take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”
Why does the Lord say “O ye of little faith”? Because we often, in our lack of faith, do not rely on the Lord, fear being left without a piece of bread, fear possible misfortunes, try to insure ourselves against them, hoard money, trying to secure ourselves “for a rainy day.” The Lord teaches us to acquire spiritual treasures, to please God—and then He Himself will ensure that we have no material lack, that we are in want of nothing. But man, in his little faith, reasons otherwise: “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” and repeats the proverb offensive to the Lord: “Trust in God, but don’t forget to act yourself”—as if to say, while there’s opportunity, snatch something, store something up. And so, in our busy lives, it turns out that by day we find no time for the spiritual life, and by evening we have no strength left to pray. The Kingdom of Heaven is not closed to anyone; and if we are deprived of it, it is only because of our little faith and our neglect of all things spiritual.
The spiritual is higher than the bodily. Thus, in the Gospel read today, we heard that the Lord praised Mary, who chose the better part—she listened to the word of the Lord at His feet—not Martha, who was busy with food and household matters. The Lord set Mary as an example; therefore, for us too, the spiritual must take precedence, must stand in first place. The Lord commands us: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on” (Matt. 6:25). On the one hand, this commandment seems so simple and appealing. Why not live this way? Why not cast off the responsibility and worry that constantly burdens us? But on the other hand, we face the question—can this really be done? Is it possible not to worry about tomorrow? Did Christ say something impossible? Can this truly be a rule for life?
Bishop Mikhail Semyonov, in his sermon “Be Not Anxious,” writes in response to these questions: “Of course, it is possible. Did not the hermits, who left the world, live like the birds of the air, placing all their hopes in God? But the Lord does not require that we absolutely abandon all concern for bread. He gave the commandment to labor: ‘If any will not work, neither should he eat’ (2 Thess. 3:10), and therefore allowed some measure of care for ourselves and our families, permitted a certain worldly ‘concern,’ a certain domestic responsibility. The Lord asks for something less. He wants to free us from the all-consuming care for ‘bread,’ for earthly things, which separates us from the Lord—from the slavish service to ‘loaves,’ which leaves no room for the service of God.” And if a man lives by bread alone, ceases to live by the life of the spirit, encloses himself in the “evils of the day,” then he dies spiritually and loses Christ. From this death of the soul, the Lord warns us in today’s Gospel. Cast at least part of your bodily cares upon the Lord—will He not care for you, if He cares for the birds and the flowers? Consider that you are not only a body, but also a soul, and have pity on your immortal soul.
The Lord teaches us whom we should imitate in life. Look at the birds of the air. True, they are not idle—they fly all day, build nests, gather food. But look at them: when night comes, they sleep peacefully, without worry or anxiety about what the next day may bring. So too, the Lord does not call us to laziness or carelessness, but only warns us not to torment ourselves with questions about what we shall eat or drink or wear tomorrow. Is it not the case that in worrying about the next day, we are already suffering sorrows that have not yet come—and which, by God’s mercy, may never come at all? And the saints rejoiced even in real sorrows, like the apostle who writes: “We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed” (Rom. 5:3). Therefore, let us look upon life with the bright eye of hope. What will happen tomorrow? God will be—as He was yesterday, as He is today, God, the same forever!
With such trust in God the righteous lived, and the Heavenly King rewarded them with both heavenly and earthly blessings. And how much does a righteous man really need for wellbeing? He is accustomed to placing all his hope in God, and if he has no abundance, he is still content with little, for he believes that God will never leave him without help. Thus, the psalmist David says that he has never seen the righteous man and his family forsaken or begging for bread. The Lord says: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” That is, whoever desires to be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God must seek to be justified before God—and this is possible when we strive to live righteously and piously, seeking to resemble Him in our righteousness. “Great peace have they which love Thy law,” and “the righteous shall be glad,” says the prophet David (Ps. 118). If we live this way, the Lord will grant us not only spiritual blessings, but also earthly, temporal ones.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” says the Savior, “and all these things shall be added unto you.” A Christian must always act according to the commandments of the Gospel: earthly matters should follow their course, but the work of God must come first. The work of God should never, under any circumstances, be neglected for the sake of worldly business. Live this way, and you will be blessed both in this life and in the one to come, where we may attain the reward together with the great ascetics. Let us say in the words of Venerable Macarius of Egypt: “God does not look to see whether one is a virgin or a wife, a monk or a layman, but He seeks only the heart’s willingness for good deeds. Show such a willingness, and salvation is near you, whoever you are and wherever you live.”
Therefore, Christians, let us not care excessively for the flesh and think only about what to eat, drink, or wear—these things the pagans seek, who have no hope in the Kingdom of God and do not seek it. But we are children of God and heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). An incorruptible, unfading inheritance—the Kingdom of God—is prepared for us in the heavens. Let us seek that, and all the rest shall be added unto us by the Lord: food, drink, clothing, and—if it be His will—even honor and glory, for “glory, honor, and peace to every man that worketh good” (Rom. 2:10). To our God be glory, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen!
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
June 28, 2009