Homily for the Third Sunday of Matthew
(3rd Sunday of Pentecost)
By St. John of Kronstadt
(3rd Sunday of Pentecost)
By St. John of Kronstadt
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is simple, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:22–23).
The words of the Lord are a true lamp for us on the path of life: so are the words of the Gospel now read; you just need to think about them more carefully. Let's think about it. "The lamp of the body is the eye," says the Lord, i.e. the eye is a lamp for the body. Why is it not said: eyes, but an "eye"? Because here the Lord does not mean the bodily eyes, but the spiritual eye, or our heart, which controls both the bodily eyes and with two eyes sees objects not double, but individually. So, by eye we mean the heart in which conscience is implanted, or the internal law indicating what is good and what is evil. That is why it is said: eye, not eyes. By "body" we mean our entire inner life, thoughts, desires, intentions, all our deeds that we do during our earthly life. This means that the meaning of the Savior’s words will be this: the heart or conscience is a lamp for a person on the path of his life, in all his thoughts, desires, intentions, words, in all his deeds. Further, the Lord says: "If therefore your eye is simple, your whole body will be full of light": if, that is, your heart, your conscience, is simple and pure, then so will all your thoughts, your desires, your deeds, your intentions, your undertakings will be bright, right, clean; if your eye, your conscience, is evil, then your whole body will be dark, i.e. all your thoughts, desires, intentions, undertakings, your whole life, all your deeds will be dark, wrong, and crafty.
"If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?" If your heart, which was given to you from the Lord instead of a lamp, through your negligence has become darkness itself, then what will your whole life, all your deeds be like? Isn't this how it happens in life? Don't we see constant examples of this? Let's take an example from life. Let’s take a person with a simple heart, with a straight conscience, with a direct outlook on life, with an evangelical outlook, and a person with an evil heart or an evil conscience and partial to the world, to the flesh. All the actions of the former are imprinted with justice, diligence, straightforwardness of character, and goodwill towards one’s neighbor. The actions of the second bear the stamp of untruth, deception, hypocrisy, cunning, deceit, and insults of the other.
The first is satisfied with very little and is not consumed by a thirst for much, for example, does not desire a luxurious table, many elegant and expensive clothes, a thirst for wealth, a large and richly decorated home, etc.; he has daily bread and stew, a few changes of clean and decent clothing, a constant, although perhaps not rich, income or salary, or money earned through hard work, honest trade, industry, handicrafts, a healthy home, although not large, without rich furniture: he is content and thanks God. He doesn’t want more, because he considers it unnecessary; if he sees a small surplus, he would rather give it to his neighbors in need, but will not use it for any of his own whims.
But look at the life of another person with an evil heart and an indirect, evil conscience. He is dissatisfied with everything: his table is not a table, his clothes are not clothes, his house is not his home, his furniture is not furniture, and when the cup is full, he wants it to be even fuller, his own is not enough, he must seize someone else's, even with offense to his neighbor; for him this food is not good, he needs better, or his daily bread and soup are not enough, he needs wine, although there is no need of it at all; but not just a little, that wouldn't be a problem, otherwise someone else needs a lot to get drunk; these clothes are not good, they are out of fashion, they need to be better; this dwelling is not so spacious and comfortable, it needs to be bigger; this furniture is not good, we need new ones; this income, this salary, this revenue is not enough, more is needed, and he is hardly satisfied with anything. Everything seems to be fine with him, there is enough of everything – the man is full and satiated, he is dressed luxuriously and capriciously, and he has a lot of surplus – but he is still dissatisfied; another, with his means of subsistence, and even with less, and enough for himself, will have enough to give to his neighbors in need for food and clothing, but he has little for himself and nothing for others. Why? Because his heart is deceitful, darkened, unreasonable, insatiable, impassioned. And why is it so? Because he does not know the commandments of the Lord or does not want to know, he is not led by the light of the gospel of Christ. Because it does the will of its blind, impassioned flesh and thoughts.
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24). What are the two masters here who cannot be served at the same time? One is the Lord and God, the other is wealth or our sinful flesh, in which the devil operates, trying to chain it to the world. Obviously, it is impossible for God and the sinful flesh to work together: precisely because God demands from us holiness, the unwavering and precise fulfillment of His will, and the flesh constantly incites us to sin - to gluttony, drunkenness, fornication, envy, enmity, covetousness and the love of money, to laziness and so on. How can we reconcile serving God and the flesh? Obviously it is impossible, the word of God directly says that those who are Christ’s "have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts" (Gal. 5:24) - therefore by no means serve the sinful flesh, do not please it. "Do not please the flesh through lust" (Rom. 13:14), says the holy Apostle Paul. And it always happens that whoever pleases his flesh is negligent about pleasing God, about the salvation of his soul, about his correction, about a virtuous life, does not correct his heart, does not strive in spirit for the heavenly fatherland, but is completely chained to the earth, to earthly pleasures. He who loves his sinful flesh does not love God, His commandments seem burdensome to him, he does not love his neighbor: he does not care about his salvation, because he does not care about his own; will not help him in need, because he loves himself too much and would rather fulfill his own whims than give up his property for the needs of his neighbor. "Therefore I say to you," continues the Lord, "do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?" Inappropriate, unreasonable, too much concern for food, drink, clothing, is very, very harmful to Christian life: it is what the Lord previously called serving mammon. This wrong concern of ours about food, drink and clothing turns our whole life upside down, so to speak: instead of caring mainly about the soul, about its cleansing, correction, sanctification, in general, about salvation, we worry daily about pleasing our greedy belly, about what to put on, and the soul is an immortal being created in the image and likeness of God, perishing alive in sins, we leave it neglected, without correction, or even daily we add sins to sins. We please and satiate the body, but leave the soul to starve. We decorate the body, but disgrace the soul. We revive the body, but kill the soul. Therefore, the Lord, denouncing our folly, says: Is not the soul more than food, and the body than clothing? If the soul is obviously greater than food, then why do you leave the soul without care, worrying about what is insignificant like food and drink: "Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them" (1 Cor. 6:13). Or again, is not the body greater than clothing? But if the Lord has given you the greater, that is, the body, then will He not take care to give you the lesser, will He not take care to cover it, and will He not give you the means to cover its nakedness, as He covered the nakedness of Eve and Adam?
Are you not worrying about empty things, leaving aside the most necessary, the only thing you need?
"Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than them?" (1 Cor. 6:25-27). The Lord points out to us, who have little faith, in order to show us the ever-vigilant, unceasing providence of the Heavenly Father for all creatures on earth, Who from the beginning of the world to this day has not ceased and does not cease to preserve and nourish every creature, and especially the crown of all creatures – man, created in the image and likeness of God, and so that by the example of birds always full, although they do not sow, do not reap grain, we have become convinced to rely with certainty on God's providence. Of course, these words of the Lord do not teach us to sit idly by and only hope in God, but teach us to exercise ourselves in blessed labors and in our labors to hope for God's blessing, for success in deeds, for the gift of everything we need. Further, the Lord says: "And who among you, by worrying, can add even one cubit to his height?" (Matthew 6:27). Doesn't everything depend on God? If our body in all functions - both in nutrition and in growth - depends on God, as the work of His hands, His wisdom, goodness, omnipotence: then is not our food also dependent on Him? Doesn't He also provide food for our growth and strengthening? Why do we consider food as if alien to His providence? Oh, truly His providence feeds not only us, but also every worm, every insect! "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (Matthew 6:28-30).
With the words: "Why do you worry about clothing?" the Lord teaches us not to have an addiction to clothing, as He said before that we should not be addicted to food and drink. It is impossible not to care at all about clothes: we must take care that our clothes are decent, clean; be engaged in spinning, weaving, sewing. The Most Pure Virgin Mary Herself wove and sewed with Her most pure hands, as is shown by the Savior's tunic, woven by Her virgin hands. But the incessant worries about outfits that spin our heads are completely contrary to the spirit of the gospel: they make us vain, petty, and give rise to unchastity and pride in many. If beautiful clothing were necessary for us, like a flower for any grain, then the Heavenly Father would not leave to dress us a thousand times better than roses and lilies or peacocks; but it is known that our clothing is a temporary covering, or a temporary bandage on a wound: because the garment appeared as a result of sin, when people recognized their nakedness. Is it worth decorating wound dressings? Is it not necessary to take care of how to heal the wound as soon as possible, i.e. how to cleanse oneself of sins as soon as possible? Is it wise to sew expensive bandages on these sinful wounds and to be vain with these bandages, as something praiseworthy? Is it not because of this that the stench of sin is greater? Let us remember that in baptism we all received the garment of incorruption, the garment of Christ's righteousness. It is for this garment of righteousness that we will care for; we will keep these clothes; let it be our adornment. If we preserve it, then in the future age the Lord will clothe us with the garment of glory, He will clothe us with eternal light, as He Himself is clothed with light, as with a garment.
And so, I will conclude the discourse with the words of the Savior: "Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" (Matthew 6:31-32) You hear: according to the word of the Lord, all those pagans, and not Christians, who care about what to eat and drink, or what to wear, but do not think about the works of God, about the fulfillment of His commandments. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33) Every master feeds, quenches, clothes his servants: how much more will the Lord God nourish and clothe us, if we are His servants. If those who do not serve Him, who do not know Him, He nourishes and clothes, how much more will He not forget those who do serve Him. Amen.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
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