Homily One on the Eighth Sunday of Luke (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily One on the Eighth Sunday of Luke  
(25th Sunday After Pentecost)

On the Good Samaritan
Luke 10:25–37

By St. John of Kronstadt

In the Gospel read today (Luke 10:25–37), our Savior God answered a very important question for all of us: what must we do to inherit eternal life? This question was put to the Lord by a certain Jewish lawyer, who asked: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The Lord pointed him to the law given to the Jews by God through Moses: “What is written in the law? How do you read it?" He answered and said: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus said to him: “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live,” that is, forever. But he, wanting to justify himself, that is, considering himself, like the other Pharisees, a righteous man who fulfilled the law as he understood it, one-sidedly, incorrectly, asked Jesus: "And who is my neighbor?" believing that only a Jew should be considered a neighbor, and not every person.

In the parable of the man wounded by thieves and the merciful Samaritan who took the most heartfelt and active part in him, the Lord showed that we must consider every person as a neighbor, whoever he may be, even if he is our enemy, and especially when he needs help. Thus, it means that in order to receive eternal life, we must diligently fulfill the two main commandments - to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. But since these two commandments contain the whole law, it is necessary to explain them, so that we know well what love for God and neighbor consists of. Therefore, with God's help, let us begin the explanation.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, that is, with all your being, surrender yourself to God with all your strength - dedicate yourself entirely to Him, without any deficiency, do not divide yourself between God and the world. Do not live partly only for God and His law and partly for the world, for the flesh and its many passions, for sin and the devil, but devote yourself entirely to God, belong only to God, be all holy, in your whole life. Following the example of the Holy One (God) who called you, be holy yourselves in all your deeds (1 Pet. 1:15), says the Holy Apostle Peter.

Let us explain this commandment with examples. Let us suppose that you pray to God. If you love God with all your heart, then you will always pray to Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your understanding, you will never be absent-minded, lazy, careless, cold in prayer; you will not give room in your heart during prayer to any worldly cares and worries - you will put aside all worldly cares, you will cast all sorrow upon the Lord, for He cares for you, as the Apostle says. Try to understand prayer, the service to God completely, in all its depth. If you love God with all your soul, then you will sincerely repent to God of your sins, you will bring Him deep repentance every day, for every day you sin much. You will repent, that is, condemn yourself for your sins with all your heart, with all your strength, with all your understanding; you will rebuke yourself with all merciless severity, with all sincerity, you will bring to God a full confession, a sacrifice of a complete burnt offering of sins, so that not a single sin will remain unrepentant, unmourned. Thus, to love God with all your heart means to love with all your heart and with all your strength His truth, His law, and with all your heart to hate all unrighteousness, all sin; with all your heart and with all your strength to fulfill the truth, to do good and with all your heart, with all your strength to shun evil, that is, all sin, not to give room in your heart to any sin for one minute, not for one moment, that is, not to agree with it, not to sympathize with it, not to put up with it, but constantly, eternally to be at enmity with sin, to fight with it and, thus, to be a brave and victorious warrior of Christ God. Or let us take another example: let us suppose that you are persecuted for piety, for truth, for virtue; if you love God, then you will not retreat for a moment from piety, from truth, from virtue, even if this devotion to truth entails the loss of some benefits; since truth itself, or faithfulness to God and His truth, is the greatest benefit for us, and God can reward faithfulness to His truth a hundredfold both in this and in the next age. An example of this is Righteous Joseph, the son of the Old Testament Patriarch Jacob, and many righteous people in the New Testament. Thus, to love God with all your heart means to fight for God, for His truth, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your understanding. Thus the Holy Fathers and Holy Martyrs fought for God, for His truth, especially in the struggle with heresies and schisms. This is zeal for God. Also, to love God with all your heart means to direct all people with all your strength to God, to His love, to His glorification, to His eternal kingdom, so that everyone would know Him, love Him, glorify Him. This is also zeal for God.

Having explained the first commandment as best we can, let us now explain the second: love your neighbor as yourself. What does it mean to love your neighbor, that is, every person, as yourself? It means to honor another as you wish to be honored, to consider no one a stranger, but your own, your brother, your member, and a Christian - also a member of Christ; to consider his good, his salvation, as your good, your salvation; to rejoice in his well-being as your own, to grieve over his misfortune as your own; to strive for his deliverance from trouble, misfortune, poverty, sin - just as I would strive for my own deliverance. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep" (Rom. 12:15), says the Apostle. "We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification" (Rom. 15:1–2). "Pray one for another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16). To love your neighbor as yourself means to respect him as yourself, if, however, he is worthy of it, not to think of him unworthily, basely, without reason for it on his part, not to bear him any malice; not to envy him, but always to be well-wishing, to condescend to his shortcomings, weaknesses, to cover his sins with love, as we desire that others should condescend to our shortcomings. "Bear with one another in love" (Eph. 4:2), says the Apostle, "not rendering evil for evil, or injury for injury" (1 Pet. 3:9). "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you" (Matt. 5:44). "If your enemy is hungry, give him food; if he is thirsty, give him drink" (Prov. 25:22; Rom. 12:20), says the Old Testament Scripture. To love one's neighbor as oneself means to pray for the living and the dead, relatives and non-relatives, acquaintances and non-acquaintances, friends and enemies – the same as for oneself, and to wish them as much good, the salvation of their souls, as for oneself. This is what the Holy Church teaches in her daily prayers. To love one's neighbor as oneself means to love everyone without partiality, regardless of whether he is poor or rich, beautiful or not, old or young, noble or simple, healthy or sick; whether we are useful or not, friend or foe, because all are God's, all in the image of God, all are children of God, members of Christ (if they are Orthodox Christians), all are our members: "for we are all one body, one spirit" (Eph. 4:4), all have one Head - Christ God. Let us understand this and try to fulfill the two main commandments of the law of God and we will inherit eternal life by the grace of Christ God. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.