12th Sunday after Pentecost (of Matthew) 25 Aug / 7 Sept

[OrthodoxyOrDeath]

In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

I COR 15:1-11
Now I make known to you brethren, the Gospel which I preached as good tidings to you, which you also ye received, and in which ye stand, by which also ye are being saved, in what word I myself preached as good tiding to you, if ye hold fast, unless ye believed in vain. For I delivered to you in the first place what I also recived, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He hath been raised the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Kephas, then to the twelve. Afterwards He appeared to over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the majority remain until now, but some fell asleep. Then He appeared to Iakovos, then to all the apostles. And last of all, He appeared to me also, as it were one untimely born. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the Grace of God I am what I am, and His Grace which was toward me did not become void; but I toiled more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we preach and so ye believed.

MATT 19:16-26
And behold, one approached and said to Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" And He said to him, "Why callest thou Me good? No one is good, except One: God. But if thou art willing to enter into life, keep the commandments." He saith to Him, "Which?" And Jesus said, "Thou shalt not murder; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; " 'be honoring thy father and thy mother'; and 'thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' " The young man saith to Him, "All these things I kept for myself from my youth; what lack I yet?" Jesus said to him, "If thou art willing to be perfect, go and sell thy possessions, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and keep on following Me." But after the young man heard the saying, he went away greived; for he had many possessions. And Jesus said to His disciples, "Verily I say to you, that a rich man, with difficulty, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens. And again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through a needles eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And after His disciples heard this, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, "Who then is able t be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

[尼古拉前执事]

12th Sunday after Pentecost - If Thou Wilt Be Perfect
Matthew 19: 16-26
From The Explanation of the Gospel of St. Matthew
by Blessed Theophylact, Archbishop of Ochrid and Bulgaria

1. And, behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but One, that is, God. The man did not come testing Christ, but desiring to learn and thirsting for eternal life. He approached Christ as if Christ were a mere man. That is why the Lord says, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but One, that is, God. This means, "If you call Me good thinking I am one of the teachers, you speak wrongly, for no man is essentially good; both because we are changeable and easily turned away from good, and because, by comparison with God's goodness, human goodness is counted as wickedness."

17-19. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto Him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother, and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The Lord directs the enquirer to the commandments of the law, so that the Jews could not say that He despised the law. What happened then?

1. The young man saith unto Him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Some accuse him of boasting and arrogance. How could he have achieved love for neighbor if he were rich? For no one who loves his neighbor as himself is wealthier than his neighbor. Others understand it thus: suppose, he says, that I have kept all these things--what do I still lack?

21-22. Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me. But when the man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Everything, He says, which you say you have accomplished, you have done by fulfilling only the letter of the law, as do the Jews. But if thou wilt be perfect, that is, if you wish to be My disciple and a Christian, then go and sell all that you have, and give everything all at once, keeping nothing back with which to give alms continuously. He did not say, "give repeatedly to the poor," but give once and for all and be stripped of your wealth. Since there are some who give alms but lead a life full of every kind of filth, He adds, and come and follow Me, that is, possess every other virtue as well. The young man, however, was sorrowful, for though he desired eternal life and the soil of his heart was deep and fertile, the thorns of wealth were choking him. For it says, he had great possessions. He who has few possessions is not similarly restrained by them, for the bond of many possessions is more tyrannical. Because the Lord was conversing with a rich man, He said, "Do you love wealth? Know that you will have treasure in heaven."

23-24. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That it is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. As long as a man is rich and he has in excess while others do not have even the necessities, he can in no way enter the kingdom of heaven. But when all riches have been shed, then he is not rich and so he can enter. For it is just as impossible for a man with wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven as it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. See how Christ first said it was difficult to enter, but here that it is completely impossible. Some say that camel is not the animal, but the thick cable used by sailors to cast their anchors.

25-26. When His disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible: but with God all things are possible. The disciples, being compassionate, did not ask this question for their own sake, for they were poor, but for all men. The Lord therefore teaches us not to gauge salvation by human weakness, but by God's power. If one only begins to cease from greed, he will advance to reducing his excess, and from there he will proceed to eliminating even his necessities, and thus he will be prospered along the way by God acting in collaboration with him.

[Julianna]

Money leads to laziness and a love of your money. it's better to struggle with nothin and focus on salvation it isn't good to focus on the world and worldly things

[Seraphim Reeves]

Though I'm not wealthy by any means (at least by this society's standards), I can still see how wealth can make one vain, since relatively speaking, most working class people like me are quite well off compared to most people in the world, and have far more exotic toys to play with than our ancestors did.

This is not to say it's impossible to save one's soul if they have riches - the various Royal Saints are pretty good examples that it's possible to have power and wealth, and still be saved. However, I think there are temptations for people in positions of power and wealth which simply are not there for people like myself - and according to the Saviour, this can make salvation extremely difficult.

But then again, I think it's hard to compare Royal Saints to other wealthy people - these people had grave social burdens upon their shoulders, and ruled as Christians - I can't think of any equivelent to this in our age. But then again, that responsibility was probably more of a temptation to failure, and not a "help".

Seraphim

[Justin Kissel]

Patristics

I Cor. 15:1-11
Saint John Chrysostom, Homilies on First Corinthians (Homily 38) (Homily 39)

Remember in your prayers the Church in Syria, which now has God for its shepherd, instead of me. Jesus Christ alone will oversee it, and your love [will also regard it]. But as for me, I am ashamed to be counted one of them; for indeed I am not worthy, as being the very last of them, and one born out of due time. (cf 1 Cor. 15:8-9) But I have obtained mercy to be somebody, if I shall attain to God. My spirit salutes you, and the love of the Churches that have received me in the name of Jesus Christ, and not as a mere passer-by. For even those Churches which were not near to me in the way, I mean according to the flesh, have gone before me, city by city, [to meet me.] - Saint Ignatius, Epistle to the Romans, 9

Now they adduce the case of Peter himself, and the others, who were pillars of the apostolate, as having been blamed by Paul for not walking uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel-that very Paul indeed, who, being yet in the mere rudiments of grace, and trembling, in short, lest he should have run or were still running in vain, then for the first time held intercourse with those who were apostles before himself. Therefore because, in the eagerness of his zeal against Judaism as a neophyte, he thought that there was something to be blamed in their conduct-even the promiscuousness of their conversation -but afterwards was himself to become in his practice all things to all men, that he might gain all,-to the Jews, as a Jew, and to them that were under the law, as under the law,-you would have his censure, which was merely directed against conduct destined to become acceptable even to their accuser, suspected of prevarication against God on a point of public doctrine. Touching their public doctrine, however, they had, as we have already said, joined hands in perfect concord, and had agreed also in the division of their labour in their fellowship of the gospel, as they had indeed in all other respects: "Whether it were I or they, so we preach." (1 Cor. 15:11) - Tertullian, Against Marcion, 1, 20

By ourselves the lower regions (of Hades) are not supposed to be a bare cavity, nor some subterranean sewer of the world, but a vast deep space in the interior of the earth, and a concealed recess in its very bowels; inasmuch as we read that Christ in His death spent three days in the heart of the earth, (Matt. 12:40) that is, in the secret inner recess which is hidden in the earth, and enclosed by the earth, and superimposed on the abysmal depths which lie still lower down. Now although Christ is God, yet, being also man, "He died according to the Scriptures," (1 Cor. 15:3) and "according to the same Scriptures was buried." (1 Cor. 15:4) With the same law of His being He fully complied, by remaining in Hades in the form and condition of a dead man; nor did He ascend into the heights of heaven before descending into the lower parts of the earth, that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself. (1 Pet. 3:19) - Tertullian, On the Soul, 55

How then did Christ rise again? In the flesh, or not? No doubt, since you are told that He "died according to the Scriptures," (1 Cor. 15:3) and "that He was buried according to the Scriptures," (1 Cor. 15:4) no otherwise than in the flesh, you will also allow that it was in the flesh that He was raised from the dead. For the very same body which fell in death, and which lay in the sepulchre, did also rise again; (and it was) not so much Christ in the flesh, as the flesh in Christ. If, therefore, we are to rise again after the example of Christ, who rose in the flesh, we shall certainly not rise according to that example, unless we also shall ourselves rise again in the flesh. "For," he says, "since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead." (1 Cor. 15:21) - Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 48

Matt. 19:16-26
Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 63 on Matthew

Blessed Augustine, Semons on Selected Lessons Of the New Testament (Sermon 35) (Sermon 36)

[Justin Kissel]

I think that the passage from Matthew (Matt 19:16-26) is perhaps one of the best examples of the need for Christians to have a maximalistic outlook. So many times people just go for the minimum: "What do I have to believe? What do I have to do to go to heaven?" etc. This misses the whole point of Christianity and Christ. This would be like getting married and then asking "What do I have to do to keep her from nagging me? What do I have to say to keep her happy?" With this mindset, you essentially turn the good thing into a bad thing: something to be "maintained" as you might maintain a leaky roof, something to be "watched over" as you might watch over an expensive piece of art, something to be "enjoyed" as you might enjoy any other worldly thing.

The Christian concept of life (and marriage) is much different. It isn't about "doing your part," as though doing 50% is "good enough". In some ways, even 100% won't be "good enough," but in other ways, giving 100% is what helps redeem someone from their constant failures. Making mistakes but giving your best effort will keep you on the right road, whereas a half-asleep "doing of your duty" will likely take you off into the jungle. At first, Jesus told the man to do the duties, the necessities: I'm not saying that there can be no concept of "duty" in Christianity. However, as Jesus showed, salvation does not exactly lie in fulfilling these duties, but in the fruit that they bring, and the actions that make us continue them. The acquisition of the Holy Spirit is the fruit that they bring, and by going "further up and further in," we will do more and more. And the more we do, the more things we will see as our "duty" to do (especially in prayer), for the "better" we become, and the more ascetic virtues we participate in, the more we can see what else we must do. "To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17), therefore, the more one recognizes good by growing closer to God, the more good he will do.

Paradoxically, this is not so much an increase in "duties," even though it is an increase in divinely inspired action. Once we come into true communion with God, we finally understand the point of it all, that these things that we thought before were not duties, but were--if we must label them at all--gifts and chances to become closer to God. This is when the majority falter, though: when people meet God they usually shrink back (Not in caution and awe like Moses, but in shameful cowardice or pride.) This story in Matthew is just such an experience, with the rich man being confronted with God. He calls him good teacher, and asks what he must do for eternal life. But when he doesn't like the answer, when the answer asks him to change too much, he turns his back and walks away. It isn't enough to do "the letter of the law," but we must be perfect even as our Father is perfect. An impossible thing! but that is what we are called to. Those who shrink from this because of cowardice, pride, pleasure-seeking, or whatever else, have very little chance of entering heaven. Such people are carrying so much baggage on their back--their load is so heavy--and they have gone so far into the jungle, that it is near impossible for them to find their way back. God will keep trying, but alas, they have learnt to love their misery, and take pride even in their heavy load, and will refuse to give it up and put trust and faith in God. But even such a man can be saved, rarely, for all things are possible with God.

[尼古拉前执事]

Good replies. If I get this job I am going for, I will make less money, but I think that it will be a good thing for my soul.

Too often we turn away from what is needed for salvation because it is hard or it will change our lives in ways that we did not expect. We need to get past the comforts of the worldly life and do whatever is necessary to follow Him. May God grant us all the desire to truly do His will and not ours or that of our friends'.