The Path to Eternal Blessedness

A Sermon on the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

In today’s Gospel the Lord our Jesus Christ settles an important question posed to Him by the rich young man: what must I do to inherit eternal life? The Lord points him to the commandments given to men by God through Moses, and indeed to the commandments about love for one’s neighbor, passing over the commandments concerning the Lord God Himself—of course, because love for God is likewise founded upon love for one’s neighbor, and without love for one’s neighbor it is impossible to love God, for the one who does not love his brother, whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see[1]? — says the holy apostle John the Theologian. And so the Lord says to the rich young man: «If you wish to enter into eternal life, keep the commandments, namely: do not kill; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother, and love your neighbor as yourself».

Yes, an important question the Lord settles for us in today’s Gospel—the question of how, by what paths, to attain eternal life. Nothing is more certain than death: we shall all die, and with our bodies turn to dust, to the earth from which they were created at the beginning, while our immortal souls, created in the image and likeness of God, will be carried away to the judgment of God: for it is appointed for men to die once, and after that the judgment[2],—says the apostle—the particular judgment upon the soul of each person departing from this life; at that judgment a person’s lot is settled until the last universal judgment over the whole world, after the resurrection of all the dead. Therefore, in view of the inevitability of death for each of us in the body, it is exceedingly important and necessary for each of us to settle the question satisfactorily for himself: what must I do to inherit eternal life? Eternal life beyond the grave is certain, just as eternal torment is certain as well, and this brief present life was given us by God for preparation for the future life, which will have no end for ages of ages. This most important question of life the Lord settles in full for the rich young man, and with him for all of us. If you wish, He says, to enter into life eternal, then keep the commandments. Which ones? — asks the young man. And the Lord answers him: do not kill, do not commit adultery, and the rest, as you have already heard. Not many words, not many commandments—and yet how weighty they are, for the eternal life of each of us depends on keeping them. For the man who has done these things will live in them[3], says Scripture. And so we must linger over these commandments and enter more deeply into their meaning, in order to see the full necessity and benefit of keeping them and the breadth of their application to life.

The first word spoken was: you shall not kill; and beneath it many other similar commandments are understood, namely: do not wrong anyone; do not irritate, do not be at enmity, do not be angry, do not fight; do not be hateful: everyone who hates his brother is a murderer[4], says the apostle; do not be daring with word or hand; do not be hardhearted toward the poor and stingy; do not torment your subordinates with labors beyond their strength; save those who are perishing, if you can, for example the hungry or the drowning; do not wear yourself out with labors beyond your strength, and do not ruin your health with passions and vices; do not lead others into sin, and do not betray to the devil souls redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is how broad the meaning of this commandment is.

Further the Lord says: you shall not commit adultery — not only in deed, but also in thought, by impure looking, by desire; cast away every lustful fantasy and imagination, and everything that leads to adultery: a craving for delicacies, overeating, and drunkenness; immodest, seductive conversations; the reading of immodest, seductive books; immodest dealings with persons of the other sex, immodest pictures, and the like. And even a single look at a woman with desire is already adultery, by the word of the Savior. Strive for purity of thoughts and feelings, for the purity of your own morals and those of your neighbors, your children and servants, your subordinates, and all with whom you have dealings and close relations.

Further it is said: you shall not steal; here not only theft is meant, but also living idly off others, the taking of gifts or bribes, greed, or the ruinous interest that a lender takes, and every kind of unrighteous gain; the receiving of things known to be stolen; the ruinous game of cards, through which the gambler steals money or family property from his parents and relatives, or from his wife and children, or simply from himself; and finally, the one who does not give alms to the poor when he has every opportunity to do so, for the Lord gives abundance in order to help the poor; and if a person of means does not do this, he steals the property of his neighbors and conceals the gift of God.

Further the Lord says: you shall not bear false witness, or do not slander your neighbor; for from slander, condemnation, gossip, mockery, and false witness people suffer very greatly: they lose their good name and the sympathy of others; they are persecuted and oppressed, deprived of their position of service and of their means of livelihood; and sometimes, not having the strength to endure the slander, they take their own lives. Because of false witness and slander the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was brought to the cross and to the most shameful of deaths. A terrible evil is slander! And the holy king and prophet prays to God to deliver him from slander: Deliver me from the slander of men, and I will keep Your commandments[5].

Honor your father and mother, it says further. For honoring one’s parents the Lord promises well-being and long life in this present life, and everlasting blessedness in the life to come. To our parents we owe our life, and for the most part our very upbringing, at least in its beginnings; and it would seem that nothing could be easier or more natural than to honor one’s parents. Yet in practice, especially in our own time, the opposite is often the case: children find their parents a burden, refuse them the honor due to them, are rude to them and revile them to their face, count as nothing the love, the cares, and the concern their parents lavished upon them; they do not help them or support them in poverty, old age, and sickness. But woe to them if they do not come to their senses—it will not go well with them even in this present life, and in the life to come there awaits them everlasting torment: revilers, says the apostle, will not inherit the kingdom of God[6].

Love your neighbor as yourself, the commandment says; that is, look after him as you look after yourself; wish for him the same things you wish for yourself; deal with him as you would wish others to deal with you; pray for him as you pray for yourself, for the living or for the departed; do for him what is good and useful, just as you do for yourself: for we are all children of one Father, God, redeemed by one Blood; children of one mother, the Church, and we all await a common kingdom.

These are the commandments that lead to eternal life! The young man boasted that he had kept all these commandments, but when it came to the test it turned out that he was far from having attained perfection in fulfilling them: for with his whole heart he was attached to wealth, and therefore did not sincerely love either God or his neighbor; for the Lord says, and experience confirms, that it is impossible to serve God and wealth[7], just as it is impossible to serve two masters. He went away from the Savior with sorrow when the Lord, for the sake of his perfection, proposed that he sell his possessions and give to the poor, for he saw that they bound the footsteps of his soul. That is why the Lord said that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, harder than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. But what is difficult and impossible for men is easy for God: for God can make even a rich man merciful—as indeed many of the rich truly are merciful—and He can make a rich man virtuous and an heir of the kingdom of heaven, if he does not oppose the will of God but zealously carries it out. Here, then, is an interpretation of today’s Gospel. Remember it, and strive to fulfill it, each according to his strength. Amen.