An Instruction for the 25th Sunday After Pentecost

In today’s Gospel, beloved brothers, we heard of the means and the paths by which we must attain eternal life. What, then, are these means? What is this path? Let us hear of this from the Gospel, from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who calls Himself the way, the truth, and the life. The Evangelist Luke relates the following: «and behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying: Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said to him: what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself». Here is the question about the means and the path to eternal life. And here is the Lord’s answer: «He said to him: you have answered rightly; do this and you will live» — that is, forever. «But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus: and who is my neighbor? Then Jesus answered and said: a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him: take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves? And he answered: he who showed mercy on him. Then Jesus told him: go and do likewise» (Lk 10:25-37). This means that, to inherit eternal life, one must love God with all one’s heart and all one’s soul, and then one’s neighbor as oneself. Here, then, are the means, here the path, by which eternal life is attained. But when it comes to loving one’s neighbor as oneself, our own cunning flesh, in which nothing good dwells (Rom 7:18), willfully seeks to narrow the circle of its own neighbors and its own love for them—namely, it wishes to love only those who love us, only our own kind, only friends and acquaintances favorable to us, while those who hate us, our enemies, strangers, the unfamiliar, those unfavorable to us, are often not even considered neighbors at all; it does not wish to do them good, and sometimes even breathes malice and vengeance against them; or it wishes to love only those who are favorable to us and healthy, handsome in appearance, while turning away from the unfortunate, the poor, the sick, the maimed, the unattractive. But what does heavenly truth, and the sole Teacher of truth, Jesus Christ, say? He says that every person must be loved, regardless of a difference in faith or confession, or nation or origin—regardless of a difference in condition, in wealth or poverty, in a person’s health or sickness, in the comeliness or plainness of his face—and, for this, He gave the account, or parable, of the man who fell among thieves. To the Samaritan who showed mercy to the unfortunate man, this unfortunate man—that is, the one beaten by robbers—was neither a fellow countryman, nor a fellow believer, nor an acquaintance, nor a relative, nor a friend; and yet he was moved by his misfortune and showed him the most active help, simply because he was a person like himself, a person who had fallen into misfortune; whereas the priest and the Levite, ministers of the God of mercy and compassion, gave him no help at all, even though Moses had prescribed in the law that they should lift up even a stranger’s donkey or ox that had fallen under its burden. So then, the Lord holds up the merciful Samaritan to all of us as an example, and says: go, and do likewise—that is, show mercy, as far as possible, to everyone truly in need of it, without regard for his person. And I ask you, on behalf of the Lord God, beloved brothers and sisters, do you have zeal for keeping the commandment of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning mercy toward one’s neighbor? Have many of you forgotten this commandment? But which of you would forget, would refuse to receive, every day, without ceasing, mercies from the hand of the Lord? Presumably you wish the Lord to be merciful to you, and not to turn His face away from you, and not to take from you His Holy, life-giving Spirit? Do not, then, you too turn your own face away from anyone in need of help—whether it is a sick person, or a beggar in need, or a sorrowful person requiring comfort, or someone, in general, in straitened circumstances, or someone in need of instruction and admonition and moral support, or of your own patience, forbearance, forgiveness, or protection: show mercy, in various ways, to your own neighbors, because we are all children of one heavenly Father, and must live in brotherly love, bearing one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2); what brother would abandon his own sister, seeing her sick or in need of daily bread, or of clothing, and not help her, if he is able? And also because we are members of one body, which is called the Church, members of Jesus Christ Himself (Eph 4:4)—but when one member suffers in the body, all the members suffer with it; when one member is pleased (1Cor 12:26), all share in this pleasure—and also show mercy for this reason, that only the merciful will obtain mercy (Mt 5:8) at the dread judgment, while for those who have shown no mercy, there will be judgment without any mercy at all (Jac 2:13). Cast off, my brothers, luxury; love Christian moderation and simplicity in everything, so that you may have something with which to help those in need; cast off stinginess, which trembles over the gifts of God and steals the property of one’s neighbors: for our surplus has been given to us by a generous God for the help of the poor, and not for the satisfaction of our own greed and luxury; cast it off, I say, so that you yourselves may also have peace: for there is no true peace of soul where there is a constant breaking of God’s commandments. There are many poor in your own city. How easy it is for those who wish to lay up, for the day of judgment, the oil of mercy! Behold, those who sell it daily call out to us to buy oil from them, which the Master and Judge of our souls requires of all of us. If you are wise virgins, prove your own wisdom by the very deed: buy the oil of mercy; do not count as a waste what you give to the poor, but believe that these are seeds, which will sprout and bring you a hundredfold fruit in the age to come, or even in this present age, for «he who gives to the poor will not lack» (Prov 28:27); but if you are foolish, then cast off your own folly, cast off this passion for drunkenness, gluttony, delicacies, extravagance, for the glitter, elegance, and costliness of your own home furnishings—a passion which spares no money at all for the misfortune, for the ruin, of a human soul, yet grudges the poor a few kopecks; cast off this passion for costly finery, which spares no tens or hundreds of rubles for the vain adornment of sinful flesh, yet grudges the poor a few kopecks, counting as a loss what is, in fact, a true gain, a true sowing. But do I speak this word in vain? Will it not be as sounding brass, or as the voice of a singer, listened to for his pleasant voice, while no thought at all is given to fulfilling what he sings of? And yet our own city, by God’s grace, is not among those where no attention is paid to the Word of God and no thought given to fulfilling it; here preachers quite often enjoy the respectful attention of their own listeners—though, it is true, more of these listeners are newcomers and simple soldiers than native residents of the city, who, even during the Liturgy, give themselves over to worldly cares, and do not come to church for the praise of the Lord and for instruction in the word of God. God grant that preachers may continue to enjoy such attention: for they preach the Word of God, not their own. Ill fares that city, that place, in which people turn away their own ear from the word of God; and well fares that place whose inhabitants listen to it diligently: they will not be deprived of any good thing; everything else will be added to them by God.

«Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it» (Lk 11:28). And again: blessed are «those who hear the word of God and do it» (Lk 8:21)—that is, blessed are not only those who hear the word of God, but also those who fulfill it; blessed are not only those who know the law of God, but also those who do it.

So then, strive, exert yourselves, to love the Lord God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength; strive to cling to Him alone with all your heart, as to the Fountain of life and of every good, and love no one, and, still more, nothing—that is, no thing—more than Him: for attachment to things is idolatry; and even a passionate love for one’s own family is an unrighteousness before God: for the Lord says, whoever «loves father or mother, son or daughter more than Me, is not worthy of Me» (Mt 10:37). Then strive to love your neighbor as yourself: «just as you wish people to act toward you, so you also act toward them. For on this hang the Law and the Prophets» (Mt 7:12). Amen.