You see, then we must hate parents and children when they want us to love them more than Christ. But what am I saying about father, mother and children? Hear more than this:
And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.
Whoever, he says, does not renounce this life and does not give himself up to a shameful death (for this is how the ancients thought about the cross), is unworthy of Me. Since many are crucified as robbers and thieves, he added: “and follows Me,” that is, he lives according to My laws.
He who saves his soul will lose it; but he who loses his life for My sake will save it.
He who cares too much about bodily life thinks that he is gaining his soul, while in reality he is destroying it, subjecting it to eternal punishment. On the contrary, whoever destroys his soul and dies, however, not as a robber or suicide, but for the sake of Christ, will save it.
Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; whoever receives the prophet, in the name of the prophet, will receive the reward of the prophet; and whoever receives the righteous, in the name of the righteous, will receive the reward of the righteous.
Thus encourages us to accept those who are Christ's. He who honors His disciples honors Him Himself, and through Him the Father. The righteous and prophets must be received in the name of the righteous and the prophet, that is, because they are righteous and prophets, and not for any representation or intercession before kings. Even someone who only wears the appearance of a prophet, but in fact is not a prophet, you accept him as a prophet, and God will reward you in the same way as if you had accepted a real prophet. For this is what the words mean: “he will receive the reward of the righteous.” It is possible, however, to understand these words in another way, that is, whoever accepts a righteous person will himself be recognized as righteous and will receive the same reward as the righteous receive.
Previous article: Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Heavenly Father; and whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Heavenly Father.. Interpretation of Blessed Theophylact on the Gospel of Matthew. Next article: John, having heard in prison about the deeds of Christ, sent two of his disciples to say to Him: Are you the one who should come, or should we expect someone else? Interpretation of Blessed Theophylact on the Gospel of Matthew.
Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov: “There are several Gospel sayings that always raise puzzling questions. I would like to reflect on two of them.”
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“Do not think that I came to bring peace to the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword, for I came to divide a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s enemies are his own household. loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who saves his soul will lose it; but he who loses his life for My sake will save it" (Matthew 10:34-39).
People often ask: what does it mean “a man’s enemies are his own household”? How is it that the God of love suddenly says such things about the people closest to us?
1. The Lord quotes here Old Testament- book of the prophet Micah. Woe is me! for with me now it is like the harvest of summer fruits, like the harvesting of grapes: not a single berry for food, not a single ripe fruit that my soul desires. There are no more merciful people on earth, there are no truthful people among people; everyone builds forges to shed blood; everyone sets a net for his brother. Their hands are turned to know how to do evil; the boss demands gifts, and the judge judges for bribes, and the nobles express the evil desires of their souls and pervert the matter. The best of them is like a thorn, and the just is worse than a thorny hedge, the day of Your heralds, Your visitation is coming; now confusion will come upon them. Don't trust a friend, don't rely on a friend; From her who lies in your bosom keep the door of your mouth. For a son disgraces his father, a daughter rebels against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A man's enemies are his own household. But I will look to the Lord, I will trust in the God of my salvation: my God will hear me (Mic. 7:1-7). (By the way, how applicable are the words of the ancient prophet to our Russian life today!)
In that Old Testament text we see a hidden prophecy about the apostolic preaching: the day of Your heralds, Your visitation is coming (v. 4). The prophet says that this proclamation will be made in conditions of moral decline, such that those at home will be enemies of the person preaching the true God and moral life. The 10th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, where the words we are analyzing are found, tells the story of sending Jesus’ disciples to preach. Thus, the first meaning of these words is a reminder of prophecy and the conditions under which the apostolic ministry will be carried out: in the work of preaching, those at home are more likely to hinder than to help. The Lord Himself spoke about this: there is no prophet without honor, except in his own country and among his relatives, and in his own house (Mark 6:4), for it was precisely among his own family that Christ encountered confusion and unbelief. The word “enemies” should not be taken here in the absolute sense that they are always enemies in everything. Biblical language often “polarizes” concepts; in this context, “enemies” means “not friends,” not helpers, not sympathizing with the religious side of life: true worship of God and the preaching of Christ.
2. The second meaning of these words is more general. The point here is this. The Lord brought people New Testament. One of the facets of this novelty is value. human personality as such, is what the great European civilization grew out of. Old Testament humanity was characterized by a different hierarchy of values. Tribe, clan, family - and only then personality. A personality outside of all this was perceived as incomplete. The subject of religious relations in Israel was the people; Roman law gave people privileges based on citizenship. Jesus Christ proclaims a truly new gospel: the individual, man himself, first of all, is precious in the eyes of God. In the Gospel text we are examining, this is clear from the words of the Savior: I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against his mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law (Matthew 10:35). From now on, family and society become not the first value; they do not lose their importance or meaning because of this, but they give way to the religious dignity of the individual.
It must be emphasized that this value of the human person is not “in itself”; it is not absolute, not autonomous. It is possible precisely as a result of the action of the New Testament, that is, only in Christ Jesus, in the communion of the Only True Value - God who became Man (forgetting this now leads to decay and death European culture). That is, it is not the person himself, having realized that he is valuable in himself, who separates himself from his family and diminishes family ties, but the Lord does this for His own sake, creating the Church for Himself. And, since we are talking about the Church, we need to emphasize one of its features, the way in which it is fundamentally different from all human communities. The Church is, firstly, a union of people in Christ, and secondly, a union of free individuals. The Church unites people not due to the fact that people are deprived of some aspect of their freedom, paying with it for certain advantages of a given corporation; in it everything is “the other way around”: people receive freedom and the power of love from Christ. In the Church, a person in Christ overcomes the fall, fills the lower planes of existence with the Holy Spirit, and in all this he himself receives not a decrease in personality and freedom, but an increase in them. The Church is therefore the highest value compared to family, clan, tribe, nation, state, etc. If a person confuses all this, if he introduces into Christianity non-church, old principles of existence, overcome by the Savior, then he thereby belittles the Church, preventing Christ from sanctifying, justifying and building himself, his God-committed personality; and in this case, truly a person’s family, clan, and nation become enemies - if for him they are higher than Christ and His Church. This, by the way, is one of the most pressing problems of today’s church reality. Why is our church life in decline? Because we ourselves do not allow the Church to be what it is, wanting to reduce it to ensuring national, public, family and other interests. In this regard, it is quite possible to say that not only for an individual Christian, but also for the Church, there are situations when those at home become enemies...
3. And the third, perhaps the deepest meaning of the gospel words we are analyzing. Let us listen to what the Lord says: If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, and at the same time his whole life, then he cannot be My disciple; and whoever does not bear his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26 - 27). A sharp (and frequently asked) question immediately arises: how is this possible?? After all, Christianity, on the contrary, calls for preserving the family, building it up; there is a commandment of God to honor parents (Ex. 20:12); The Church contains the Sacrament of Marriage - and here are these words? Isn't there a glaring contradiction here?
No, there is no contradiction. First, we have already said that biblical language often polarizes concepts. The word “will hate” here does not appear in its own sense, but shows, as it were, the maximum distance from its opposite - that is, from the concept of “love”. The meaning here is that you need to love Christ incomparably more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters and your very life. This doesn't mean outright hating it all; Yes, we won’t be able to do this, because God Himself, who said such harsh words, put in us a natural love for life, for parents, for relatives, He Himself gave the commandment about love for people. This means that love for God should be as much greater, fundamentally, qualitatively significant and stronger as “hatred” is separated from “liking”.
And secondly. Let's take the Sacrament of Marriage. In it, the spouses naturally become “one flesh” (Gen. 2:24); the grace of God creates this transpersonal organism into unity and spirituality, into a small Church. What do the above words of Christ mean in this context? How can we understand this “hatred” when we are talking about a gracious action, about the blessing of God?
Here's how. The Lord says here that the first, main, metaphysical connection of a person is a connection with God. That is, despite the fact that in marriage people become almost one being, one flesh, there is no closer relationship between people than in marriage - however, the connection between the soul and God is incomparably more important, more important, more real, I would say - ontological. And - a paradox: it would seem, how is marriage possible then? parental and filial love? friendship? in general - life in this world? It turns out that it is only and exclusively on this basis: when Christ is brought into the very core of life. Without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5), He said; and these are not empty words, not a metaphor, but absolute reality. Every human action, every effort is dust, dust, vanity; Only by bringing Christ into the core of our life, into all our deeds and movements of the soul without exception, does a person acquire meaning, strength, and the eternal dimension of his existence. Without Christ, everything is absolutely meaningless: marriage, parental relationships, and everything that makes up life on earth, and life itself. With Christ everything falls into place; Christ gives man joy and happiness in all this; without Him this is completely impossible. But for this, He must be in His rightful, first place in our lives. - This is what our Gospel commandment speaks about, “cruel,” repulsive at first glance, but containing the most important truths of Christianity. “Hatred” and “enmity” here mean the hierarchy of Christian values, namely: the only true and real Value on earth is the Lord Jesus Christ; everything receives a value meaning only and exclusively under the condition of direct (in the Church) or indirect (society, culture, etc.) communion with Him; everything outside of Him is meaningless, empty and disastrous...
What does all this mean in practice? After all, this commandment was given to us not for abstract contemplation, but for fulfillment. And we can’t all go to a monastery; we live in conditions, both external and internal, that are unlikely to allow us to realize the ideal described above... How can we be “in everyday life,” so to speak?
Holy Scripture must be perceived in its entirety, without tearing out one thing, even if it is fundamental and profound. If we maintain this integrity, this is what we get:
We honor our parents, we love our brothers and sisters, we build the family into the image of the Church... but all this must be in Christ. As soon as something in our relationships with our neighbors, and in our lives in general, contradicts Christ, His Gospel, then it becomes hostile to us. But this “enmity” is also Gospel; it does not mean that we should kill our fellow “enemies”, or distance ourselves from them, or stop fulfilling our moral duties towards them, or anything like that. We need, firstly, to realize the situation, secondly, to correct what we can, what depends on us, thirdly - if changing the situation is impossible - to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us and pray for those who offend us and persecute us us (cf. Matt. 5:44), - while asking God for wisdom, so that our light shines before people, so that they see our good deeds and glorify our Heavenly Father (cf. Matt. 5:16); but also, on the other hand, to be careful not to give holy things to dogs and not to throw our pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear us to pieces (cf. Matt. 7:6). It takes intelligence, experience, wisdom, and love for countless situations of this kind to be resolved in a Christian way.
***
Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov:
- Loneliness before God- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- About everyday missionary work- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- The rules are read, fasts are kept, but life in Christ is not enough...- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Dechurching: Protestantism and Orthodoxy- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Reflections on de-churching- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Nothing can shake the will of a Christian: neither Angels, nor authorities... and especially not the UEC- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Loneliness before God- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Freedom over obedience, or a conversation between a nun and the abbot- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Mission Paths in Russia- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Why do children of church-going parents leave the Church?- Abbot Pert Meshcherinov
- Subculture instead of Church- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
- Orthodoxy in Russia and the 20-year trial of freedom: about the substitution of church life in a frank conversation with Abbot Peter Meshcherinov - Boris Knorre
- Should a Christian be a walrus?- Hegumen Pyotr Meshcherinov, Hieromonk Hermogenes Ananyev, Priest Grigory Kovalev
- Reflections on the book of Archimandrite Lazar (Abashidze) “The Torment of Love”- Hegumen Peter Meshcherinov
***
Here is another Gospel saying that raises eternal questions.
“No one can serve two masters: for either he will hate one and love the other; or he will be devoted to one and neglect the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you: do not worry about your soul, what you will eat and what you will eat.” drink, nor for your body, what to put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better them? Yes, and which of you, by caring, can add one cubit to his height? And why do you worry about clothing? Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you that Solomon is in all glory He did not dress himself like any of them, but if God clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more than you, you of little faith! So do not worry and say, “What shall we eat?” or what shall we drink? or what to wear? because the pagans are seeking all this, and because your Heavenly Father knows that you need all this. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things: its own worry is enough for each day" (Matthew 6:24 - 34).
What does it mean? How does it feel to not care? Quit studying? Not to make a career? Not to start a family - because if you start one, you need to ensure its existence and stability? But what about the Apostle Paul, “a chosen vessel” (Acts 9:15), calls for us to take example from ourselves: we did not eat anyone’s bread for nothing, but labored and labored night and day, so as not to burden any of you (2 Thess. 3:8), and says: if anyone does not want to work, neither should he eat (2 Thess. 3:10)? And here we are not talking about the work of creating salvation, but about ordinary human work. Another contradiction? What about the Church? Here's the reverend. John the Prophet writes: “all human labor is vanity” (and before him, the wise Ecclesiastes exhaustively expressed the same thought); How does the Church call for creativity, constructive and conscientious work in all areas of human life? And historically we see that the Church of Christ gave a huge impetus to the creation of European civilization, culture, science; well, the Church contradicts itself, its Holy Scripture? How to combine the above “anti-social” evangelical statement and the social calls of the Church? Etc.
1. This gospel commandment does not at all mean that we do not need to work on earth. We won’t be able to sit on a chair, fold our arms, say a prayer and wait for banknotes, success, prosperity, etc. to rain down on us from the sky. Born into this world, we are built into the course of things, which does not allow us to sit idly by: if only in order to maintain our existence, we must eat our bread by the sweat of our brow (cf. Gen. 3:19), by definition God's We are talking here about the internal attitude towards all this; here we again see the novelty of our New Testament, namely: everything is accomplished within, in the soul. Next to “not caring” about tomorrow, the Lord set an indispensable condition: seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). There is no need to give up any activity (of course, if it does not contradict the commandments of God); on the contrary, we must do all our deeds the best way. The fact is that it is in everyday reality that the will of God is done by us; outside the everyday series of our affairs it is impossible to seek the Kingdom of God and the truth of God. But we need to put aside the worry that torments and wears away our souls. This is not the kind of concern that is natural to a person and which manifests itself in planning, in the best distribution of forces and means to complete the task. The concern that the Lord speaks of is a fussy uncertainty about the future, stemming from a lack of faith, from the fact that Christ is not the main thing in our lives. If we replace this very uncertainty with trust in God, surrendering all our worries to Him (cast your worries on the Lord, and He will support you. - Ps. 54:23), and we combine all our deeds with the search for the moral gospel meaning in them, - then we will see the promise coming true over us - and all this (i.e., what we need for earthly life) will be added to you (Matthew 6:33).
So this commandment does not call us to renounce earthly affairs; on the contrary, God’s truth, contained in these affairs, requires us to conscientious moral activity to identify it at every moment of our existence. This will lead to an internal reorientation of our entire life towards Christ and the Kingdom of God. Only from this perspective will we be able to see and evaluate the quality of our deeds; in addition, only in Christ do our deeds acquire strength and dignity, and outside of Him they will always remain vanity and vexation of spirit (cf. Eccl. 1:14). This is the meaning of the Gospel words we are analyzing.
2. From this commandment one can discern the principle of action of the Church of Christ - to transform internally and personally, and through them - externally and socially. But not the other way around. This, unfortunately, is not understood by people who demand that the Church solve specifically public and social problems. Why did the Church enter history and defeat it, laying the foundation (as we have already talked about) of a new civilization? Because she didn’t touch anything, didn’t “destroy” anything: neither the family, nor the nation, nor the state. The Church did not invade these areas of life with decisive reforms, but she brought an internal, eternal meaning to all this, and thereby transformed human culture. The Church has always been strictly concerned not to lose its inner freedom, non-constraint by the forms of this world; therefore, she never set precisely this goal - to improve society socially. The Church accepted everything as it was, but in this “as it is” it sought the Kingdom of God and His righteousness - and an increase was added to it by entire nations. Now the commandment has been forgotten - and peoples are leaving the Church, and within the Church the church consciousness is distorted... Let us at least be in our personal life try to follow this commandment, and then church and social life can gradually transform.
Petr Meshcherinov, abbot
Published in the magazine "Alpha and Omega" No. 2, 2006
Published with permission of the author.
Gen 27:9 ...and I will prepare from them a meal for your father, such as he loves,..
Gen 37:4 ...as their father loves him more than all his brothers...
Gen 44:20 ...and he was left alone from his mother and father loves his...
Deuteronomy 7:8 ...but because loves you Lord...
Deut 10:18 ...and loves stranger, and gives him bread and clothing...
Deuteronomy 23:5 ...for the Lord is your God loves you...
Deuteronomy 33:3 ...He is truly loves people [Own];..
Ruth 4:15 ...for your daughter-in-law gave birth to him, loves you,..
Psalm 10:7 ...for the Lord is righteous, loves the truth;..
Psalm 32:5 ...He loves truth and justice;..
Psalm 33:13 ...Does a man want to live and loves whether longevity...
Psalm 36:28 ...for the Lord loves righteousness and does not forsake His saints...
Psalm 86:2 ...Lord loves The gates of Zion are greater than all the villages of Jacob...
Psalm 99:4 ...And the might of the king loves court...
Psalm 145:8 ...Lord loves righteous...
Proverbs 3:12 ...for whom loves The Lord is punishing him...
Proverbs 12:1 ...Who loves instruction, that loves knowledge;..
Proverbs 13:25 ...and who loves, he has been punishing him since childhood...
Proverbs 15:9 ...but he who walks in the way of righteousness loves...
Proverbs 15:12 ...Not loves dissolute denouncing him...
Proverbs 16:13 ...and he who speaks the truth loves...
Proverbs 17:17 ...Friend loves at any time...
Proverbs 17:19 ...Who loves quarreling, loves sin,..
Proverbs 18:2 ...A fool is not loves knowledge,..
Proverbs 19:8 ...He who gains understanding loves your soul;...
Proverbs 21:17 ...Who loves fun, poorer;..
Proverbs 21:17 ...and who loves wine and fat, he will not get rich...
Proverbs 22:11 ...Who loves purity of heart, pleasantness on his lips...
Eccl 5:9 ...Who loves silver, he will not be satisfied with silver...
Eccl 5:9 ...and who loves wealth, there is no benefit from it...
Song 1:6 ...Tell me, you, whom loves my soul: where do you graze?..
Song 3:1 ...On my bed at night I sought him whom loves my soul,..
Song 3:2 ...and I will seek him whom loves my soul;..
Song 3:3 ...have you not seen the one whom loves my soul?..
Song 3:4 ...how I found the one whom loves my soul,..
Jeremiah 5:31 ...and my people loves This...
Hos 3:1 ...just as loves The Lord of the children of Israel...
Hos 12:7 ... loves offend;..
Micah 7:18 ...He is not angry forever, because loves have mercy...
Matthew 10:37 ...Who loves father or mother more than Me...
Matthew 10:37 ...and who loves son or daughter more than Me...
Matthew 11:19 ...which loves eat and drink wine...
Luke 7:5 ...for he loves our people...
Luke 7:34 ...and say, “Here is a man who loves eat and drink wine...
Luke 7:47 ...but to whom little is forgiven, little is forgiven loves...
John 3:35 ...Father loves Son and gave all things into His hand...
John 5:20 ...For the Father loves Son and shows Him everything that He Himself does;...
John 10:17 ...Therefore loves I am Father...
John 14:21 ...Whoever has My commandments and keeps them loves Me;..
John 14:21 ...and who loves Me, he will be loved by My Father;...
John 14:23 ...who loves Me, he will keep My word;...
John 16:27 ...for the Father Himself loves you,..
James 4:5 ...until jealousy loves spirit living in us?..
1 Peter 3:10 ...For who loves life and wants to see good days...
1 John 2:10 ...Who loves his brother, he abides in the light...
1 John 2:15 ...who loves world, there is no Father's love in it...
1 John 4:8 ...Who doesn't loves, he did not know God...
1 John 5:1 ...and everyone who loves Him who begat loves and the One born of Him...
1 Cor 8:3 ...But who loves God, he has been given knowledge from Him...
1 Cor 16:22 ...Who does not loves Lord Jesus Christ, anathema, maran-afa...
2 Cor 9:7 ...for he who gives cheerfully loves God...
Eph 5:28 ...who loves his wife loves yourself...
Eph 5:33 ...So every one of you yes loves his wife as himself;...
Hebrews 12:6 ...For the Lord, whom loves, punishes him;..
2Ride 4:25 ...And more loves a man has his wife rather than his father and mother...
Wisdom 7:28 ...for God has no one loves except the one who lives with wisdom...
Wis 8:7 ...If anyone loves righteousness - its fruits are virtues:...
Sir 3:25 ...Who loves danger, he will fall into it;...
Sir 4:13 ...who loves her loves life,..
Sir 4:15 ...and those who love her loves Lord;..
Sir 7:23 ...Yes, an intelligent slave loves your soul...
Sir 13:19 ...Every animal loves like yourself...
Sir 30:1 ...Who loves his son, let him punish him more often...
Tov 6:15 ...ee loves a demon who harms no one,
The Holy Church reads the Gospel of Matthew. Chapter 10, Art. 32-33; 37-38; Chapter 19, Art. 27-30.
10.32. Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Heavenly Father;
10.33. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven.
10.37. Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me;
10.38. and whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.
19.27. Then Peter answered and said to Him: Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what will happen to us?
19.28. Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
19.29. And everyone who leaves houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.
19.30. But many who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first.
(Matthew 10, 32–33, 37–38; 19, 27–30)
Having warned of the upcoming persecution awaiting His followers, the Savior calls them to confession.
Euthymius Zigaben explains: “By confession... he encourages them to testify about Himself. Therefore he says: if anyone testifies before people about My Divinity, I will also testify before My Father about his faith, that is, everyone who declares Me to be God, I will declare to be a believer. But whoever rejects Me, I will also reject him.”
Confessing Christ, one must love Him more than anyone else, and put His will, expressed in the commandments, above the will of any other person, and therefore the Savior adds: Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me(Matt. 10:37).
And these words did not sound strange or unexpected to the people around Him. On the contrary, they were a confirmation of faith, because they did not contradict the commandment to honor parents, but complemented it, putting God in first place in spiritual life.
The inhabitants of Galilee knew well what the cross was. What remains in their memory is the suppression of the uprising of Judas of Galilee by the Roman commander Varus, who ordered two thousand Jews to be crucified on crosses and crosses to be placed along the roads of Galilee. Those listening to Christ remembered how the condemned themselves carried their crosses to the place of crucifixion.
Saint Ignatius (Brianchaninov) writes: “The cross, according to the explanation of the holy fathers, is the name for those sorrows that God wants to allow us during our earthly pilgrimage. Sorrows are varied: each person has his own sorrows; sorrows are most suitable to the passions of each; For this reason, everyone has “his own cross.” Each of us is commanded to accept this cross of ours, that is, to recognize ourselves as worthy of the sorrow sent to us, to endure it complacently, following Christ, borrowing from Him the humility through which sorrow is endured.”
Addressing those listening to Him, the Savior said that the desire to retain existing earthly goods binds a person’s interests, thoughts and feelings to earthly things, which does not allow them to follow the eternal.
To which the Apostle Peter remarked: Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what will happen to us?(Matt. 19:27). Indeed, the apostles were people of different professions and incomes. Some were poor, some, on the contrary, were rich, but they all left everything they had and followed Christ. This expressed their selflessness.
To this the Lord responds that everyone who leaves for His sake everything to which the soul is attached will receive a great reward, and not only in the future, but also in this earthly life.
The Monk John Cassian notes: “He who, for the sake of the name of Christ, will cease to love only father, mother or son and will sincerely love all those who serve Christ will acquire a hundred times more brothers and parents. Instead of one brother or father, he will acquire many fathers and brothers who will be connected with him with an even more ardent and effective feeling.”
Indeed, in the first centuries of Christianity, during the persecution, all Christians formed, as it were, one family, being brothers and sisters in Christ, and the house of each of them was always open to every proclaimer of the word of God, becoming, as it were, his own home in return for the one abandoned for the sake of Christ and preaching Gospels.
The lines of today's Gospel reading, dear brothers and sisters, tell us that every Christian has to sacrifice his peace, comfort and desires for the sake of fulfilling the will of God in this world. This is the way of bearing the cross. And only by following this path do we become heirs of the glory of the Kingdom of God.
Help us in this, Lord!
Hieromonk Pimen (Shevchenko)
The Lord said to His disciples: whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who saves his soul will lose it; but he who loses his life for My sake will save it. Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; whoever receives the prophet, in the name of the prophet, will receive the reward of the prophet; and whoever receives the righteous, in the name of the righteous, will receive the reward of the righteous. And whoever gives one of these little ones to drink only the cup cold water, in the name of the disciple, truly I tell you, he will not lose his reward. And when Jesus finished teaching his twelve disciples, he went from there to teach and preach in their cities.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” says Christ. What harsh words! Inhumane words - who can understand them, especially in our time, which is so difficult for parents in their difficult relationships with their children. It seems simply incredible that the Lord would advise children to stop loving their parents! No, the fifth commandment of God is God’s sacred institution: “Honor your father and mother.” Christ Himself gave an example of obedience and fidelity to His Mother (Luke 2:51; John 19:26–28). He also reminds us that specific concern for parents comes even ahead of the “sacrifice for the Temple” (Matthew 15:3-6). What does the Lord want to say with these harsh words?
Here Christ touches upon our most sacred duty, to say with the utmost clarity that we are to prefer Him to those most beloved, to those whom we ought to love most. Following Christ, being a believer in Him, can sometimes cause opposition from those closest to us. But the Lord requires us to be able to prefer Him to everything. And we know, especially in our time, how often this happens. The Word of God offers a decisive choice that is our whole life. Because of the demand for radical change, Christ can often be the cause of division even within families united by the strongest natural affection. Two thousand years after these words were first spoken, this confrontation is not as new as some might think. It's all about how we can gain the courage to remain faithful to Christ even at the cost of our heart's blood.
“Whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me,” declares the Lord. These words are absolutely consonant with the previous ones. After the relationship of children to parents comes the relationship of parents to children. Christ demands that He be given first place in our love for anyone. Who can have the right to such an unacceptable, incomprehensible demand except God? Of all the great founders of the world's religions, Christ is the only one who says this. All other religions place God above all else. And here Christ does not cease to repeat to those who are “not worthy of Me.” Who is He?
We usually say that only by loving each other do we love God. And so it is. God wants our relationships to be based on love. It would be terrible if we began to use these words of the Savior to justify our lack of love, our selfish inability to care for loved ones, our focus on personal interests.
Love your father and mother. To love your son or daughter. This applies not only to a narrow family circle. Here is the basis of our hereditary, cultural, human connections. Whether we like it or not, we depend on each other, and we create this dependence. We are part of the “environment”, the whole that makes up our life. But this unity, no matter how important it is, cannot be an excuse for us that we do not follow Christ. Whoever loves his environment more than Me, says Christ, is not worthy of Me. He who loves his friends more than Me, says Christ, is not worthy of Me. Whoever loves what happens to him, the work of his life, more than Me, is not worthy of Me!
“And whoever does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. This is the third stage of rejection. One must also deny oneself and, first of all, oneself. This word about the Cross reminds us that Christ does not offer us anything that He Himself would not fulfill. Every cross that is given to us, every sorrow, is an invitation to follow Christ. During the earthly life of Christ, the Cross was neither a shrine nor a decoration - crucifixion was very common, performed in front of curious crowds cruel execution intended for slaves.
“He who saves his soul,” says Christ, “will lose it. But he who loses his life for My sake will save it.” How contrary is this to what one values most? modern world: today the highest goal of a person is to “realize oneself”, to reveal oneself in full. And Christ proposes to lose oneself and destroy oneself!
However, if we think a little, we will see in this commandment of Christ one of the fundamental laws of our life. A human being who is unable to deny himself for another is incapable of love. Every day our life convinces us that it is necessary to sacrifice ourselves in order to truly realize ourselves in the love of another. A paradox that is truly revealed only in the light of the Paschal mystery of Christ. Lose your life to gain it! The word of Christ is firm and joyful. This is a priceless acquisition. The Lord invites us to die to ourselves in order to live an authentic life. “I came that they might have life, and life more abundantly,” He says (John 10:10). This can have nothing in common with that nihilistic heroism, with that suicidal clouding of reason that is being implanted today. The Lord speaks about the daily feat of love, which requires us to renounce ourselves for the sake of others - this is the highest flowering of the human personality.
Not the destruction of man, but his creation! It is enough for us to remember about the Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, the holy righteous John of Kronstadt, the holy martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth and our other countless saints. And withdrawal into oneself, into one’s petty egoism, into one’s ambitions, is the most reliable way, as Christ says, to destroy your life. To be baptized, according to the word of the Apostle, is to be crucified with Christ in order to live with Him. And every liturgy reminds us that the Lord gave Himself for us.
“Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me,” says Christ. No matter what happens to us, it is always about love, and about love in its simplest expression - accepting another. Receiving Christ's servants, others, without knowing it themselves, received not only angels, but Christ Himself: “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty?” No matter how small our ability to do good may be, the Lord accepts even a cup of cold water given to one of these little ones. Our good deeds are determined not by the price of the gift, but by the love of the giver. For this reason, the widow's copper coin was not only accepted, but placed above all other offerings.
We must do good, looking to Christ, for His sake. A prophet must be received in the name of a prophet, a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, and one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, because they all carry within themselves the holiness and image of Christ. Kindness shown to those who are Christ's will not only be accepted, but will be greatly rewarded. Rewards can be different: there is a reward for a prophet, there is a reward for a righteous person, and there is a reward for one of these little ones. But they all lie in our one and only, unique and endless communion with Christ in eternity.
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