We continue with the following verses, 17 and 18:
Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Saint John Chrysostom comments on this passage: “What, can a good man not become evil, and the reverse? Human life is filled with many such examples. However, Christ does not here say that it is supposedly impossible for a wicked man to change, or for a good man to fall, but rather that a man cannot bear good fruit so long as he lives wickedly. An evil man can indeed turn to virtue; yet as long as he remains evil, he cannot bring forth good fruit. How then did David, being good, bring forth an evil fruit? At that moment he was not abiding in virtue, but having changed, he committed that deed. If he had remained steadfast in that in which he had previously lived, he would not have dared to attempt what he did. The Saviour uttered these words also to silence the mouths of those who slandered foolishly, and to restrain the tongues of those who spoke evil. He wished to deprive the wicked of any excuse, by which they cast suspicion even upon the good.”
Tikhon of Zadonsk, in his interpretation of these verses, directs Christians to the inner life, which is just as necessary as good external conduct. Saint Tikhon writes: “In this we ought to imitate the tree. Just as we do not commit evil outwardly, so too inwardly we must not do it. As we appear good outwardly, so inwardly we must be, like a good tree. Outwardly not to do evil—and inwardly not to think evil. Outwardly not to kill one’s neighbor—and inwardly not to be angry with him nor to harbor malice. With our hands not to steal—and inwardly not to desire it. With our tongue not to slander—and inwardly not to think such things. With the body not to be proud—and in mind and heart not to be inflated. With the body not to be defiled—and with the heart to keep pure from it, so that there may be true concord of soul and body in godliness.”
Now we turn to the next verses, 19 and 20:
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Abba Justin writes: “Although the Saviour commands His followers not to punish false prophets but to beware of them, nevertheless, in order to comfort the former and to frighten and move the latter to repentance, He pronounces also their punishment, saying: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
Chrysostom, on this verse, uttered famous words which show the very essence of the Christian teaching about God, who is love. For us Christians, the greatest punishment does not consist in being tormented in the unquenchable fire and eternally kept in the company of demons. According to Saint Chrysostom, our greatest punishment is to be eternally separated from God, to be condemned forever to live apart from Him who is Love. Here are his words: “It seems that the Lord here speaks only of one punishment, namely of being burned. Yet if one considers more attentively, he will see here two punishments. For whoever is burned is certainly also deprived of the kingdom; and this punishment is worse than the first. I know that many are horrified only at the thought of the fiery Gehenna; but I think that the deprivation of heavenly glory is a more cruel torment than Gehenna. It is no wonder if this cannot be described in words, since we do not know even the blessedness of eternal goods, in order that we might clearly perceive the tragedy that comes from being deprived of them. Paul, who knew this well, saw that the most dreadful thing was falling away from the glory of Christ. We shall come to know this when we ourselves experience it.” May God grant that we never experience this warning of Chrysostom.
We now proceed to verse 21, which reads:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven…”
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Saint John Chrysostom explains this verse in a very striking way, clarifying why the Lord Jesus mentions the will of the Father, but not His own will: “Why did the Saviour not say: ‘he who does My will’? Because, at the beginning, it was sufficient that even this thought should be accepted by the listeners. The other formulation would have been too lofty for their weakness. Yet the latter is included in the former. Therefore, one must say that the will of the Son does not differ from the will of the Father.”
Blessed Theophylact continues this thought of Saint John and writes: “Through these words Christ shows us that He Himself is Lord and God. He also teaches us that faith will be of no benefit to us if we do not confirm it by works. The one who does the will of My Father is not he who has once fulfilled the will of God, but he who fulfills it continually until death. He did not say ‘he who does My will,’ so as not to scandalize His hearers, but ‘the will of My Father,’ for the will of the Father and the Son is always one—unless the son rebels against the father.”
Blessed Jerome confirms a truth which the Holy Fathers love to emphasize often—that for salvation it is necessary both to hold to true dogmas and to live a pure life. He writes: “Just as earlier the Lord said that those who have the outward guise of a good life should not be accepted because of corrupt teaching, so now He affirms that those who, although strong in pure faith, live impiously and corrupt the purity of doctrine by evil deeds—such men gain nothing from their faith. For it is necessary for the servants of God to have both: that the deed may be confirmed by the word, and that the word may be expressed in deeds.”
Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov, in his interpretation of this verse, also speaks of the Jesus Prayer—something perhaps unexpected here. The saint explains that the keeping of the commandments is necessary if we are to be able to pray successfully, that is, rightly, to the Lord. Hear his words: “All the power and entire efficacy of the Jesus Prayer proceeds from the all-powerful name of Jesus, the only name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). In order that we may become capable of discovering this efficacy within us, we must be prepared by the commandments of the Gospel, as the Lord has said: Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Neither into the kingdom which awaits us after the blessed end, nor into the kingdom which is revealed within us during our earthly life, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. For those who have advanced in prayer, no external means are necessary: in the midst of the noisy crowd, they are at peace. All obstacles to spiritual progress are within us—only within us! If something outward appears to hinder us, it serves only to expose our weak will, our indecisiveness, our woundedness by sin.”
Thus, if we are to progress in prayer and in the spiritual life, the foundation must be the keeping of the commandments. This must be the essence of all our spiritual efforts.
Verses 22–23
Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”
Saint John Chrysostom here addresses a dilemma that arises in the minds of many when reading these verses. The question naturally arises: how is it possible that a person who possesses grace to work miracles is, in the end, rejected by Christ? Here are Chrysostom’s words: “What does this strange and unexpected end mean? Some marvel that people who have performed so many miracles should be subjected to punishment. Do not be surprised at this. All that grace was nothing other than a gift of the Giver; they contributed nothing of their own. Therefore, they are justly punished, having made themselves ungrateful and insensitive toward Him who so greatly honoured them by granting—even to the unworthy—the grace of miracle-working. You will ask: did they perform impious deeds while at the same time working miracles? … The Lord wished to show that neither faith nor miracles mean anything without a virtuous life… One is not deprived of the Kingdom of Heaven only if he has faith but neglects his life; likewise, from its sacred gates will also be excluded the one who, though he had faith and worked many miracles, did nothing good.”
Saint Cyril of Alexandria supplements this explanation and speaks specifically of those to whom Christ’s words may also refer: “This saying is directed against those who at first believed rightly and diligently advanced in virtue, so that they even worked wonders, cast out demons, and prophesied, but later fell into evil—and this by their own deliberate choice and inclination. For if the Lord says, ‘I never knew you,’ then it means that the man who at the beginning lived in virtue, but in the end was established in evil, the Lord counts as though He had never known him. God says He knows those whom He loves, and He loves those who fully believe in Him and do what is pleasing to Him.”
Anastasius of Sinai provides a fitting answer to the dilemma which can indeed trouble even pious Christians: what to say, how to overcome the doubt that arises when we see someone who, though outside communion with God according to the teaching of the Church, nevertheless performs an evident miracle? Here is the saint’s answer: “You must know that if you ever see a sign performed by God’s judgment—whether by a heretic or an unbeliever—you must not let your Orthodox faith be shaken by the sign or the miracle. For it is entirely possible that God should perform a sign or wonder, only to test you. At times it is the faith of the one approaching the Lord that accomplishes the miracle, not the worthiness of the man himself. For John, who was the greatest born of women, did no sign; but Judas, while still among the apostles, performed miracles. Therefore, when you see some unworthy or heretical man performing a miracle, do not consider it something great.”
Blessed Jerome complements the thought of Saint Anastasius with these words: “To prophesy, to show the power of miracle-working, and to cast out demons is not the merit of the one who does it; he does it either through invoking the name of Christ, or it is given for the condemnation of those who invoke, and for the benefit of those who see and hear. Thus, even though men may despise those who work miracles, they ought nonetheless to revere God, for whose name’s sake so many miracles are done. For Saul, Balaam, and Caiaphas prophesied without knowing what they were saying. Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar saw the future in dreams. The sons of Sceva cast out demons, as the Acts of the Apostles testifies. And it is said even of the apostle Judas, who had the soul of a traitor, that while among the apostles he performed many signs.”
Saint Gregory Palamas explains what is truly required of us: “We are not at all required to master the power of casting out demons; and even if we were able to cast them out, we would gain nothing thereby if we lived carelessly… Therefore, it is far more beneficial to take care to expel from the soul the passions of lust, anger, hatred, and pride, than to cast out demons. It is not enough to abstain only from bodily sins; we must also purify the energies that have nested in the soul. For from our heart proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, murders, thefts, avarice, and the like, and these are what move a man… Thus, if you strive to make your inner life conform to God, you will conquer even the passions that come from without.”
The words “I never knew you” are explained by Saint Justin Popović in this way: “All the dread of the Last Judgment lies in these four words of Christ: ‘I never knew you.’ You fled so far from Me, the All-knowing, that even My knowledge does not reach you; you so fully identified yourselves with sin, so utterly fell away from God, so disfigured the divine likeness given to you at creation, that even I—the God of love and all-love—do not know you. According to the blessed Augustine: ‘I never knew you’ is equivalent to the words: ‘You never knew Me.’” Theophylact adds that the words “I never knew you” mean rather: “Even when you were working miracles, I did not love you,” that is, that here “knowledge” implies love.
Adapted and arranged for the contemporary reader on the basis of patristic commentaries by Stanoje Stanković.
