We continue our reflection on verse 21 of the sixth chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew. Blessed Jerome of Stridon observes that our hearts are often, through the passions, bound to the earth, and that it is ultimately the heart that determines who or what is the supreme value in our lives. He writes:
“This should be applied not only to money but to all passions and possessions in general. For the glutton, the stomach is god. Thus, his heart is where his treasure is; the treasure for a lover of luxury is refined food; for the slothful, it is games and entertainment; for the lustful, it is sensuality.”
Indeed, this orientation of the heart often determines whether a person is open to God or not. This is why Saint John Chrysostom reasons as follows:
“No matter how much I speak with you, as long as your mind is attached to wealth, you cannot receive anything beneficial for your soul. Just as a dog is chained, so are you bound—more firmly than by any chain—to your concern for money.”
It is precisely for this reason that the Lord warns against the desire to acquire and clearly speaks of the deceitfulness of riches (cf. Mark 4:19). From these words we may also draw the conclusion that one should not speak to everyone about God indiscriminately, without discernment and understanding of the inner state of the listener.
Verses 22–23:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
The Holy Fathers emphasize once again that the Lord is not speaking of the physical organ of sight, but rather of the nous—the spiritual intellect—which is the eye of the inner person.
Saint Athanasius the Great writes:
“O wise reader, when you hear of the evil eye, understand not the eye in the head, but rather the deceitful thought in an unenlightened heart. And even if the bodily eye becomes darkened by great inflammation or pain, such physical blindness does not make a man estranged from the eternal and future blessings.”
Chrysostom expands on this idea with the following analogy:
“If you block the spring, you will dry up the river. So too, when a person clouds the mind, all his actions in this life become disordered. Therefore, the Saviour says: ‘If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!’”
Let us attend to the power of spiritual counsel from Saint Anthony the Great. As the foremost ascetic father of the desert, he offered advice applicable even to Christians living in the world. He says:
“Self-examination and spiritual discernment are the eye and lamp of the soul, just as the physical eye is the lamp of the body… Through self-examination, a man investigates and discerns all his desires, words, and actions, and withdraws from whatever might distance him from God. Through spiritually discerning inquiry, one casts aside and utterly destroys all the snares of the enemy, clearly distinguishing good from evil. This is a self-evident truth of Holy Scripture.”
Thus, the Fathers exhort each person to set aside at least some time to be alone with themselves and to observe what is occurring within. Yet, during such self-examination, one may easily be swayed by subjective feelings and use them as the measure of one’s state. That is why Saint John of Kronstadt offers a clear standard by which to judge oneself. He writes:
“The lamp of the body is the eye—that is, the lamp of the soul or the heart is the reason. The reason must be the guiding star for the movements of the heart. The intellect ought to pour into the heart the light of faith and natural knowledge; it ought to support the holy impulses, the movements of virtue, while cutting off sinful and passionate movements, as those which bring ruin to the soul and are opposed to God…”
We continue with verse 24:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.”
Saint John Chrysostom draws attention to an issue that confuses many within the Church—namely, the fact that Scripture repeatedly warns us of the potential dangers wealth can bring. Yet, at the same time, we see in Scripture that some of the great righteous figures such as Abraham, Job, Solomon, and David were exceptionally wealthy.
Here is how Chrysostom addresses this apparent contradiction:
“Christ says: wealth is not harmful merely because it arms robbers against you and completely darkens your mind; it is harmful above all because it enslaves you to soulless possessions, draws you away from serving God, and harms you by making you a servant of what you ought to govern… And how then, you ask, did Abraham and Job please God? Do not speak to me of the wealthy, but of those enslaved to wealth. Job was rich, yet he did not serve Mammon; he possessed wealth and ruled over it, being its master and not its slave. He used wealth as a steward of another’s possessions—not only did he not steal from others, but he gave of his own to those who had nothing.”
Thus, it becomes clear that the essence lies in the improper relationship to wealth—when we serve it, rather than allowing it to serve us as a means of attaining the Kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed Jerome explains this further:
“In the Aramaic language, mammon signifies wealth. You cannot serve both God and riches! Let him who bears the name of Christian hear this: he cannot serve both Christ and wealth. However, the Lord does not speak here of the one who simply possesses wealth, but of the one who is a slave to it. Truly, he who is enslaved to wealth guards it as a servant; but the one who has cast off the yoke of wealth rules over it as a master.”
Verses 25–26:
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Throughout the history of the Church, these verses have been interpreted in various ways. In the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, there is a vivid account that illustrates an immoderate and misguided attempt to follow these words.
At the beginning of his ascetic life, Saint John the Dwarf removed all his clothing and went naked into the desert, desiring to live as an angel. When night fell, the desert became unbearably cold, and he realized his error. He returned to his cell and knocked on the door of his brother, asking to be let in and warmed. From within, the brother replied, “My brother John is struggling in the desert with the angels,” and left him outside all night to teach him a lesson.
This account demonstrates that the proper approach is not to concern ourselves excessively with the material, yet also to acknowledge that, as people living in the world, we must take thought for such matters. Our concern for the material must be measured and moderate, while our primary attention ought to be directed toward the inner life. Extremes in spiritual life are equally harmful.
At the same time, there were some in Church history who sought to justify their laziness through these verses. Groups such as the Manicheans and the Euchites condemned all human effort and planning, preaching idleness as a virtue. But Scripture shows, from its very beginning, that God gave humanity the command to work. In placing the first humans in Paradise, God instructed them to tend and keep it—that is, to labour. Importantly, this command to work was not given as punishment for sin, for humanity had not yet fallen, but as a necessary condition for human flourishing.
Thus, the question arises: how can we exert ourselves in our work while remaining free from anxiety about the outcome?
Saint John Chrysostom, as always, provides an excellent answer to this dilemma:
“But perhaps someone will say, ‘What, are we to discard everything? How then shall we live?’ To these excuses, the Saviour already provided an answer… After saying, You cannot serve God and mammon, He immediately adds, Therefore I say to you, do not worry. It is not only the pursuit of wealth that harms you, but even excessive concern for the most basic necessities is detrimental to your salvation; such concern distances you from God, Who created you, Who cares for you, and Who loves you… Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? That is to say, will not He Who has given the greater also provide the lesser? Will not the God Who created the body, which needs nourishment, also provide food for it?
The Saviour did not say, ‘Look at the birds—they fly,’ for that is beyond human capability; instead, He said, ‘Look—they are fed without care.’ And this, if we so wish, is entirely possible for us as well. Those who truly fulfilled this command have shown it to be so. We ought especially to marvel at the wisdom of the Lawgiver, for He could have pointed to human examples—Elijah, Moses, John the Baptist, and others who did not concern themselves with food. However, in order to have a stronger impact on His listeners, He chose to mention irrational creatures. Had He cited those righteous men, the listeners might have said, ‘But we have not yet become like them.’ Now, however, by referring to the birds of the air, He cuts off any room for excuse.”
It is clear, then, what Scripture teaches us: we ought to labour, to work diligently, but the anxiety over the fruits of that labour should be surrendered to Him Who cares for us.
Saint John of Kronstadt also highlights something we often overlook in these verses—namely, that the Lord’s mention of the birds is a call for us to be tireless in our struggle to acquire the Kingdom of God within ourselves.
Here are the words of Saint John of Kronstadt:
“What is also communicated here is that we are not to slumber, not to sit idle with folded hands, nor to fall into laziness; but just as the birds ceaselessly fly and seek food for themselves—using their sharp vision and natural instinct—so must we unceasingly employ our faculties and capacities to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, for this is the very purpose of our life, and not merely to seek food. We must continually sharpen our spiritual vision, or the eyes of our heart, and with their aid daily seek spiritual food and drink. These words do not forbid us from seeking temporal goods, but that pursuit must always come after the quest for the spiritual and heavenly goods.”
Adapted and rendered for the contemporary reader based on Patristic commentary by Stanoje Stanković.
