The Gospel in Brief

Chapter Six FALSE LIFE

And therefore, in order to receive true life, Man must renounce the false mortal life on earth and live by the spirit.

ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

For the life of the spirit there can be no difference between family and strangers. Jesus says that his mother and brothers mean nothing to him as family, but that only those who do the will of the common father are close to him. The ones who hold to the understanding of the father are blessed.

Jesus says that he does not have a specific place for himself, since he lives by the spirit. Living by the father’s will is possible in all places and at all times. The death of the flesh cannot be frightening for a person who has given themselves up to the father’s will because the life of the spirit is not dependent on the death of the flesh. Jesus says that whoever believes in the life of the spirit cannot fear anything.

In response to the man who says he will fulfill Jesus’s teachings afterwards, but that first he must bury his father, Jesus answers, “Only the dead should worry about burying the dead; those who live always live by fulfilling the will of the father.” Concerns about family and domestic duties cannot disturb the life of the spirit. Whoever worries about what will become of his mortal life as a result of fulfilling the father’s will does the same as the plowman who plows looking backward instead of forward. Concerns about the joys of mortal life, which seem so important to people, are like a dream. The only actions in life that are real are proclaiming the father’s will, attending to it and fulfilling it.

To Martha’s reproach about how she alone is concerned with dinner while her sister Mary does not help her, but sits listening to the teaching, Jesus says, “Worry about the worrisome if you must, but leave those who have no need for the flesh to do the one thing that is truly needed in life.”

Jesus says that whoever wants to receive true life should first renounce his own personal desires. Such a person should not only refrain from arranging his life according to his own desires so as not to damage the true life of fulfilling the father’s will but he must also be ready at any moment to endure all kinds of deprivations and suffering. There are no benefits to be obtained from mortal life if the obtaining of it damages the life of the spirit.

More than anything else, the life of the spirit is damaged by the acquiring of riches. People forget that no matter how many riches and belongings they acquire, they could still die at any moment and having things becomes superfluous. Death is an unavoidable condition of life, it hangs over each of us—sickness, murder at the hands of others, and accidents may cut a life short at any second. If a person is living, then he should look at every hour of his life as a reprieve. We are capable of knowing and predicting all that happens on earth and in heaven, but we forget that death awaits us at any second. If we keep from forgetting that, then we will keep from devoting ourselves to mortal life.

Like the guests who cannot attend the rich man’s feast because they are too busy with occupational and family matters, people become distracted by the concerns of mortal life, and deprive themselves of true life. Whoever does not renounce all the cares and fears of mortal life cannot fulfill the father’s will since it is impossible to serve yourself partially and the father partially. One must consider, is there any benefit to serving my own flesh, can I arrange my life the way that I want it? One must do the same as the man who is building a house or preparing for war. He calculates whether he can complete construction or whether he can conquer his enemy. And if he sees that he can’t, then of course he does not waste his labors or his soldiers pointlessly. One must calculate the benefits of serving mortal life and one’s own will versus the benefits of fulfilling the father’s will. Whoever calculates this will not resent forgoing the supposed blessedness and supposed life of mortality in order to receive true blessedness and true life. Since it is impossible to arrange life according to your desires, it is better to leave all flesh behind and serve the spirit. Otherwise you will have neither one nor the other. You will not be able to manage mortal life and you will lose the life of the spirit.

Like the estate manager who is aware that his master may dismiss him at any time, and so does good to other people while still in charge of the master’s riches, ensuring that when he is eventually dismissed he will be taken in and cared for, people should remember that mortal life is wealth that belongs to someone else, and that they manage it only temporarily. If they wisely use this other person’s wealth, then they’ll receive their own true wealth. If we do not give up our false property, then true property will never belong to us. The rich man is already guilty because he eats his fill and does so extravagantly while poor people are going hungry at his doors. Possessions which are not shared with others are nothing but the unfulfilled will of the father.

An orthodox believer, a wealthy leader of men, comes to Jesus, boasting that he has fulfilled all the commandments in the law. Jesus reminds him that there is a commandment to love all people as yourself, and that this is what the father’s will is based on. This leader says that he has done that as well. Jesus responds, “That is not true. If you wanted to fulfill the father’s will, you would have no possessions. It is impossible to fulfill the father’s will if you have your own belongings…People assume that without possessions it would be impossible to live; but I say to you that true life consists of giving what is yours to others.”

One man, Zacchaeus, hears Jesus’s teaching and comes to believe in it. He invites Jesus to his home, and says to him, “I am giving half of my estate to the poor and am repaying four times over everyone that I have ever offended.” And Jesus says, “Here is a man fulfilling the will of the father. Our whole life must be a sustained act of fulfilling the father’s will.”

A woman cries to Jesus and fervently pours three hundred rubles’ worth of oil on his feet. Judas says that she has done a stupid thing, that she could have fed many people with this money. But Judas was thinking about the benefits of the flesh, not thinking of the poor. Utility is not vital, neither is quantity, but fulfilling, every minute, the father’s will, that is what is vital. It is impossible to measure goodness. The widow who gives away her last mite gives more than the rich man who gives thousands. It is also impossible to measure goodness by what is useful and what is not useful.

And once, Jesus’s mother and brothers came to him but they could not make contact with Jesus because there were so many people surrounding him.

One man observed them and approached Jesus and said, “Your family members, mother and brothers are standing outside and they want to see you.”

And Jesus said, “My mother and brothers are those who have understood the father’s will and are fulfilling it.”

And a certain woman said, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the nipples that you sucked.”

To this, Jesus said, “Blessed only are those who have understood the knowledge of the father and are keeping it.”

And a certain man said to Jesus, “I will follow you no matter where you go.”

At this, Jesus said to him, “There is nowhere to follow me. I have no home, no place where I could live. Only animals have lairs and dens, but man is at home anywhere that he can live by the spirit.”

And it happened once that Jesus needed to travel by boat with his students.

He said, “We’ll go across to the other side.”

A storm arose on the lake and began to fill their boat with water so that soon it was on the verge of sinking. And he lay on the deck and slept.

They woke him and said, “Teacher! Do you really not care that we are going to perish?”

And when the storm had grown quiet, he said, “How is it that you are so timid? You have no faith in the life of the spirit within you.”

Jesus said to a certain man, “Follow me.” And the man said, “I have an elderly father; allow me first to bury him, then I will follow you.”

And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury the dead, but you, if you want to be alive, fulfill the father’s will and proclaim it.”

Yet another man said, “I want to be your student and I will fulfill the father’s will, as you command, but let me first arrange matters at home.”

And Jesus said to him, “If a plowman looks backward, then he cannot plow. No matter how much you look backward, you cannot plow while doing so. One must forget about everything, except for the furrow he is digging. Only then can he plow. If you are pondering how it will affect your mortal life, then you haven’t understood the true life and so you cannot live it.”

After this, it happened once that Jesus and his students stopped by a certain village. And a certain woman, Martha, invited him into her home. And Martha had a sister named Mary who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to his teaching, while Martha was bustling about making sure that there would be good refreshments.

And Martha approached Jesus and said, “Why don’t you do anything about the fact that my sister has left me all alone to do the serving? Tell her to give me some help.”

And in answer, Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you trouble yourself and are bustling about over many tasks, but there is only one real task required here, and Mary has chosen that required task, one which no one will take from her. Only spiritual food is necessary for life.”

And Jesus said to all, “Whoever wants to follow after me, let him renounce his own will and let him be prepared for all types of deprivations and suffering in the flesh, at every hour; only then can he follow after me. Because whoever wants to trouble themselves over their mortal lives will destroy their true life. And if it happens that someone destroys their mortal life while fulfilling the father’s will, they will preserve their true life. But what benefit is it to a person if they acquire the whole world but destroy or damage their own life?”

And Jesus said, “Beware of wealth because your life does not hinge on whether you may possess more than others.

“There was a rich man and he was blessed with an abundance of grain.

“And he thought to himself, ‘Let me build up the granaries. I will build some big ones and gather all of my wealth there. And I will say to my soul: There you are, soul, there is plenty—rest, eat, drink and live in pleasure.’

“And God said to him, ‘You fool, tonight your soul will be taken, and all that you have stored up will be left to someone else.’

“It will be the same with everyone who makes preparations for mortal life and does not live within God.”

And Jesus said to them, “Behold, you tell the story of how Pilate put some Galileans to death. But what, were those Galileans really any worse than other people? Is that why this happened to them? Not at all. We are all like them and we will all perish like them if we do not find salvation from death.

“Or those eighteen men crushed by the tower that collapsed, were they that exceptionally worse than all the other inhabitants of Jerusalem? Not at all. If we do not save ourselves from death, then surely if not now, then tomorrow we will die.

“If we still have not perished, like they have, then we ought to be thinking the following to ourselves: A man has an apple tree growing in his garden. The master comes into the garden, takes a look at the apple tree and sees that there is no fruit on it.

“So the master says to the gardener, ‘I have been visiting now for three years and this apple tree is still bare. It must be cut down, otherwise it is just taking up space for nothing.’

“But the gardener says: ‘Let us wait a while longer, master, let me dig around it, give it fertilizer, and then we will take a look at it after the summer. Maybe it will bear fruit. And if it doesn’t bear fruit all summer, well, then we will cut it down.’

“It is the same with us; while we live by the flesh and do not bear the fruit of spirit life, we are also like a fruitless apple tree. We are left alone for one more summer thanks only to someone else’s mercy. But if we do not bear fruit, we will perish just the same as the one who built the granary, just like the Galileans, just like the eighteen crushed by the tower and like all those who do not bear fruit, dying an eternal death.

“No special wisdom is required to understand this; anyone can see it for themselves. After all, we have the power to judge for ourselves and predict not only domestic events, but also what occurs throughout the whole world. If the wind comes from the west, we say, ‘It is going to rain.’ And so it does. And if the wind comes from the south we say, ‘It will be a clear day.’ And so it is.

“So, we are capable of predicting the weather, but we fail to predict this other event, that we will all die and perish and that the only salvation for us is the life of the spirit, in fulfilling the will of the spirit.”

And many people went with Jesus and again, he said to all of them:

“Whoever wants to be my student, let him esteem fathers, mothers, wives, children, brothers, sisters and all his belongings as nothing and let him be ready for anything at any time. And only the one who does what I do, he alone is following my teaching and he alone is saving himself from death.

“Because everyone, before they undertake anything, considers whether what they are doing is worthwhile, and if it is worthwhile, then they do it; if it is not worthwhile, they give it up. Everyone who builds a house sits down beforehand, of course, and calculates: how much money is needed, how much they have, and whether there is enough to finish the job. They do this to avoid a situation in which they have begun to build but cannot finish and so people laugh at them. Likewise, whoever wants to live their mortal life should calculate beforehand whether they can complete the thing they are working for.

“And every king who wants to go to war thinks first whether he can go to war with ten thousand against an opponent with twenty thousand. If his calculations say that he cannot, then he sends ambassadors and makes peace and no longer prepares for battle. Likewise, before devoting himself to his mortal life, let every man think: Can he do battle against death? Or is it stronger than he is? And in that case, would it not be better to make peace beforehand? Likewise, each of you must first deal with the things that you consider your own: family, money, the estate. And when you determine what use they are, and you realize that they are of no use at all, only then can you be my student.”

And having heard this, one man said, “It would be good if there really is a life of the spirit. Otherwise, what if we gave up everything and it turned out that this life did not exist?”

To this, Jesus said, “False. Everyone knows the life of the spirit. You all know that fulfilling the father’s will gives life. You know that, but you do not do it, and not because you doubt, but because you are distracted from true life by false cares and you talk your way out of it.

“This is what you do: The master had prepared a meal and sent invitations to his guests, but the guests all began to decline the invitations.

“One said, ‘I have bought some land, I must go inspect it.’

“Another said, ‘I have bought some bulls, I must take care of them.’

“The third said, ‘I have just gotten married and must have a wedding.’

“And the workers came and told the master that no one would be coming. The master then sent his workers out to call the poor. The poor did not decline the invitation and came. When they had all arrived, there was still room.

“And the master sent out again to call people to the meal, saying, ‘Go and convince everyone to come to my house for the meal, so that there are more people here.’ But those that had refused because they had no time still did not come to the meal. Everyone knows that fulfilling the father’s will gives life, but they do not go to the meal because they are distracted by the delusion of wealth.

“Whoever gives up false, temporary wealth for the true life within the father’s will does the same as a clever estate manager.

“There was a man who was the estate manager for a wealthy master, and the estate manager saw that the master would soon be turning him out and that he would soon be left with no bread and no shelter.

“And the estate manager thought to himself, ‘Here is what I will do: I will distribute from the master’s store little by little among the local residents. I will ease their debts, and then, if the master turns me out, the locals will remember my kindness and will not abandon me.’

“And so the estate manager did just that: he called the locals, those that were in debt to the master, and wrote out vouchers for them. For him who was in debt for one hundred, he wrote a voucher for fifty; for him who was in debt for sixty, he wrote one for twenty; and for the others as well.

“And now, the master found out about this and said to himself, ‘What is this? He has done something truly clever. Otherwise he would have had to face the world alone. He produced a surplus for me and acted very intelligently with the accounts.’

“In mortal life we all understand what makes an account correct, but as it concerns the life of the spirit we do not want to understand. We must act similarly in regard to unclean and false wealth. We must give it away in order to receive the life of the spirit. And if we are hesitant to give up such meaningless things as wealth for the life of the spirit, it will never be given to us. If we do not give away our false wealth, then likewise, our own individual lives will not be given to us. It is impossible to serve two lords at one time: God and wealth, the will of the father and your own will. It must be either one or the other.”

And the orthodox believers heard this. But the orthodox loved wealth, and they laughed at Jesus.

But he said to them, “Do you think that because people respect you for your money, you are actually respectable? No, God does not look at the exterior, he looks at the heart. What people consider unassailable is nothing but vomit before God. Now the kingdom of heaven is on the earth, and those that enter it are great. But the wealthy do not enter it, only those who have nothing can enter. And it always has been that way, according to your law, according to Moses, and according to all the prophets.

“Listen to how the wealthy and the poor exist, according to your own law:

“There was a rich man. He dressed nicely, strolled around, celebrated every day. And the vagrant Lazarus was covered in scabs.

“And Lazarus came to the rich man’s courtyard, thinking, ‘Maybe there are some scraps of food left over from this rich man.’ But Lazarus was unable to get any scraps because the rich man’s dogs had eaten everything up. They also licked Lazarus’s wounds.

“And they both died—Lazarus and the rich man. And now, in hell, the rich man saw far, far off that Abraham was seated with the scab-covered Lazarus at his side.

“And the rich man said, ‘Lord Abraham, there the scab-covered Lazarus sits with you. He used to wallow at the gate in my courtyard. I do not dare disturb you. But please send scab-covered Lazarus to me and let him dip one finger in water and give me a drop for refreshment. Because I am burning in the fire.’

“But Abraham said, ‘Why should I send Lazarus to you in the fire? In the other world, whatever you wanted, you got. But Lazarus saw only sorrow, so now he must rejoice. And of course he would want to do this, but it is impossible because there is a big pit between us and you, and it is impossible to get around it. We are the living, but you are the dead.’

“Then the rich man said, ‘Well, then, Lord Abraham, at least send scab-covered Lazarus to my home, please. I have five brothers and I feel sorry for them. Let him tell them everything and show them the dangers of wealth. Otherwise they may fall into this same torment.’

“But Abraham said, ‘They already know that it is dangerous. Moses and all of the prophets have also told them this.’

“And the rich man said, ‘Everything would be better if someone from among the dead was resurrected and went to them, they would repent more fully.’

“But Abraham said, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will still not listen, even if the dead are resurrected.’

“All people know that one must share with his brother and do good to people. But the entire law of Moses and the writings of all the prophets speak exclusively about this very thing. You know this, but you cannot do it because you love wealth.”

And a wealthy leader of the orthodox came to Jesus and said to him, “You good and blessed teacher, what should I do to receive eternal life?”

Jesus said, “Why do you call me good? Only the father is good. But if you want to have life, then keep the commandments.”

And the leader said, “There are many commandments. Which ones, specifically?” And Jesus said, “Do not kill, do not be promiscuous, do not steal, do not lie, also honor your father, do his will and love your neighbor as yourself.”

And the orthodox leader said, “I have been keeping all of these commandments since childhood, but I am asking what else I must do, according to your teaching.”

Jesus looked at him, at his clothing, smiled and said, “There is one little thing you have not done, you have not actually fulfilled what you said you had. If you want to keep these commandments—do not kill, do not be promiscuous, do not steal, do not lie, and the main commandment love your neighbor as yourself—then go, right now, and sell all your property and give the money to the poor. Then you will be doing your father’s will.”

The leader heard this, frowned, and walked away, because he did not want to part with his property.

And Jesus said to his students, “Now you see that there is no way to be rich and to fulfill your father’s will.”

The students were horrified at these words. But Jesus repeated them again and said, “Yes, children, it is impossible for him who holds his own property to be within the father’s will. A camel will sooner make it through the eye of a needle than the man who relies on his riches will perform the father’s will.”

And they were even more horrified and said, “But what happens next? Doing this would make it impossible to keep yourself alive.”

But he said, “To man it seems that it is impossible to keep oneself alive without possessions, but God can save man’s life without possessions.”

Once Jesus was walking through the city of Jericho. And in this city lived the chief of the tax collectors, a rich man, and his name was Zacchaeus. This Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus’s teaching and had come to believe in it. And when he discovered that Jesus was in Jericho, he wanted to see him. There was such a large crowd around that it was impossible to get close to him. And Zacchaeus was not very tall. So then he ran ahead and climbed into a tree in order to see Jesus as he walked past the tree.

And Jesus saw him in this position as he walked past, and realized that the man believed in his teaching, so he said, “Climb down from the tree and go home, I will come to you.”

Zacchaeus climbed down, ran home, prepared for the meeting with Jesus, and received him joyfully.

And the people began to judge Jesus and say about him, “Now he has gone to the home of the tax collector, a crook.”

And at that time Zacchaeus said to Jesus, “Look, Lord, at what I am doing. I am giving half of my property to the poor, and from the rest I will repay my debt four times over to those that I have offended.”

And Jesus said, “And you have been saved by these acts. You were dead, but now you are alive. You had gotten lost but now you have been found, because in your actions, like Abraham, when he intended to stab his own son, you have shown your faith. Because this is what man’s entire life amounts to: seeking out and saving the thing that is perishing within one’s soul. A sacrifice cannot be measured by its size.”

It happened once that Jesus and his students were sitting opposite a poor box. People offered all their possessions into the box for God. Wealthy people as well came up to the box and put large amounts in. But one impoverished widow came up to it and deposited two mites.

And Jesus pointed toward her and said to his students, “Now, you see that this widow, a poor woman, deposited two mites; she has deposited more than all the others.”

It happened once that Jesus was in the home of Simon the Leper. And a woman entered the home. And this woman had a jar of expensive, fine oil worth three hundred rubles. Jesus told his students that his death was near. The woman heard this and felt reluctant to part with him and wanted to demonstrate her love and anoint his head with oil. And she forgot all about how much the oil cost and broke open the jar and anointed his head and feet, spilling the remaining oil. And the students began to discuss among themselves what an evil deed she had done.

Judas, the one that would later betray Jesus, said, “Look how much potential good has been lost in vain! One could have sold that oil for three hundred rubles and clothed so many poor people!” And the students began to scold the woman, who then became embarrassed and did not know whether she had done a good or bad thing.

Then Jesus said to them, “You are embarrassing the woman for nothing. She truly did good, so you are referring to the poor in vain. If you want to do good to the poor, then do it. They will always be available. Why talk about them now? If you feel bad for the poor, go and have mercy on them, do good to them; but this woman had mercy on me and did some actual good because she gave away what she had. Which one of you can know what is needed and what is not needed? How do you know that anointing my head with oil is a superfluous act? She poured her oil on me as if to prepare my body for burial, that is why her act was necessary. She truly fulfilled the father’s will, she forgot herself and had mercy on another. She forgot about accounting in terms of mortal life and gave away all that she had.”

And Jesus said, “My teaching is to fulfill the will of the father, but one can only fulfill the will of the father with actions, and not with words. If any son responds to his father’s commands by saying ‘I will, I will,’ but does nothing that the father has required, then obviously he is not fulfilling the father’s will.

“But if the other son so much as says, ‘I do not want to obey,’ but then goes and fulfills his father’s commands, then he is, after all, fulfilling the father’s will. With people, it is just the same. The one who speaks out and says ‘I am within the father’s will’ is really not. No, the one who does what the father wants is within his will.”