Homily on the Rich Young Man – Father Gavril (Galev)
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(Matthew 19: 16–26)
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
This gospel event is well known to all of us and we should know its meaning, and not only know it, but also we need to practice it, if we want to have eternal life and if we want to be perfect, as God Himself says.
This young man has failed at the very beginning of his approach to the Lord, by calling the Lord Jesus Christ a “gracious teacher.” To these words the Lord answered, that no one is gracious, that is, good, except the One God. The Lord answered him in that manner because he approached Him erroneously, and mistakenly considered Him only as a teacher, as one of the many teachers who appear in the world. However, the Lord Jesus Christ is not only a teacher, He is above all God and Saviour. And therefore the Lord points out to him that only God is the One who is good, as man is not, no matter how outstanding man might be, no matter how good his science appears, man is not good, he is not perfect, and cannot save us from the decay of the fallen human nature. Only Christ, only a life according to the teaching of Christ, can save us.
The young man asked the Lord what he needs to do in order to have eternal life. The Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that this man was a Jew, and was guided by the ten commandments, told him to fulfil them. In this instance we can see that the Lord tells him to fulfil only the second part of the commandments, those that refer to the relationships with our neighbours, because the Jews, and even today’s Christians at this point, make the most mistakes and fall. Faith in God, more or less – we all have, but regarding the relationship with our neighbours – here we are weak, we keep falling and rising and falling again… This happens because our relationship is unhealthy and therefore we fall easily. God, through this young man, points out to all of us, what to be cautious of.
We fall and we get hurt. The question is: what in fact is the object of our hurt?
It is our vanity. It is nothing else but the pride. But if we humble ourselves and consider ourselves inferior to the others, or, as the Lord says, at least to consider ourselves as equal to others, then, there is no room for any vanity and hurt.
We fall because we exalt ourselves and love ourselves more than anyone else, and that is why our fall always happens because of our pride, vanity, and high opinion of ourselves. No one can offend me or hurt me or darken my love for someone, if I love him/her. Observe any situation regarding our loved ones – we always (want to) forgive them. However, because I exalt myself above the others, I consider myself worthy to be honoured by them, so when our expectations are not fulfilled in the way we have imagined, then disappointment, hurt, and the appearance of a series of impure thoughts and passions occur…
When we do not exalt ourselves, when we are grounded, and if we humble ourselves and consider ourselves the most unworthy, then our condition is stable and solid. But when we begin to exalt ourselves and when we make that imbalance, then our stability is disturbed and the demon can easily make us stumble, and make us fall. That is why we should always put ourselves in the last (least) place and we should always love our neighbour, and only in that way do we love ourselves. Through the others, that is, through Christ, who identifies Himself with each one of us.
The answer of this young man to the words of Christ was that he had kept those commandments from his youth. That is, he has already fulfilled that condition and now he is asking “what else is needed?”
Then Christ said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell your property, divide it among the poor, and follow Me.” This is now another stage of life, a higher, perfect life. A life completely surrendered to God, free and without concern for the earthly.
The reaction of this young man is a bit strange. Because he himself wanted to find the answer to the question that bothered him and after receiving the answer instead of rejoicing because he learned the truth, he learned the way, and now he could achieve his goal – he left being sorrowful. Why? Because again the problem is in our vanity, pride, a high opinion of ourselves. Because he was already considering himself as a perfect man, he was already considering himself worthy and expected God to praise him in front of everyone and tell everyone how good he was. He did not ask for someone that he can follow, but to be the one that is followed. It is obvious that he was filled with vanity, not with love.
Perfection knows no bounds. No matter how much we progress, how much we struggle, we are always at the beginning and there is still a lot ahead of us. Christ is perfect and according to Him, we should perfect ourselves. Therefore we should never consider ourselves good, for only One God is good. And let us always compare ourselves only with Christ, because Christ is our goal, Christ is our measure and Christ is the One who saves us.
Furthermore, as it is stated in the Gospel, he left being sorrowful because he had so much wealth. This wealth does not have to be material, this wealth can be of any kind, some people are rich, some are smart, some are beautiful, some people imagine that they are one of these, and that is what hinders our relationship with Christ and it prevents us from entering the Kingdom of Heaven, and being perfect in denying ourselves.
We are passionate about what we consider to be ours, and in fact, nothing is ours, everything is a gift from God. If God does not want to give it to us, we will never have it. However, the Lord has given us everything we have, and instead of thanking Him, we have become passionate and we have adopted the gifts of God as our own, and that is something that obstructs us. It closes the door for us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. And that is why God somewhere else in the Gospel says, that we should deny ourselves, that is, to deny our vanity, our high opinion of ourselves, our passions, and take up our cross and follow Him, and that means fulfilling God’s will.
We do not know God’s will, but God teaches us. When we humble ourselves and surrender to Him, when we deny ourselves, our vanity, our passions, then God will guide us. We will go where God will take us. And God will take us where it is most needed for us and those around us. That is why we need to be humble and obedient. Let us not seek our own will, for then we shut ourselves out from the will of God. Let us receive everyone and everything that happens to us in our lives with gratitude, and thus we will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Therefore since this young man could not fulfil the call for perfection, could not give up his wealth, his comfort zone, he could not agree with it, he left being sorrowful. Then the Lord told the disciples that it was easier for a camel to go through the ears (eyes) of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
We have talked before, that in the old Jerusalem there was a fortress in which they protected themselves from the enemies. The walls had four large gates through which one could have entered inside. Those doors were closed at night so that the enemy would not enter. If anyone accidentally was late, wandered, could have entered through one of the twelve secret smaller doors, slits, which they called “needle ears”.
However, these smaller doors could only be entered if the camel was unloaded. They were so tight. If someone was carrying a load, he would not have been able to enter. That burden (load) is actually our sins, our worries about this world, and that is why God teaches us that we need to get rid of them. And only in such a way, being free and clean we can enter Jerusalem. And We fight for the upper Jerusalem.
When Christ spoke, He spoke in general terms for all. For all mankind. That is why the Apostles listened carefully to what He would say, they examined themselves, and contemplated about themselves. Then they saw for themselves at what level they were and came to the conclusion that it is impossible for a person to humble himself so much and renounce everything, so they asked and said to the Lord that it is impossible: “Who then can be saved?” But God comforts them saying: “Yes, it is impossible for men, but for God all things are possible.” There is nothing impossible for God, to correct and transfigure, except whatever we will not hand over to Him, because God does nothing by force. He respects our freedom and wants our cooperation.
That is why God came to earth, that is why God received a human body, that is why He became Man being equal to us, in everything except in sin, so that He might redeem us from our sins and show us the way. Let Him pass first and let us follow Him. The same way as Jesus Christ lived, the way He thought, He spoke, and He performed, so we should live, think, speak, and do, and it is not impossible, but it is possible for each one of us.
Even the Holy Apostle Paul, in the passage which we read today, says that he is the most unworthy of all the Apostles because he persecuted the Church and was a sinful man. But on the other hand, he says that in his weakness, God gave him His Grace and that grace which God gave him did not remain empty in him (this is very important), he achieved deeds greater than the other Apostles. God gives us that grace for each of our struggles (endeavours) and with a good thought, prayer, deed – we, also, must make sure the grace of God does not remain empty in us. For every stage of our spiritual life, God gives us the grace we need. To those who are at the stage of purification, He gives the purifying grace, to those who are at the stage of enlightenment, He gives the enlightening grace, and to the perfect, He gives the deifying grace.
The purifying grace that God gives us in the struggle to purify our hearts from passions is important to us. It is the first light that God gives us to see only our sins and weep over them. That is the light of repentance to see our sins, and just the same as the holy Apostles, to humble ourselves before the Lord and ask for help. The first light is not given to observe the sins of others and to judge and condemn. In that case, we act the same as this young man, we quit and leave. We turn our backs on God. And how rude and uncomfortable that is, let us think about it. And let us think about, where we are going – in the opposite direction from God and without Him? Let us consider whether we should love our riches more than God.
Fr. Gavril Galev
Abbot of the monastery “St. Clement of Ohrid”,
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
(12.09.2021 Saints Alexander, John and Paul)
