He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon." 

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.  And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

"The law and the prophets were until John.  Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."

- Luke 16:10-17,18

Yesterday, we read that Jesus also said to His disciples:  "There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.  So he called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you?  Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.'  Then the steward said within himself, 'What shall I do?  For my master is taking the stewardship away from me.  I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.  I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.'  So he called every one of his master's debtors to him, and said to the first, 'How much do you owe my master?'  And he said, 'A hundred measures of oil.'  So he said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'  Then he said to another, 'And how much do you owe?'  So he said, 'A hundred measures of wheat.'  And he said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'  So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.  For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.  And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home."

"He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.  Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?  And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?  No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."   My study bible says, "The test as to whether God will bestow heavenly blessings (true riches) on a person is directly related to how that person spends his money.  The money we consider our own is actually another man's, that is, belonging to God, or at least to the poor.  The Fathers universally see a person's failure to give money to God's work as stealing:  'nothing less than embezzlement of money belonging to someone else' (Theophylact)."   Yesterday's parable gave us an idea of what it is we "work for" -- how we use our worldly goods (to my mind, that is everything in our lives, including our health and talents and time) -- is a key to what we do with our lives.  Do we serve God or mammon?  If God has invested in us, then how do we use that loan of our lives?  Jesus tells us that we must make a choice.

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.  And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.  For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God."  A note says that "the things which are highly esteemed among men include money, power, position, and praise."

"The law and the prophets were until John.  Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.  And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail."  A tittle is the smallest stroke made in forming certain Hebrew letters.  My study bible says that the whole of the Law is affirmed as the foundation for Christ's new teaching.

"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced from her husband commits adultery."  In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus has chastised these men for the easy availability of divorce for a Jewish man; there really needed to be no important reason.  (Jewish women could not initiate divorce; Roman women could do so.)  We may not understand this as moderns, but this quotation here isn't really a separate topic at all from the earlier verses in today's reading.  Jesus has been preaching on how we use the things we have, how we use all the gifts of God, and whom we serve.  Easy divorce could mean destitution for women, and certainly a lack of social standing.  It was an injustice in the marriage, and this is what He tries to correct in citing their hardness-of-heart as the reason Moses gave divorce to the men in the society.  (See Matthew 19:8-9.)   Indeed, it is in thinking of the marriage partner as some sort of "goods" rather than in what Jesus describes as a true marriage, that this type of easy divorce is facilitated.

We get the picture from all of these sayings that truly Jesus is emphasizing what ways we use our resources in life, and all those resources are meant as "loans" or gifts from God, investments in us as human beings.  He's speaking to a group of men, leadership of the temple and religious practice.  And He reminds them what their lives are for.  The marriage example seems like another subject, but it's really not at all.  It's an example of how selfish behavior affects community, how the use of personal wealth with hard-heartedness destroys community, the foundation of the society and its relatedness at the most intimate levels.  If we cannot serve God and mammon, then we really have to think with each decision we make who exactly we are serving in our choices.  It's going to be one or the other, in accordance with the mindset of Jesus in these teachings.  Do we serve love or avarice, community or self-centeredness?    Let us consider how many ways we think it is the other way around, that God is supposed to serve us.  When I hear people speaking about God's perfect plan, I often wonder how much of the Bible has been read.  God's plans don't necessarily serve our greatest dreams of financial and social success, but so often we feel that the reward is in these material terms.  A heroic life is a different sort of life than this, than this perspective.  A hero lives to do what is best, even if nobody appreciates that in his or her immediate circumstances.  Jesus Christ is the ultimate hero, going voluntarily to a sacrifice (in accordance with the verdict of a corrupt world, his formal community in using its laws and representatives both religious and state governing), even though He dies to bring the greatest gift of grace to all the world and for all time.   Christ is our great Witness; His death is a testimony, and so is His Resurrection.  What we seek in serving God is a life full of the highest meaning.  Those who have been through life or death circumstances will tell you that this is the greatest gift to anyone:  a true depth of meaning and purpose.  It's a kind of confidence that passes understanding.  It is something that is so far beyond the goals of "money, power, position, and praise."  While these things may certainly be gifts of God in a blessed and well-lived life, they are not the goals for which we follow our love for God.  They are not the goals in themselves.  And, you know, even if we are not always the greatest examples of "success" (just as in Jesus' time), it's really up to us to decide who and what we serve in life, even if it doesn't seem praiseworthy in the "eyes of men."  That is, it's up to us to decide how we are going to live, what we are going to live for, and thereby whether or not we serve truly what is best -- whether or not we live heroic lives with meaning and purposes that surpasses only materialistic perspective.  Many of the characters of the Bible are crowned, not with gold, but with crowns of glory.  And we have to think hard about what material wealth means without an interior meaning, without this relationship in which we are assured of a kind of love that is totally steadfast, a safe place to fall.  Psychologically, wealth cannot by itself comfort us, and in that situation without faith, material wealth can totally distort our image of ourselves as human beings and even take away hope and life.  I can testify that God has blessed me with very much material comfort (see Matthew 19:29), but I have also been called to give up things most dear to me.  In my personal journey of faith, God calls upon me to shirk from nothing, but to deal with it all, everything -- good and bad -- that life presents, and to make the tough choices.  But there is nothing greater than the meaning God gives to our lives and the purpose of doing whatever we can to make our whole community a little better, whatever size that may be, to live with honor and integrity of purpose even if nobody else understands you or what or whom you are trying to serve.  The kind of life He calls us toward is the greatest in reward, but perhaps it takes experience and discernment to understand it.  That's the wisdom He offers.

The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes

 Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.  Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers.  And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture:

'The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone,
This was the LORD's doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.

- Mark 12:1-11

Yesterday, we read that Jesus and the disciples came again to Jerusalem.  And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.  And they said to Him, "By what authority are You doing these things?  And who gave You this authority to do these things?"  [They were referring to the cleansing of the Temple.]  But Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:  The baptism of John -- was it from heaven or from men?  Answer Me."  And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'  But if we say, 'From men'" -- they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.  So they answered and said to Jesus, "We do not know."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." 

Then He began to speak to them in parables:  "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower.  And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country."  My study bible explains that in this parable, the vineyard is Israel, and the vinedressers are the Jewish leaders.  It says the parable is plainly told against the chief priests, scribes and elders who question Jesus (see yesterday's reading) -- and it is in the presence of the multitude.

"Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers."    In the services of the Orthodox Church during Holy Week there is emphasis on this theme of fruit-bearing.  My study bible says that "Jesus has recently focused on fruit-bearing in the fig tree incident [see Monday's reading].  John reports more conversation of Jesus at this time on fruit-bearing (John 15:1-8) -- the vine and branches.  The bearing of fruit is the mark of vital spiritual life."

"And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.  Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated.  And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some.  Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.'  But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is the heir.  Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.  Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do?  He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.  Have you not even read this Scripture:  'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, this was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"  And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them.  So they left Him and went away.   My study bible says, "With this parable, Jesus totally discredits the religious leaders of Israel and establishes Himself as Messiah.  The religious leaders plainly understand Jesus' criticism and would have Him arrested, but they feared the multitude and a possible insurrection.   The leaders in Jerusalem were often viewed by the people as collaborators with the Romans, seeking to maintain their positions.  Therefore the people tended to favor popular charismatic figures such as Jesus."

Let us consider fruit-bearing and what it means here.  The issue is so essential that Jesus likens our dependency upon God for life to those who are to bear fruits in a vineyard that belongs to someone else.  In Galatians 5, St. Paul writes that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."    So, one way we can think of spiritual fruitfulness is in an understanding of how God's work in us bears fruit in our character, in the ways in which we conduct ourselves in the world.  Jesus' parable about the vinedressers suggests repeated visits to the vineyard by those who represent the owner, who is God.  For the Jewish leadership, this long line of mistreated servants and emissaries are the prophets of Jewish spiritual history:  those who have been stoned, mistreated, shamefully abused for bearing God's word to the people -- and especially to the religious establishment.  Finally, it is the Son who is sent.  It's interesting to note the trust implied here by the vineyard owner:  "They will respect my son."  In some sense, since the parable is about an act of judgment, this phrase teaches us about our free will:  there is something in us that allows us to reject or receive the hand of God teaching us in our lives.  But we do deal with the consequences:   "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, this was the LORD's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes"  (Psalm 118:22-23).  The parable is about the whole history of Jewish spirituality, the story of Israel which we can read in Old Testament Scripture; that is, the spiritual history of Israel as it had evolved until Jesus' time.  But I think there are lessons to be learned by each of us from the parable.  How does God reach to us in our own lives to help us to bear spiritual fruits, or to remind us that we need to do so?  Are there ways in which spurning this help results in our world, in some sense, being turned upside down?  Whatever the answers are to these somewhat mysterious questions, I think we need to take Jesus' parable seriously in terms of how spiritual life works in us.  While its focus may be on spiritual leadership, and is certainly therefore essential to the leadership of the Churches to take seriously, I think also it applies to each one of us, and perhaps that's how the readers of this blog may best take it.  We're stewards of what we're given:  our lives, our talents, our possessions, the life we're given and the part of the world we inhabit.  What do we do with this vineyard?  Do we remember the kinds of fruits the owner desires here?  Taking the parable of the Sower (Jesus' first parable told), we can ask ourselves how we are cultivating our inner ground, whether we're letting toil or the weeds choke us out and get in the way of our real goals here.  Going back to today's parable, we can also ask ourselves if there have been times in our lives when those who seem to bear Christ to us have been dismissed or mistreated.  Jesus' words are not just for the Jewish leadership.  They are for all of us, for each of us.  How do we treat those who reflect His image?  How do we receive testimony?  Where do we bear the fruit in our heart that St. Paul speaks of in the letter to the Galatians?  Are we prepared to be true servants of the vineyard owner, even at the risk of mistreatment?  All of these questions are here.  But we must take the response seriously, the consequences of heartless choices.  Do we have ears to hear?  Do we have eyes to see?