ACC ~ Matthew 6 v16 - 23

OVERVIEW:

Gradually the Sermon on the Mount is leading into more demanding matters. Voluntary poverty could not be adequately dealt with until pride had been treated (CHRYSOSTOM). Pride can appear not only in the pomp of worldly wealth but even in the garment of sackcloth, where it is all the more dangerous because it is a deception under the pretense of service to God (AUGUSTINE). Some Christians compete with hypocrites in looking dismal while fasting. They do better to fast in secret (CHRYSOSTOM). Fix your treasure and your heart on that which will abide forever rather than on something that will pass away (AUGUSTINE).

All he has said about prayer and fasting prepares the way for the Lord’s discourse on contempt for riches (CHRYSOSTOM). Some treasures corrupt. A thing becomes defiled if it is mixed with a baser substance, even though that other substance is not vile in its own nature. Fix your treasure and your heart on that which will abide forever (AUGUSTINE). As in bodily health it is our aim to keep the eye healthy, so also it should be our aim to keep the mind sound in relation to the soul. What the mind is to the soul, that the eye is to the body—its illuminator. As when the eye is blinded, the ability of the other members is diminished, so also when the mind is depraved the soul is vulnerable to countless evils (CHRYSOSTOM). The expression “whole body” designates all those works that the Lord reproves and orders us to put to death (AUGUSTINE). He calls mammon “a master,” not because of its own nature but on account of the wretchedness of those who bow down before it (CHRYSOSTOM).

The love of money wounds the center of your vitality, your soul, your very life, and may overthrow your salvation. In relation to God’s providence, all things about which we are anxious will pass away (CHRYSOSTOM). The kingdom of God is the end to be sought above all things. When you perform any good deed, think about its eternal consequence and pay no heed to the temporal (AUGUSTINE). The intrinsic value of life is not comparable to any temporal or physical reality. The Lord shows how great is the value set upon personal existence (CHRYSOSTOM). There is a difference between a good that ought to be sought as an end and a value that ought to be seen as a means. If one’s intention is pure, then unfailingly all our works are good works, because they are performed in accordance with that intention. Cleanse the intention of your heart from all duplicity. Seek the Lord in simplicity of heart (AUGUSTINE).

6:16 | No Dismal Faces

LOOKING DISMAL

CHRYSOSTOM: In this spectacle we not only imitate the hypocrites, but also we far outdo them. We sigh loudly and complain bitterly. I know some, well—actually I know many—who, even while neglecting to fast, yet still wear the garments of those who fast. They cloak themselves with a false exoneration worse than their actual sin.

“I do this,” they say, “so that I might not offend the many [who are expecting me to fast].” What are you saying? The divine law commands this [fasting], and yet you say you are causing “offense” by obeying? If you practice the inward fast you cause offense, but if you do not fast inwardly [but make a show of fasting outwardly], then quite the opposite, you are not causing offense—is there anything more foolish than this?

Why don’t you stop being worse than the hypocrites [you criticize], doubling your own hypocrisy, and instead consider to what extremes this great evil leads? Do you feel any shame now, as we look at the emphasis [of the passage] before us? For Jesus not only says that they put on appearnaces, but he levels [an even more] vehement attack against them when he says, “They disfigure their faces.” THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 20.1. [1]

[1] PG 57:285-87; NPNF 1 10:140**. Fast in secret.

VOLUNTARY POVERTY

CHRYSOSTOM: It is only after he has cast out the demon of empty conceit, and not before, that he opportunely introduces his discourse on voluntary poverty. For nothing so trains people to be fond of riches as a fondness for glory. This is what motivates those who have herds of slaves, swarms of eunuchs, horses with decorations of gold, silver tables, and all the rest of it. It makes them all the more ridiculous. All these do not satisfy any wants or increase any pleasures. They only make a show before others. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 20.2. [1]

[1] PG 57:288-89; NPNF 1 10:141-42**.

6:17-18 | Fasting Seen by the Father

THE PRETENSE OF DIVINE SERVICE

AUGUSTINE: Vainglory can find a place not only in the splendor and pomp of worldly wealth but even in the sordid garment of sackcloth as well. It is then all the more dangerous because it is a deception under the pretense of service to God. When one dazzles by immoderate adornment of the body and its raiment or by the splendor of whatever else one may possess, by that very fact one is easily shown to desire ostentacious display. This person deceives nobody by a crafty semblance of holiness. But if, through extraordinary squalor and shabbiness, one is attracting others’ attention to one’s manner of professing Christianity, and if one is doing this of choice and not merely enduring it through necessity, then one may determine by one’s other works whether one is doing it through an indifference toward needless adornment or through ambition of some kind. Indeed, the Lord has forewarned us to beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing: “By their fruits you shall know them.” [1] Trials of one kind or another that cause these people to lose the very advantages they have gained through their dress or claimed to deny what they sought to gain by it will inevitably reveal whether it is a case of a wolf under a sheep’s skin or a sheep under its own. But just as sheep ought not to change their skin even though wolves sometimes hide themselves beneath it, so a Christian ought not try to delight the eyes of others by needless adornment just because pretenders very often assume that scanty garb which necessity demands and assume it for the purpose of deceiving those who are less aware. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.12.41. [2]

[1] Mt 7:16.

[2] PL 34:1287; FC 11:149-50.

6:19 | Treasures on Earth

PREPARATION FOR THE DISCOURSE ON RICHES

CHRYSOSTOM: Previously he had only said that we must show mercy. Here he also points out how great is the mercy we must show. He says, “Don’t store up treasure.” It would have been impossible to introduce his discourse on disdain for riches without much preparation. So he broke the discourse up into small portions. Having readied the hearer’s mind, he brings up the tougher subject in a way that is plausible. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 20.2. [1]

[1] PG 57:289; NPNF 1 10:142**.

TREASURES THAT CORRUPT

AUGUSTINE: If someone does something with the intent of gaining earthly profit, that one’s heart is upon the earth. How can a heart be clean while it is wallowing in the mud? On the other hand, if it be fastened upon heaven it will be clean, for whatever is heavenly is unpolluted. A thing becomes defiled if it is mixed with a baser substance, even though that other substance be not vile in its own nature. Gold, for example, is debased by pure silver if mixed with it. So also is our mind defiled by a desire for the things of earth, although the earth itself is pure in its own class and in its own order. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.13.44. [1]

[1] PL 34:1289; FC 11:152-53.

6:20 | Treasures in Heaven

TREASURES THAT ABIDE

AUGUSTINE: Let us not think that in this text the word heaven signifies the universe of heavenly bodies, for the word earth includes every kind of body, for one ought to disregard the whole world when laying up treasure in heaven. Therefore the reference is to that heaven of which it is said, “The heaven of heaven is the Lord’s.” [1] Moreover, since we ought to fix our treasure and our heart on that which will abide forever and not on something which will pass away, the heaven here mentioned means the spiritual firmament, for “heaven and earth will pass away.” SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.13.44. [2]

[1] Ps 115:16 (113:16 LXX).

[2] PL 34:1289; FC 11:153.

6:22-23 | Light and Darkness

AS MIND IS TO SOUL, THE EYE IS TO THE BODY

CHRYSOSTOM: Now Christ leads us to an analogy more within the reach of our senses, that we may not be confused. He has already spoken of the mind as enslaved in captivity. Now he shifts his attention to the eye and to lessons on outward things lying directly before our eyes, so that we might grasp it easily and that we may learn from the body what we did not learn from the mind. For what the mind is to the soul, the eye is to the body. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 20.3. [1]

[1] PG 57:290-91; NPNF 1 10:143**.

SEEKING THE RIGHT INTENTION

AUGUSTINE: We know that all our works are pure and pleasing in the sight of God if they are performed with a single heart. This means that they are performed out of charity and with an intention that is fixed on heaven. For “love is the fulfillment of the law.” [1] Therefore in this passage we ought to understand the eye as the intention with which we perform all our actions. If this intention is pure and upright and directing its gaze where it ought to be directed, then unfailingly all our works are good works, because they are performed in accordance with that intention. And by the expression “whole body,” Christ designated all those works that he reproves and that he commands us to put to death. For the apostle also designates certain works as our “members.” “Therefore,” Paul writes, “mortify your members which are on earth: fornication, uncleanness, covetousness,” [2] and all other such things. SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.13.45. [3]

[1] Rom 13:10.

[2] Col 3:5.

[3] PL 34:1289; FC 11:153-54.

WHEN UNDERSTANDING IS QUENCHED

CHRYSOSTOM: If your eyes were completely blind, would you choose to wear gold and silk? Wouldn’t you consider your sound health to be more desirable than mere externals? For if you should lose your health or waste it, all the rest of your life would be unhappily affected. For just as when the eyes are blinded, some of the ability of the other members is diminished, their light being quenched, so also when the mind is depraved, your life will be filled with countless evils. As therefore in the body it is our aim to keep the eye sound, so also it should be our aim to keep the mind sound in relation to the soul. But if we destroy this, which ought to give light to the rest, by what means are we to see clearly any more? For as he who destroys the spring may also dry up the river, so he who has quenched the understanding may have confounded all his actions in this life. So it is said, “If the light that is in you be darkness, how great is the darkness?” [1] For when the pilot is drowned, when the candle is put out, when the general is taken prisoner, what sort of hope will remain for those that are under his command? THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 20.3. [2]

[1] Mt 6:23.

[2] PG 57:291; NPNF 1 10:143**.