DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
St. Luke 16:10-15
(2/2)
For Sat. of the 36th Week after Pentecost (Sat., 31st
Week)
Fidelity: St. Luke 16:10-15, especially vs.13: “No
servant 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.” The Lord Jesus
contrasts fidelity with infidelity, dedication with neglect or betrayal. He places one’s whole of life
“in the sight of God” (vs. 15), raising questions about our
ultimate trustworthiness as God’s servants - whether we shall have
“a good defense before the fearful judgment seat of Christ.”
Christ our God is clear: the smallest details
and responsibilities of life, which we are to manage faithfully before Him, are
subject to His constant and ultimate scrutiny (vs. 10). He examines our fidelity, ranging over
the ordinary, temporal matters of this life as well as over our care for
“the true riches” of His heavenly Kingdom (vs. 11). Accept the truth that God judges both
our stewardship of things in His creation and our care for that which, in the
words of St. Cyril of Alexandria, “we may receive...which is our own,
even that holy and admirable beauty which God forms in the souls of men,
fashioning them like unto Himself, according to what we originally
were.” You are steward of
your inner life, not its master! Semper fidelis!
The Lord Jesus’ first standard for
judging fidelity is plain enough: “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” (vs. 10). And, you and
I shall be evaluated by God rigorously, more than the Pharisees and
Scribes. With respect to the
details of complying with the minutiae of the Mosaic Law, they were
scrupulous. He noted how careful
they were to “...tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs...”
(Luke 11:42), and He tells us, His pledged disciples, that “unless [our]
righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, [we] will
by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:20). How do we measure up?
With the Lord, fidelity is, of course, a
matter of the heart. One pays
attention to details in life out of the joy of belonging to Christ Jesus. As the Pilgrim states: “according
to the Holy Fathers, one who performs saving works simply from the fear of Hell
follows the way of bondage, and he who does the same just in order to be rewarded
with the Kingdom of Heaven follows the path of a bargainer with God. The one they call a slave, the other a
hireling. But God wants us to come
to Him as sons to their Father.”
True fidelity delivers (Mt. 21:28-29).
In the Lord’s second standard for
judging the fidelity of His servants, He yokes together our care for the things
of this world and our care for “the true riches” (Lk. 16:11), for we shall never advance to the care of all
that is found in eternity until we gain steadfastness in handling the lesser
things of this life that God sets before us. Once we have begun to act as sons,
joyfully fulfilling the details of this present life, we find a larger duty
incumbent on us: “to be faithful unto God, pure in heart, merciful and
kind, just and holy; for,” as St Cyril of Alexandria says, “these things
imprint in us the outlines of the divine likeness, and perfect us as heirs of
eternal life.” Now we are
speaking of the true riches that we are promised as Christ’s good
stewards.
If we evidence fidelity with
the “true riches,” then we may expect that God will also entrust to
us that which is truly “[our] own” (vs. 12). What is “our own”?
It is that which flows from our God-given human nature.
O Lord, help us labor in the mystical
field, cultivating faithfully the fruits of repentance.
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