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.