The scene described in today's Gospel reading is remarkable for the Savior's wisdom and, one may even say, wit. Yet let us try to enter into its theological meaning, because unlike our ordinary human habit, Christ shows wit not for the sake of wit itself.

Why does He speak specifically about John? The main point is that John appears as the Forerunner of Christ not only in the historical, event-based sense, but also in the spiritual sense. He proclaims repentance, without which coming to Christ is impossible. That is why the Lord gives those who question Him no answer: giving it would be meaningless, just as it is meaningless to explain integral calculus to someone who has not yet mastered arithmetic.

The fact that John brings us only to the first step is also shown by the episode from the book of Acts (19:1-6): "He said to them, Into what then were you baptized? They answered, Into John's baptism. Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus."

And although now we are not formally baptized with John's baptism, since spiritually it has been joined to Jesus' baptism, in practice we live through it as that very repentance which brings us into the church. Let us remember that our Lord, who has no need of repentance, also passes through baptism by John in order to show us the way, for He is "the way, and the truth, and the life." And it is precisely this way that He recalls to the chief priests, scribes, and elders who question Him.

The question about authority, asked of Jesus by the Pharisees, as can be seen, returns to them like a boomerang: He, in turn, asks them a counterquestion, one that they not only find difficult, but are simply afraid to answer openly. Where does this fear come from? Of course, there are "uncomfortable" questions that people do not want to answer, questions usually met, in one form or another, with the traditional "no comment." But when the Pharisees asked their question, should they not have expected a counterquestion?

Could they have foreseen that to an "uncomfortable" question they would receive an "uncomfortable" answer? Yes. Yet perhaps they still did not expect that this Preacher would play by rules other than the ones they had established. Behind the question about authority stood something quite understandable and definite, something in roughly the same sense as when the representatives of the Sanhedrin had earlier asked John the Baptist: who are you? A prophet? The Messiah? What should we report about you? And if you are neither one nor the other, on what basis do you do what you do? Jesus is asked about authority in evidently the same sense, with the expectation that He will declare Himself a prophet, the Messiah, or at least someone who has the right to do what He did in the Temple when He drove out the merchants.

He is not going to fit Himself into their framework. He asks a question about the substance of the matter: by what authority did John do what he did? He understands perfectly well, of course, that John, like every true prophet, received authority from His heavenly Father, and if the Pharisees recognized John as a man of God, they would have to look differently at His ministry as well. Of course, the issue here is not proving something to someone or justifying Himself in anyone's eyes.

The point is that, for the Pharisees themselves, such a view, a view "outside the rules," was essentially the only possible chance to see Christ Himself and His Kingdom in the true light. But they had to begin by rejecting all human fears, anxieties, and prejudices. In essence, by asking the Pharisees the question about John, Jesus invites them to do exactly this. But they refuse: they are afraid. And by this refusal they too make their choice. Far from the best choice, but a fully conscious one.

As he concludes his letter to Timothy, Paul reminds his disciple of the main task of a servant of the Church. It is also, however, the main task of every Christian: the task of bearing witness to the Kingdom so that the world may see it, and so that everyone seeking new life may know where to look for it (vv. 11-16).

Returning to the theme of wealth, the apostle, adding to what he has said already, by no means closes the door of the Kingdom to the rich, just as the Savior Himself did not close it when He said that it is hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom, but never claimed that it is impossible. The apostle, as we can see, explains what the difficulty consists in: in order to receive the Kingdom, a rich person must stop thinking of his wealth as something on which he can lean in life (vv. 17-19). The point is not only that, when he dies, the richest and most influential person in the world can take no more wealth with him than a beggar who has lived all his life on alms. Many understood this and spoke about it long before the Savior came into the world. The point, above all, is where the rich person's spiritual attention is focused, toward what his will is directed, or, in Gospel terms, where his treasure and his heart are.

Wealth really does provide support and power in our world that is being transformed, but it provides them precisely to the extent that the world has not yet been transformed. The habit of relying on such support, as well as using such power, can play a cruel trick on the possessor of wealth when it comes to spiritual life in the proper sense of the word, to life in the Kingdom and the relationships that define it. On coming into contact with the Kingdom, everyone discovers his own unreadiness and inadequacy. Yet a person who has already had to experience something similar, a person with the relevant experience, finds it easier to pass through the disappointment, inevitable for fallen human nature, that usually accompanies such an experience, and perhaps even through resentment. Meanwhile, both disappointment and resentment, though not fatal in themselves, can easily drag on and become, at the least, a serious obstacle on the spiritual path, and at the most, turn a person away altogether from the Kingdom and from spiritual life. Paul warns the rich against this mistake, a mistake that can cost them the Kingdom and eternal life.