NOTES for Mat 7:15-20

These words of Jesus are not about the predestination of some people to good and others to evil. He is simply saying that our actions, our "fruits," are not something spontaneous and conditioned by nothing, but an expression of our inner orientation toward sinking in sin or toward coming out of it. No one except God knows what is inside us, but this is not very important, because the "fruits" correspond to the inner state of the "tree," and if they are bad, the whole tree is cut down. Only, for God's sake, let us not think that cutting down "trees" is our task.

There are so many people around us all the time, so many faces constantly flashing by... No one from past centuries would envy such an intense life. We often have to interact with people whom we may never see again in our lives. It also happens that we need to form an opinion about a person quickly, because, like it or not, we will have to spend some time near him. And very rarely can we understand everything about a person at first glance: what he is like, what concerns him, what he thinks about, what he lives for, what is dear to him... We have to form an impression from outward signs.

And in most cases this is not just an opinion, but also a judgment, even a condemnation. Of course, physiognomists may be right in some respects, but one cannot read everything from a person's face. The Lord warns us against hasty conclusions and judgments based on appearance in today's passages. He says that a person's "skin" may not correspond at all to what is "inside" (see Matt. 7:15). Even the "outward" attributes of faith are no guarantee of the soul's salvation. After all, as we know, "even the demons believe and tremble" (James 2:19).

Yes, outward signs are needed; to those who observe them, what is counted is "not as grace but as a debt." But blessed is the person "to whom God credits righteousness apart from works" (see Rom. 4:4-6). What is in the heart is far more important to the Lord. That is why He speaks about fruits: our ability to love in practice is His criterion. A heart can pour outward only what it contains (see Matt. 15:10-20). And when we look at another person, the only thing worth being quick with is "mercy," or at least simply a smile.

God's love cannot be earned. His mercy is a gift we receive by faith. But how important it is to answer this gift with our whole life. In order to bear fruit, we must not only acknowledge God's existence, but also fulfill His will for us, becoming a place of His presence in the world. By refusing His call, we risk becoming a barren tree and thereby putting our very existence in question.

As He concludes the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus very sternly warns His listeners, and us as well, against the characteristic divide between hearing—and even accepting as true—His teaching and embodying it in one's life. I would even say the divide between “theoretical” and “practical” Christianity. Serving the truth in practice requires effort to overcome the “resistance of the environment”—perhaps this is the meaning of the images of the “narrow way” and the “narrow gate”—whereas “theorizing” creates almost no inconvenience in this life.

Accepting true teaching must bear fruit: a change in life expressed in actions and an inward recoil from sin and lawlessness. If this does not happen, then there was no real acceptance either, and then: “I never knew you; depart from Me!”

Today's reading is devoted to the theme of false prophets (v. 15) and false disciples (vv. 21-22). But before speaking about false prophets and false disciples, Jesus says that the way into the Kingdom will not be simple, that it is a narrow way that few will want to walk (vv. 13-14).

This sequence is, of course, not accidental. False prophets appear because they are expected. Fallen human nature is inclined toward compromise; for complete peace of mind, everyone would like to fulfill what God requires, but to fulfill it in such a way that the fulfillment is as little burdensome as possible. To violate the word of God directly would be too risky; then, when meeting God face to face, there would be nothing to say to Him. It would be another matter if some spiritual leader appeared, for example a prophet, who by his authority sanctioned such a violation, took the responsibility upon himself, and thereby removed it from those who did not want to walk the narrow way. Of course, if one wants to, such a "prophet" can always be distinguished from a true person of God. But if there is no desire, if the listener is seeking not truth and not God's revelation but self-justification, he can fail to notice even completely obvious things.

It is no surprise that all this is also characteristic of those who call themselves Christians. One name alone, as Jesus says, is not enough; what is needed is readiness to walk that same narrow way. Meanwhile the devil is always ready to point to easier roads, supposedly leading to the very same goal, as he pointed to them for the Savior Himself during the temptation in the wilderness (Matt 4:3-10). The only criterion of truth turns out to be the doing of Jesus' words (vv. 24-27).

And the point here is not only that a person who lives by the Kingdom and in the Kingdom, as all true Christians do, cannot be confused with anyone else: it is impossible to imitate the grace of God. The point is that no abilities and no gifts of God, by themselves, bring a person closer to the Kingdom; for this, a person must first of all change inwardly, and if such a change has not taken place, everything else is useless, even if the action of God is noticeable in that "everything else" (vv. 22-23). But for fallen man, inward change is the hardest path of all, and few are truly ready to walk it. There is no other way into the Kingdom.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, where the most important rules for the life of Christ's disciples are gathered, there is a kind of comment by Jesus Himself on this whole moral teaching: one cannot limit oneself to hearing the word; one must carry it out, that is, apply it in life. This means that all these rules, commandments, and moral guideposts are not only ethics, a "moral code," or a charter, but rather instructions for putting faith into practice. For faith is the presence of God in a person's life, and therefore to believe means to live in a godly way. For Christ, no "religious convictions" detached from practice are possible. He is not expecting some special worldview or set of beliefs from us. He is expecting God to be present in the world through us...