Our Venerable Father Bessarion the Wonderworker (457-74); Venerable Hilarion the New (845-46)
Apostles’ Fast.
Romans 4:4-12; Matthew 7:15-21.
Read Matthew 7:15-21
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
What does it mean for us to “know them by their fruits”? At face value, this seems to contradict our lived experience. After all, we can all think of famous people, and maybe even not-so-famous people we know personally, who don’t live righteous lives and yet seem to “have it made.” Maybe they are even actively pursuing evil, and seem to get away with it. Even the Bible, in the Psalms and Wisdom literature, acknowledges this fact – often, bad people who do bad things don’t suffer any bad consequences.
So what does Jesus mean by “fruits”? It seems that he doesn’t mean the relative prosperity of these false prophets, but their moral character. A few chapters earlier in Matthew’s gospel, John the Baptist talks about “bearing fruits worthy of repentance.” If that passage sheds any light on today’s gospel, then we can understand Jesus’ words about fruit as pointing to the moral character, not the prosperity or productivity, of these individuals.
And the same goes for us too. Today’s gospel ends with another phrase that reminds us of the preaching of John the Baptist – “every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” That’s true of false prophets, but it’s also true of you and me. Perhaps the best way for us to learn to recognize the fruits of repentance in others is to starting cultivating those same fruits in our own lives. Then, when we met the Lord, he may recognize us as the ones who actually did the will of his Father.