At the Feet of the Fathers: St. John Chrysostom - Invest in Heaven
At the Feet of the Fathers
Monday, November 13, 2023
St. John Chrysostom
John Chrysostom (c. AD 347 – September 14 AD 407) was an important early Church father who served as archbishop of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). He is known for his preaching, public speaking, his stand against abuses both among secular authorities and in the church, and his Divine Liturgy, which is used to this day in Eastern Orthodoxy. The name Chrysostom means "golden-mouthed" in Greek and was given to him for his celebrated eloquence. Chrysostom was one of the most prolific authors in the early Christian Church.
Invest in Heaven
[This is not an encouragement to be philanthropic in order to buy salvation. Rather, it is an exhortation to focus on heavenly things rather than earthly things—including hoarding worldly wealth for oneself.]
“But what do you want me to do?” someone says. “Do you want me to give someone else all this money I have saved, which is useful to me, and demand no return?”
Far from it! I do not say that at all. In fact, I earnestly desire that you should have a return—and not a paltry or tiny one, but far greater. In return for gold, I want you to receive heaven for your interest.
So why shut yourself up in poverty, crawling along on earth, and demanding little for great? This is the part of one who does not know how to be rich. For when God, in return for a little money, is promising you the good things that are in heaven, and you say, "Do not give me heaven, but instead of heaven give me gold that perishes,"—obviously you want to keep living in poverty!
Surely, whoever wants wealth and abundance will choose things that last rather than things that perish, the inexhaustible rather than what wastes away, much rather than little, incorruptible rather than corruptible. Then, the other sort will follow as well. Whoever seeks earth before heaven will certainly lose earth as well, but whoever prefers heaven to earth will enjoy both to the highest degree.
So that this may be the case with us, let us despise everything here and choose the good things to come. Thus, we will get both the one and the other by the grace and love for humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ.
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Matthew, 9