It is not wealth in itself that is evil, but those who guard it are evil and worthy of condemnation, for they must not have it, that is, keep it, but use it for good. It is called wealth because it is intended for useful use, and not for saving. Therefore, it is difficult for those who guard and lock it up to "enter the Kingdom of God." And the word "difficult" here means the same thing that is impossible. It is really too difficult for a rich person to be saved. This is evident from the example that the Lord adds, saying: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." Under the name of the camel, you can understand either the animal itself, or the thick rope (rope) used on large ships. Thus, it is impossible for a person to be saved as long as he is rich. But it is possible from God. Christ said: "Make friends for yourselves with unrighteous riches." Do you see how everything becomes possible when we hear the Word of God! "It is impossible for men," that is, it is impossible when we reason in human terms. But why were the disciples so amazed at these words? After all, they themselves have never been rich? I think that in this case they cared for all people, since they were already beginning to be philanthropic. Some are perplexed as to how Christ said that "all things are possible with God." Can He really sin? To this we reply that when Christ says: "all things," he means everything essential, but sin is not something essential: sin is something insignificant, inactive, or, in other words, sin is not the attribute of strength, but of weakness, just as the Apostle says: "Christ, while we were still weak, died" (Romans 5:6), and David says: "Their sorrows abound" (Psalm 15:15). 4). This means that sin, as weakness, is impossible for God. But can God, they say, also make things that have been, as things that have not been? To this we will say: God is the Truth, and to make what has been, as if it had not been, is a lie. How can the Truth make a lie? To do this, He would first have to change His Being. To speak in this way would be to say that God may not be God either.

And Peter began to say unto him, Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is none that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, and hath not received this time in this time in the midst of persecution a hundredfold more houses, and brothers and sisters, and fathers, and mothers, and children; and lands, but in the age to come eternal life. And many will be the first last, and the last first.

Though Peter left a little for Christ's sake, yet even this little he calls "all." Evidently, even few have the bonds of partiality; and therefore he is worthy of blessed, who forsakes little. Peter alone asked Christ, but the Lord gives a common answer for all: anyone who leaves his wife or mother. He does not say this so that we leave our parents helpless or separate from our wives, but teaches us to prefer pleasing God to everything carnal. Inasmuch as the preaching of the Gospel caused strife between people, so that the children had to renounce their fathers, the Lord also says: whoever forsakes carnal kinship and all carnal things for the sake of the Gospel, will receive all this a hundred times more in this world, and eternal life in the future. Therefore, will he not receive a hundred times as many wives? Yes, though the accursed Julian sneered at it. For, tell me, what benefit does the wife bring in her husband's household? In general, she takes care of food and clothing for her husband, and in this respect fully provides for her husband. See how it was with the apostles. How many wives took care of providing them with clothing and food, and served them, so that they themselves cared for nothing but word and teaching! In the same way, the apostles had many fathers and mothers, as were all those who loved them and cared for them with all their hearts. Peter left one of his houses, and afterwards had (as his own) all the houses of his disciples. Even now he has bright houses throughout the whole earth — churches in his name. And even more importantly, the saints inherited all this in exile, that is, being persecuted for the faith in Christ, and in cruel sufferings, but their sufferings were not a disgrace to them. For they, who seemed to be the last in the present age, because of the sorrows and persecutions they endured, will be the first in the age to come, because of their strong trust in God. The Pharisees who were first became the last, and those who left everything and followed Christ became the first.

When they were on the way, going up to Jerusalem, Jesus went ahead of them, and they were terrified, and following Him, they were afraid. And when he had called the twelve, he began to speak to them again concerning what would happen to him, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man will be delivered up to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him up to the Gentiles, and mock him, and beat him, and spit on him, and kill him; and on the third day he will rise again.

Why does Jesus foretell to His disciples what will happen to Him? To strengthen their spirits, so that they, having previously heard about it, would bravely endure when it came to pass, and would not be struck by the suddenness; and at the same time they must have known that He suffers according to His will. For whoever foresaw suffering could avoid it, and if he did not flee, it is evident that he willingly gives himself over to suffering. But since only the closest disciples had to reveal His suffering, He precedes everyone on the way, wishing to separate the disciples from the people. Moreover, by anticipating all and haste on His way, the Lord also shows that He hastens to suffering and does not flee from death for the sake of our salvation. Everything that He says in this case, although deplorable, nevertheless consoles with the fact that "on the third day He will rise again."

Then the sons of Zebedee, James and John, came to Him and said, "Teacher! we want Thee to do to us what we ask. He said to them, What do you want me to do to you? They said to Him; let us sit with Thee, one on the right hand and the other on the left, in Thy glory. But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking." Can you drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?

Another Evangelist (Matt. 20:20) says that their mother (James and John) came to Jesus. But it was probably both: these two apostles, ashamed of the others, sent their mother in advance, and then they themselves approached separately, as the Evangelist signifies, saying: "They came to Him," that is, they approached separately, departing from the others. What did they ask for? The ascent of Christ to Jerusalem, about which He conversed with His disciples, they understood that He was coming to receive the kingdom of the senses, and already after His enthronement He would endure the sufferings of which He had prophesied. Thinking in this way, they ask to sit on the right and left side of Christ. That is why the Lord also rebukes them, as those who do not understand what they are asking: "You do not know," he says, "what you are asking." You think that My Kingdom will be sensual, and therefore you ask for the sensual to sit; no, this is not so: it is beyond the concept of man, and to sit at the right hand of Me is the greatest deed, surpassing even the ranks of angels. Moreover, you dream of glory, and I call you to death. He calls the Cross the Chalice and Baptism — the Chalice because the Cross, like the cup of wine, was soon to bring Him to the sleep of death — and He was ready to accept the cup of suffering as a sweet drink for Himself; and by Baptism, because by the Cross He made the cleansing of our sins. But the disciples, not understanding the words of the Lord, give a promise on their part, thinking that He is speaking about the sensual cup and about the baptism that the Jews had, who washed themselves before eating food.