Another funny anecdote about a resourceful scoundrel and, as always, a strange and frightening conclusion: "the sons of this age" know their business better than the "sons of light." Always and in every age, people seeking wealth, fame, and power know how to get what they want, by fair means and foul, by deception, force, cunning, and ingenuity. But those who seek the "Kingdom of God and His righteousness" sink into laziness, slackness, and indifference. It turns out that money and power are stronger incentives, if for their sake a person is ready to give up anything and devise any scheme, just to achieve the goal. So much for "spirituality." Spirituality, however, also finds a place: it serves as one form of leisure, since one cannot work for "unrighteous wealth" all the time. Of course, like every parable, this anecdote is told not so much to accuse as to make a person, after rejoicing over the resourceful thief, think about what he wants in life and how he goes about obtaining it.

"You cannot serve two masters" - what is this about? The body? The world? The love of money? And most important: if one cannot serve two masters, how can one live at all in a world that, as we know from the same Gospel, "lies in evil"? What is to be done? Run from the world, flee into the desert, as monks, hermits, and desert dwellers have done in every age?

But is that really a way out? Even in the desert and in the forest one will have to think about feeding oneself somehow, at least minimally. And there this may prove even more difficult than in the city. Nor is food the only issue; the matter is one of principle: if one cannot serve two masters, then one also cannot live by the laws of the world in which we live. Wherever you run, it is still with you, because any one of us is part of it, and the evil in which it lies has to do with us.

But if the Kingdom exists, if it has already entered our world in order to transform it, then not everything is lost. If there is an alternative, then it is possible to live in this world without submitting to it, to live according to the laws of the Kingdom and not be divided, not serve two masters. Of course, it is not easy to live this way, but in principle such a life is possible. And this means that there is an alternative to the world that lies in evil. The main thing is to find it, and, once found, not to lose it.

The Pharisees who mocked Jesus when He said that it is impossible to serve God and wealth think about the Kingdom of God the way we usually do. Only when someone dies do we say, "May the Kingdom of Heaven be his"; to wish the "Kingdom of Heaven" to a living person is psychologically impossible for us. A stereotype formed over the centuries places the Kingdom "afterward," beyond the bounds of this life. The Pharisees thought the same way, hoping for the resurrection of the dead and expecting the Kingdom in a historical but distant future. The Pharisees regarded wealth, honor among those around them, and family well-being as the only, or in any case the chief, manifestation of God's favor in this life. Our stereotyped religiosity matches the Pharisaic one here too. This is visible when we reproach God for injustice, seeing swindlers prosper and the righteous suffer.

But the Lord tells the Pharisees, and us who think as they do, that the proclamation of the Kingdom of God as something belonging to a distant future was valid only until the time of John the Baptist. From the moment his witness to the Lamb of God sounded, to the beloved Son in whom the Father's favor was given to people, from that moment the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed as a present reality. And therefore, the Lord says, to enter it only effort is required: the effort of faith and resolve. The Pharisees do not want this nearness and openness of the Kingdom; for them it has come too unexpectedly and too early. Alas, here too we do not differ from them. To His disciples, however, the Lord speaks of the need to forgive people without limit, as God forgives. This is an essential mark of the Kingdom, into which we are called to enter here and now.