NOTES for Mat 6:18

Three times in the first half of the sixth chapter of Matthew's Gospel these words of the Savior are quoted. Let us note that He says this about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. There is a small book by Vladimir Solovyov, "The Spiritual Foundations of Life," in which he writes about prayer, almsgiving, and fasting as the basic components of a person's righteous life. Indeed, each person's "position" in the universe is determined by his relationships along three "coordinate axes": his connection with God, his connection with other people, and his connection with nature. Prayer, almsgiving, and fasting are expressions of right relationships along these "axes."

Thus Jesus' words refer to the whole fullness of human life. He says that this life is carried out not so much visibly as "in secret," not so much in deeds as in the intentions of the heart, not so much in actions as in relationships. Accordingly, the visible reward of this world is not what matters for us, because it passes away together with this world; what matters is the reward from the invisible God, because that reward is eternal life.