The Gospel in Brief by Leo Tolstoy

Author:Leo Tolstoy
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2011-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

It happened once that Jesus and his students were sitting opposite a poor box. People offered all their possessions into the box for God. Wealthy people as well came up to the box and put large amounts in. But one impoverished widow came up to it and deposited two mites.

And Jesus pointed toward her and said to his students, “Now, you see that this widow, a poor woman, deposited two mites; she has deposited more than all the others.”

It happened once that Jesus was in the home of Simon the Leper. And a woman entered the home. And this woman had a jar of expensive, fine oil worth three hundred rubles. Jesus told his students that his death was near. The woman heard this and felt reluctant to part with him and wanted to demonstrate her love and anoint his head with oil. And she forgot all about how much the oil cost and broke open the jar and anointed his head and feet, spilling the remaining oil. And the students began to discuss among themselves what an evil deed she had done.

Judas, the one that would later betray Jesus, said, “Look how much potential good has been lost in vain! One could have sold that oil for three hundred rubles and clothed so many poor people!” And the students began to scold the woman, who then became embarrassed and did not know whether she had done a good or bad thing.

Then Jesus said to them, “You are embarrassing the woman for nothing. She truly did good, so you are referring to the poor in vain. If you want to do good to the poor, then do it. They will always be available. Why talk about them now? If you feel bad for the poor, go and have mercy on them, do good to them; but this woman had mercy on me and did some actual good because she gave away what she had. Which one of you can know what is needed and what is not needed? How do you know that anointing my head with oil is a superfluous act? She poured her oil on me as if to prepare my body for burial, that is why her act was necessary. She truly fulfilled the father’s will, she forgot herself and had mercy on another. She forgot about accounting in terms of mortal life and gave away all that she had.”

And Jesus said, “My teaching is to fulfill the will of the father, but one can only fulfill the will of the father with actions, and not with words. If any son responds to his father’s commands by saying ‘I will, I will,’ but does nothing that the father has required, then obviously he is not fulfilling the father’s will.

“But if the other son so much as says, ‘I do not want to obey,’ but then goes and fulfills his father’s commands, then he is, after all, fulfilling the father’s will. With people, it is just the same. The one who speaks out and says ‘I am within the father’s will’ is really not.

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