Treasure in Heaven Matthew 6:19-21

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

SUMMARY: Let your treasures be your good works so that you may receive the gift of God. Ignatius, instead of lands therefore, buy afflicted souls, as each one is able. Visit widows and orphans, and do not overlook them. Spend your wealth and all your preparations, which you receive from the Lord, on such lands and houses. Hermas, the wealthy among us help the needy. Justin Martyr, Christians do not acquire or possess treasures on earth. Irenaeus, he who has sold his worldly goods and given them to the poor, finds the imperishable treasure where is neither moth nor robber. Clement of Alexandria. There is a certain treasure on earth where the Lord forbids treasure to be stored up. There is another treasure in heaven where he commands all the faithful to store up their wealth. Origen, he sins who, preferring himself and his children to Christ, keeps his wealth and does not share an abundant estate with the poverty of the needy. Cyprian, why do you fear making a frail and perishable good everlasting? Why do you fear entrusting your treasures to God as their preserver? In that case, you do not need to fear thief and robber, nor rust, nor tyrant. Lactantius, the Lord tells us that the one who becomes perfect and complete is the one who sells all his goods and distributes them for the use of the poor. In this way, he stores up for himself treasure in heaven. Cyprian, for where his treasure is, there also is the mind of a man. Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, but where your heart shall be, there shall be your treasure. Tertullian. Ignatius: Let your treasures be your good works so that you may receive the gift of God as is just.

HERMAS: he says to me, "You know that you who are the servants of God live in a strange land because your city is far away from this one. If, then," he continues, "you know the city where you are to live, why do you buy land here and make expensive preparations and pile up houses and useless buildings? The one who makes such preparations for this city cannot return again to his own city. O foolish, unstable, and miserable man! Do you not understand that all these things belong to someone else and are under someone else's power? For the lord of this city will say, 'I do not want you to live in my city. Leave this city because you do not obey my laws.' So you, even if you have fields and houses and many other things, when he throws you out, what will you do with your land and house and the other possessions you have gathered for yourself? For the lord of this country rightly says to you, 'Either obey my laws or leave my rule.' What then do you plan to do, since you have a law in your own city but you are focused on your lands and the rest of your possessions? You will completely deny your law and live by the law of this city. See to it that it does not harm you to deny your law. For if you want to return to your city, you will not be welcomed, because you denied the law of your city. Instead, you will be kept out. Be careful, therefore, since you live in a foreign land, do not make any more preparations for yourself than what is just enough. Be ready, when the master of this city comes to throw you out for disobeying his law, to leave his city, to go to your own city, and to obey your own law. Then you will not be bothered, but will have great joy. Be careful, then, you who serve the lord and have him in your heart. Make sure you do the works of God. Remember his commandments and the promises he promised, and believe that he will do them if his commandments are obeyed. Instead of buying land, buy afflicted souls, as each one is able. Visit widows and orphans, and do not neglect them. Spend your wealth and all your preparations which you received from the lord on such lands and houses. For this is why the master made you rich, so that you might do these services for him. And it is much better to buy such lands and possessions and houses as you will find in your own city when you come to live in it. This is a noble and holy kind of spending. It brings no sorrow or fear, but joy. Do not copy the spending of the heathen, because it harms you who are the servants of God. Instead, practice your own kind of spending, the kind you can rejoice in. Do not ruin or even touch what belongs to someone else, and do not desire it. It is an evil thing to desire the goods of other people. Do your own work, and you will be saved.

JUSTIN MARTYR: He said that we should share with people in need, and do nothing just to get glory. He said, "Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. For if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what new thing are you doing?" Even the tax collectors do this. Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where robbers break in. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys. For what does it profit a person if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for it? Therefore, store up treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys.

JUSTIN MARTYR: The wealthy among us help the needy. Those who are well-off and willing give what each person thinks is best. What is collected is given to the president. He supports the orphans and widows. He also supports those who, because of sickness or any other reason, are in need. He supports those who are in prison and the strangers staying among us. In a word, he takes care of everyone who is in need.

IRENAEUS: For we have been counted, says the Apostle Paul, all the day long as sheep for the slaughter; that is, set apart to God. We keep serving our faith all the time; we keep going in it; we stay away from all greed; we do not get or keep treasures on earth. Also, the Sabbath of God, that is, the kingdom, was shown in a way by created things. In that kingdom, the man who has kept going in serving God will share in God's table, in a state of rest.

TATIAN: do not be upset, little flock. Your father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Take for yourselves purses that do not wear out. Do not store up treasure on earth where moth and worm destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and worm do not destroy and thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The good man, being self-controlled and just, stores up his wealth in heaven. The one who has sold his worldly goods and given them to the poor finds the treasure that cannot perish, where there is neither moth nor robber. Truly blessed is the one who is, though he be insignificant and feeble and obscure, and he is truly rich with the greatest of all riches. Though a man, then, be richer than Kiniras and Midas, and is wicked and proud like the one who is dressed in purple and fine linen and looked down on Lazarus, he is miserable and lives in trouble and shall not live. Wealth seems to me to be like a serpent; it will twist around the hand and bite unless someone knows how to hold it safely by the tip of the tail. Riches, wriggling in the hands of someone experienced or inexperienced, are quick to cling and bite. This is true unless someone, looking down on them, uses them skillfully so as to crush the creature by the power of the word and escape without harm.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: "We have no country on earth so that we may despise earthly possessions."

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Therefore, do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. The Lord says, "He may be correcting people who are greedy; he may also be correcting people who are simply worried and weighed down with cares, and also those who pamper their bodies. For lovers, and diseases, and evil thoughts break through the mind and the whole person." But our true treasure is where what is connected to our mind is. It gives the power to share righteousness. It shows that we must count what we have gained from our old way of life as belonging to that old way of life, and we must turn to God and ask for mercy. He is truly the bag that does not grow old, the provisions of eternal life, the treasure that does not fail in heaven. "For I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," the Lord says. And they say these things to those who want to be poor for righteousness' sake. For they have heard in the commandment that "the broad and wide way leads to destruction, and many there are who go in by it." This statement is not about anything else. It is about wasteful living, and love of women, and love of glory and ambition, and similar passions. For this is what he says, "Fool, this night your soul will be required of you, and whose will those things be which you have prepared?" And the commandment is given in these very words, "Take heed, therefore, of covetousness." For a man's life does not consist in the abundance of those things which he possesses. For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Therefore, he has not forbidden us to be rich in the right way; he has only forbidden a wrong and never satisfied grabbing for money. For, property gained unlawfully is diminished. Also, there are some who sow much and gain the more, and those who hoard become impoverished. About them it is written: "He distributed, he gave to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." The one who sows and gathers more is the person who, by giving away his earthly and temporary goods, has gained a heavenly and eternal prize. The other is the one who gives to no one, but uselessly lays up treasure on earth where moth and rust corrupt. About him it is written: "In gathering income, he has gathered it into a condemned cell." About his land, the Lord says in the Gospel that it produced a great harvest. Then, wanting to store the crops, he built larger storehouses. He said to himself in words that are dramatically put into his mouth: "You have many good things laid up for many years to come; eat, drink, and be merry. You fool," says the Lord, "this night your soul shall be required of you. Whose then shall be the things you have prepared?"

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: God has provided another life for us. He has made this present life the road that leads to it. He has appointed the supplies we get from what we own as only provisions for the journey. When we leave this road, the wealth we had, meaning the things we owned, does not travel any farther with us. Not even one thing we own is truly our own. We are truly owners of only one possession, that is, godliness. Death, when it catches up to us, will not take this from us, but it will throw us out of everything else.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Maybe the reason salvation seems harder for rich people than for poor people is not just one reason, but many. For some people, just hearing the Savior's words in a careless way makes them lose hope. They hear, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven," and they give up on themselves. They think they are not meant to live. They hand everything over to the world. They cling to this present life as if it is the only life left to them, so they turn even farther away from the path to the life to come. They stop asking who the Lord and Master calls rich. They also stop asking how what is impossible for man becomes possible for God. But other people understand this rightly and clearly, yet they treat the works that lead to salvation as if they are not very important, so they do not make the needed preparation to reach what they hope for. I say both of these things about rich people, who have learned both the Savior's power and His glorious salvation. He gives to those who beg. He teaches those who ask. He clears away ignorance and drives away despair. He does this by bringing up again the same words about the rich. These words explain themselves and interpret themselves without fail. Nothing helps like listening again to the very same statements. Until now, in the Gospels, these statements were troubling you. You heard them without careful thought, and you misunderstood them because of childish thinking. And going forth into the way, one approached and kneeled, saying, "Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may inherit everlasting life?" And Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother." And He answering said to him, "All these I have observed." And Jesus, looking upon him, loved him, and said, "One thing you lack. If you would be perfect, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me." And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he was rich, having great possessions. And Jesus looked round about, and said to his disciples, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?" And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answered again, and said to them, "Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God? More easily shall a camel enter through the eye of a needle than a rich man into the kingdom of God." And they were astonished out of measure, and said, "Who then can be saved?" And he, looking upon them, said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God, for with God all things are possible." Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left all and followed you." And Jesus answered and said, "Truly I say to you, whoever leaves what is his own—parents and brothers and sisters and possessions—for my sake and the Gospels—shall receive an hundredfold now in this world—lands and possessions—and house and brothers and sisters—with persecutions—and in the world to come—is life everlasting. But many that are first shall be last, and the last first." So Jesus does not accuse the man of failing to keep everything in the law. Instead, Jesus loves him. Jesus warmly welcomes his obedience in what he had learned. But Jesus says he is not perfect when it comes to eternal life. That is because he had not done what is perfect. He is a doer of the law, yes. But he is lazy when it comes to the true life. Those things in the law are good. Who denies it? The commandment is holy. It works like training with fear, and like a first kind of discipline. It led to the highest point of the law, and to grace. But Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. And he does not act like a slave master making slaves. He makes sons and brothers and sisters and fellow heirs. These are people who do the Father's will. Jesus says, "If you will be perfect." So the man was not yet perfect. Nothing is more perfect than what is perfect. And the words "if you will" show something important. They show the soul's own choice as it speaks with him. The choice depended on the man, because he was free. But the gift depended on God, because God is Lord. And God gives to those who are willing, very serious, and who ask, so that their salvation may become their own. God does not force anyone because forcing people is wrong for God. Instead, he provides for those who seek. He gives to those who ask. He opens to those who knock. So, if you will, if you truly will, and you are not fooling yourself, then get what you lack. One thing is missing for you. It is the one thing that remains. It is the good. It is what is now above the law. The law does not give it. The law does not contain it. It belongs to those who truly live. The man had met all the demands of the law from his youth. He had taken pride in what looked impressive. But he could not finish the whole thing with this one thing that the Savior especially required. So he could not receive the eternal life he wanted. He left upset and unhappy. He was annoyed at the commandment that leads to life, even though he had begged for it. He did not truly want life, even though he said he did. Instead, he wanted the reputation of making a good choice. He was able to keep busy with many things. But the one thing, the work of life, he had no power to do. He did not want to do it, and he was not able to do it.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: For if no one had anything, what room would be left among people for giving? And how can this teaching not be clearly opposed to, and in conflict with, many other excellent teachings of the Lord? Make friends for yourselves with the Mammon of unrighteousness, so that when you fail, they may receive you into the everlasting homes. Store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in. How could anyone give food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless? These are the very things that, if people do not do them, he threatens them with fire and the outer darkness. How could they do these things if each person first got rid of all these things? No, he tells Zacchaeus and Matthew, the rich tax collectors, to welcome him as a guest, and he does not tell them to give up their property. Instead, by applying what is just and removing what is unjust, he adds: "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham." In this way, he praises the right use of property. He also commands, along with this, that people share it: they should give drink to the thirsty, bread to the hungry, take the homeless in, and clothe the naked. But if it is not possible to meet those needs without having possessions, and he tells people to abandon their possessions, then what else would the Lord be doing? He would be urging people both to give and not to give the same things. He would be telling them both to feed and not to feed, to take in and to shut out, to share and not to share. That would be the most irrational thing of all.

TERTULLIAN: Even though we have our treasure chest, it is not filled with money people pay to buy their way in, like a religion that has a price. On the monthly day, if a person wants to, each one puts in a small donation. But it is only if it is their choice, and only if they are able. There is no forcing anyone; everything is voluntary. These gifts are, so to speak, a deposit fund for devotion. They are not taken from there and spent on feasts, drinking parties, and restaurants. Instead, they are used to support and bury poor people. They are used to provide what boys and girls need when they have no money and no parents. They are used to help older people who are now stuck at home. They also help those who have suffered shipwreck. And if it happens that there are any in the mines, or banished to the islands, or locked up in prisons, for nothing except their faithfulness to the cause of God's Church, they become the cared-for children of their confession. But it is mainly deeds of a love so noble that lead many to put a brand on us. See, they say, how they love one another.

ORIGEN: In the Gospel, it says there is a certain treasure on earth where the Lord forbids people to store up treasure. There is another treasure in heaven where He commands all the faithful to store up their wealth.

COMMODIANUS: if your brother is weak—I mean the poor man—do not visit him empty-handed while he lies sick. Do good under God. Show your obedience by giving your money. In the same way, if your poor sister lies on a sick bed, let your married women begin to bring food to her. God Himself cries out, "Break your bread to the needy." There is no need to visit with words, but with help. It is wicked if your brother is sick because he does not have enough food. Do not satisfy him with words. He needs food and drink. Look at those who are truly weakened, who are not able to act for themselves. Give to them at once. I pledge my word that God will give you fourfold.

CYPRIAN: Therefore, in the Gospel, the Lord, the Teacher of our life and Master of eternal salvation, gives life to the gathering of believers. He also provides for them forever after He has given them life. Among His divine commands and teachings from heaven, He commands and teaches nothing more often than this: we should devote ourselves to giving to the poor; we should not depend on earthly possessions; instead, we should store up heavenly treasures. "Sell," He says, "your goods and give alms." And again, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust corrupts, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And when He wanted to describe a man as perfect and complete by obeying the law, He said, "If you will be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come and follow Me." Also, in another place He says that a merchant of heavenly grace and a person who gains eternal salvation should buy the precious pearl, that is, eternal life. He should buy it at the price of the blood of Christ, using what he has inherited and giving up all his wealth for it. He says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a merchantman seeking goodly pearls; and when he found a precious pearl, he went away and sold all that he had and bought it."

CYPRIAN: you are wealthy and rich, and do you think you celebrate the Lord's Supper? You do this without thinking at all about the offering. You come to the Lord's Supper without a sacrifice, and yet you take part of the sacrifice that the poor person is offered. Think about the widow in the Gospel. She remembered the heavenly commands. She did good even in the hardships and tight limits of poverty. She threw in two mites, which were all she had, into the treasury. The Lord watched her and saw this. He looked at her work, not by how much it was, but by why she did it. He considered not how much she gave, but how much she had to begin with. Then he answered and said, "Truly I say to you, that that widow has cast in more than they all into the offerings of God. For all these have, of that which they had in abundance, cast into the offerings of God, but she of her poverty has cast in all the living that she had." What a greatly blessed and glorious woman. Even before the day of judgment, she deserved to be praised by the voice of the judge. Let the rich be ashamed of their emptiness and unbelief. The widow, the widow who is poor in money, is found rich in good works. And even though everything that is given is given to widows and orphans, she gives. She is the one who should have received. This shows us what punishment waits for the rich man who produces nothing. By this example, even the poor should work hard in good works, and so that we may understand that their work is given to God and that whoever does it deserves the Lord's favor. Christ calls this the offerings of God. He shows that the widow threw in two farthings into the offerings of God. This makes it even clearer that the one who has pity on the poor lends to God. But do not let this concern, dearest brothers and sisters, hold back and pull the Christian away from good and right works. No one should imagine that he can be excused because he wants to benefit his children. In spiritual spending, we should think about Christ, who has said that he receives these gifts. We should not put our fellow servants ahead of the Lord for the sake of our children. He himself teaches and warns us, saying, "He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." For if we love God with our whole heart, we should not put either our parents or our children ahead of God. John also says this in his letter. He says the love of God is not in those we see unwilling to work for the poor. "Whoever," he says, "has this world's goods and sees his brother have need and shuts up his bowels from him, how does the love of God dwell in him?" For if by giving to the poor we are lending to God, and when it is given to the least, it is given to Christ, then no one has any reason to put earthly things ahead of heavenly things. No one has any reason to think about human things before divine things. So from this, it can be seen how much a person sins in the church when he puts himself and his children ahead of Christ. He keeps his wealth and does not share his large estate with the poverty of those in need.

LACTANTIUS: What should I say about a certain pagan who changed his possessions into money and threw it into the sea? I doubt whether he was in his right mind or mentally unwell. "Go away," he says, "you evil desires, into the deep. I will throw you away, unless I myself am thrown away by you. If you have such great contempt for money, use it to do kind and humane acts. Give it to the poor. This money that you are about to throw away could help many others, so that they do not die from famine, thirst, or lack of clothing."

LACTANTIUS: It is not a virtue to seek riches.

LACTANTIUS: Ransoming captives is a great and noble act of justice. Tullius also approved of it. And this generosity, he says, even helps the state. It helps when captives are bought back from slavery and when people with very little are provided for. And I greatly prefer this kind of generosity to spending huge amounts on public shows. This is what great and outstanding men do. Therefore, it is the proper work of the just to support the poor and to ransom captives. Among unjust people, if any of them do these things, they are called great and outstanding. It deserves the highest praise when people give help from whom no one expected such behavior. Someone who does good to a relative, or a neighbor, or a friend, either deserves no praise, or at least no great praise. That is because he is obligated to do it. He would be godless and hateful if he did not do what both nature itself and family ties require. And if he does it, he does it not so much to gain honor as to avoid blame. But the one who does it for a stranger and an unknown person is truly worthy of praise. He was led to do it by kindness alone. Therefore, justice exists where there is no forced obligation to give a benefit. So he should not have said he preferred this duty of generosity to spending on shows. That kind of language belongs to someone comparing two good things and choosing the better one. But that wasteful spending, where people throw away their property into the sea, is empty and foolish. It is very far from all justice. So they should not even be called gifts when no one receives except the one who does not deserve to receive. It is also a great work of justice to protect and defend orphans and widows who are poor and need help. Therefore, the divine law commands this for everyone. All good judges think it is part of their job to show them natural kindness and to work to help them. But these works are especially ours because we have received the law and the words of God himself, which give us instruction. Others see that it is naturally just to protect those who need protection, but they do not see why it is so. For God, to whom everlasting mercy belongs, commands that widows and orphans should be defended and cared for. He does this so that no one, out of concern and pity for his children, should be kept from facing death for justice and faith. Instead, he should face it quickly and bravely. He knows that he leaves his loved ones in God's care and that they will never lack protection. Also, to take care of the sick and support them since they need someone to help them is an act of the greatest kindness and great generosity. The one who does this will gain a living sacrifice to God. And what he has given to another for a time, he himself will receive from God forever. The last and greatest duty of devotion is burying strangers and the poor. Those teachers of virtue and justice have not spoken about this at all. They could not understand it because they measured all duties by usefulness. In the other things mentioned above, even though they did not stay on the true path, they still found some advantage in them. As if they had a small hint of the truth, they wandered less far away. But they abandoned this duty because they could not see any advantage in it. Someone may perhaps say, "If I do all these things, I will have no possessions. What if a great number of people are in need, are cold, are taken captive, or are dying?" Someone who acts like this would have to give up his property even in a single day. Should I throw away the estate gained by my own work, or by my ancestors' work, so that afterward I myself must live by the pity of others? Why do you fear poverty? Even your philosophers praise it. They say that nothing is safer and nothing calmer than it. What you fear is actually a harbor from worries. Do you not know how many dangers and accidents you face because of these harmful resources? They will treat you well if they pass by without your blood being shed. But you walk around loaded with stolen goods. You carry spoils that can stir up the minds even of your own relatives. So why do you hesitate to spend well what a single robbery might take from you, or what a sudden accusation might take, or what an enemy might steal by force? Why do you fear making a weak and perishable good everlasting? Why do you fear placing your treasures with God as their protector? In that case, you do not need to fear thief or robber or rust or tyrant. The one who is rich toward God can never be poor. If you value justice so highly, set aside the burdens that press you down and follow it. Free yourself from fetters and chains so that you may run to God without anything holding you back. It belongs to a great and noble mind to despise and trample on earthly matters. But if you do not understand this virtue, that you should place your riches on the altar of God so that you may provide for yourself possessions stronger than these weak ones, I will free you from fear. All these commands are not given to you alone. They are given to all the people who are united in mind and hold together as one person. If you are not able to do great works by yourself, then practice justice with all your strength. Do it in such a way, however, that you may surpass others in good work as much as you surpass them in riches. And do not think you are being told to reduce or use up your property. Instead, take what you would have spent on unnecessary things and use it for better purposes. Use for ransoming captives what you use to buy animals. Support the poor with what you use to feed wild beasts. Bury the innocent dead with what you use to supply men for the sword.

ORIGEN: There is a person who is wise and rich toward God. Even though he lives on earth, his citizenship is in heaven. Everything he does is worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Such a person stores up the treasures of his riches in heaven.

CYPRIAN: They used to sell houses and estates, so they could store up treasures for themselves in heaven. They brought the money from the sale to the apostles. The apostles then distributed it to help the poor.

CYPRIAN: you say that you are wealthy and rich, and you think you should use the things God has willed you to have. Use them, certainly, but for the things of salvation. Use them, but for good purposes. Use them, but for the things God has commanded and that the Lord has set forth. Let the poor feel that you are wealthy. Let the needy feel that you are rich. Lend your estate to God. Give food to Christ. Move Him by the prayers of many, so that He will grant you to carry out the glory of virginity and to succeed in coming to the Lord's rewards. There, entrust your treasures where no thief digs through and where no sneaky robber breaks in. Prepare possessions for yourself, but let them be heavenly ones. There, rust does not wear them out. Hail does not bruise them. The sun does not burn them. Rain does not spoil your fruit. Your fruit will be steady and lasting, and free from any harm from this world. Because in this very matter, you are sinning against God if you think riches were given to you by Him for this purpose: to enjoy them fully, with no concern for salvation. God also gave man a voice, yet that does not mean love songs and indecent things should be sung. God willed iron to be used for working the earth, but that does not mean murders must be committed. Or because God ordained incense and wine and fire, are we then to sacrifice to idols? Or because herds of cattle are plentiful in your fields, should you sacrifice victims and offerings to the gods? Otherwise, a large estate is a temptation unless the wealth serves good uses. So every person, in proportion to their wealth, should use their inheritance to redeem their sins rather than to increase them.

CYPRIAN: A blind love for your own property has fooled many people. Because their wealth chained them down, they could not be ready for, or at peace with, leaving this life. Those were their chains if they stayed. Those were the bonds that slowed down virtue, weighed down faith, tied up the spirit, and held back the soul. So people caught up in earthly things could become loot and food for the serpent, which by God's judgment feeds on the earth. Therefore the Lord, the teacher of good things, warning us about what is coming, says, "If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me." If rich people did this, they would not be destroyed by their riches. If they stored up treasure in heaven, they would not now have an enemy inside their own house attacking them. Their heart, mind, and feelings would be in heaven if their treasure were in heaven. And a person who has nothing in the world that the world can use against him cannot be defeated by the world. He would follow the Lord, unchained and free, as the apostles did. Many in the time of the apostles did the same. Many left behind both their resources and their relatives, and held tightly to Christ with a whole and undivided commitment. But how can people follow Christ if the chain of their wealth holds them back? Or how can they look for heaven and climb to high and lofty heights if earthly desires weigh them down? They think they own their wealth, but really their wealth owns them. They are slaves to their profit. They are not masters of their money. Instead, they are slaves to their money. The apostle points to these times and these people when he says, "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and in perdition." For the root of all evil is the love of money, which, while some have coveted, they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But what rewards does the Lord offer to move us to reject worldly wealth? What payment does He give back for the small and unimportant losses of this present time? "There is no man," He says, "that leaves house, or land, or parents, or brothers and sisters, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake. But he shall receive sevenfold, even in this time, but in the world to come life everlasting." If we know these things, and we have learned them from the truth of the Lord who promises them, then we should not fear this kind of loss. We should even want it. The Lord Himself again announces and warns us, "Blessed are you when men shall persecute you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall cast you out, and shall speak of your name as evil. For the Son of Man's sake, rejoice in that day, and leap for joy. For look, your reward is great in heaven."

CYPRIAN: He teaches us that riches are not only to be treated with contempt, but that they are also full of danger. He teaches that in riches is the root of tempting evils. These evils trick the human mind, which is blind, by a hidden kind of deception. Because of this, God also rebukes the rich fool. This man thinks about his earthly wealth and brags about the abundance of his overflowing harvests. God says, "You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you. Then whose shall those things be which you have provided?" The fool, who was going to die that very night, was rejoicing in his stored-up goods, and the one whose life was already failing was thinking about how much food he had. But on the other hand, the Lord tells us that the person becomes perfect and complete who sells all his goods and gives them out for the use of the poor. In this way, he stores up treasure for himself in heaven. He says that this man is able to follow him and to imitate the glory of the Lord's passion. This is the man who is free from anything that holds him back. He has his loins girded. He is not caught up in the traps of worldly wealth. Instead, he is at large and free himself, and he follows after his possessions, which have already been sent on to God. So that each one of us may be able to prepare for this result, let him learn to pray in this way, and let him understand from what the prayer is like, what kind of person he ought to be.

LACTANTIUS: Money should be despised; it should be moved to heavenly treasures, where no thief can break in, no rust can ruin it, and no tyrant can take it away. There it can be kept safe for us under God's care, as our eternal wealth. Justin Martyr: For where his treasure is, there also is the mind of a man.

CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: The Christian also, even while doing the best things, wants to avoid being noticed by people. He convinces the Lord, and also himself, that he is living in line with the commandments. He chooses these things because he believes they are real. For where anyone's mind is, there also is his treasure. He makes himself poor so that he will never ignore a brother or sister who has fallen into suffering. He does this through the perfection that is in love, especially if he knows he can handle need more easily than his brother or sister can. So he treats the other person's pain as his own grief. And if, by giving out of his own poverty in order to do good, he suffers any hardship, he does not complain about it. Instead, he increases his love even more, for he truly has the faith that is lived out in everyday life. He praises the Gospel by what he does and by what he thinks about. And truly, he receives his praise not from men, but from God, by doing what the Lord has taught.

MINUCIUS FELIX: Rich men tied to their wealth have gotten used to looking more at their gold than at heaven; but our kind of people, though poor, have found wisdom and have passed their teaching on to others.

TERTULLIAN: The mind surrounds the whole person, and wherever it wants, it carries that person. But where your heart is, there your treasure will be.