“Elder, what are Christians like today?”
“Like watermelons, my child.”
With this simple remark, full of spiritual wit, an elder on Mount Athos expressed a profound truth about our times.
If you think about it, a watermelon is a fruit that can easily deceive you. On the outside, it is deep green and firm, and you see a beautiful, hard surface that gives you the impression that nothing can bend or break it.
So it is with many Christians today. They wear the “garment” of piety, know the right words, follow religious customs, and appear steadfast.
But what is happening inside? That is the great question. For if a watermelon has not ripened properly in the sun, if it has not drawn the nourishment it needs from the earth, it remains unripe. Or, even worse, it may rot on the inside without anything being visible on the surface.
As the wisdom of the elders often emphasizes, the spiritual life is not a display window.
“When you buy a watermelon, you do not buy it for its rind, but for the sweetness of its flesh. In the same way, God does not look at our outward appearance, but at whether our heart is sweet, filled with love, humility, and kindness.”
Today, we have learned to tap a watermelon to see whether it is good. Life itself, with its sorrows, trials, and daily difficulties, “strikes” us so that what kind of sound we produce may be revealed. Do we give off a hollow sound, filled with pride? Or a full, substantial sound, showing that there is spiritual fruit within us?
The goal, therefore, is not simply to appear “deep green” and flawless on the outside. The challenge for the Christian today is to expose his soul to the Sun of Righteousness, Christ, so that he may ripen inwardly. Only then, when someone comes near and “cuts him open,” will he find a heart filled with spiritual sweetness, ready to quench the thirst of his neighbor.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
“Like watermelons, my child.”
With this simple remark, full of spiritual wit, an elder on Mount Athos expressed a profound truth about our times.
If you think about it, a watermelon is a fruit that can easily deceive you. On the outside, it is deep green and firm, and you see a beautiful, hard surface that gives you the impression that nothing can bend or break it.
So it is with many Christians today. They wear the “garment” of piety, know the right words, follow religious customs, and appear steadfast.
But what is happening inside? That is the great question. For if a watermelon has not ripened properly in the sun, if it has not drawn the nourishment it needs from the earth, it remains unripe. Or, even worse, it may rot on the inside without anything being visible on the surface.
As the wisdom of the elders often emphasizes, the spiritual life is not a display window.
“When you buy a watermelon, you do not buy it for its rind, but for the sweetness of its flesh. In the same way, God does not look at our outward appearance, but at whether our heart is sweet, filled with love, humility, and kindness.”
Today, we have learned to tap a watermelon to see whether it is good. Life itself, with its sorrows, trials, and daily difficulties, “strikes” us so that what kind of sound we produce may be revealed. Do we give off a hollow sound, filled with pride? Or a full, substantial sound, showing that there is spiritual fruit within us?
The goal, therefore, is not simply to appear “deep green” and flawless on the outside. The challenge for the Christian today is to expose his soul to the Sun of Righteousness, Christ, so that he may ripen inwardly. Only then, when someone comes near and “cuts him open,” will he find a heart filled with spiritual sweetness, ready to quench the thirst of his neighbor.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
