It happened once that Martin was up reading till very late.  He was reading St. Luke’s Gospel.  He was reading the sixth chapter, and as he read he came to the words:  “And to him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other.”  This passage he read several times, and presently he came to that place where the Lord says:  “And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?  Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like.  He is like a man which built an house, and dug deep, and laid the foundations on a rock.  And when the flood arose, the storm beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon a rock.  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth, against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Avdyeeich read these words through and through, and his heart was glad.  He took off his glasses, laid them on the book, rested his elbow on the table, and fell a-thinking.  And he began to measure his own life by these words.  And he thought to himself, “Is my house built on the rock or on the sand?  How good to be as on a rock!  How easy it all seems to thee sitting alone here.  It seems as if thou wert doing God’s will to the full, and so thou takest no heed and fallest away again.  And yet thou wouldst go on striving, for so it is good for thee.  O Lord, help me!” Thus thought he, and would have laid him down, but it was a grief to tear himself away from the book.  And so he began reading the seventh chapter.  He read all about the Centurion, he read all about the Widow’s Son, he read all about the answer to the disciples of St. John; and so he came to that place where the rich Pharisee invites our Lord to be his guest.  And he read all about how the woman who was a sinner anointed His feet and washed them with her tears, and how He justified her.  And so he came at last to the forty-fourth verse, and there he read these words, “And He turned to the woman and said to Simon, Seest thou this woman?  I entered into thine house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet; but she has washed My feet with tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head.  Thou gavest Me no kiss, but this woman, since the time I came in, hath not ceased to kiss My feet.  Mine head with oil thou didst not anoint.”

And again Avdyeeich took off his glasses, and laid them on the book, and fell a-thinking.

“So it is quite plain that I too have something of the Pharisee about me.  Am I not always thinking of myself?  Am I not always thinking of drinking tea, and keeping myself as warm and cozy as possible, without thinking at all about the guest?  Simon thought about himself, but did not give the slightest thought to his guest.  But who was the guest?  The Lord Himself.  And suppose He were to come to me, should I treat Him as the Pharisee did?”