MATTHEW 6:24-34 NO ONE CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS
“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span.
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.
REFLECTION:
Mammon in this passage refers to any treasure or god you put before God…Our God demands full commitment…Listen to Great Commandment once more, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. Take to heart these words which I command you today. Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up…. Deuteronomy 6:5-7
These words spoken by Moses at God’s command are as true today as when Jesus spoke them to His disciples in the Gospel of Saint Matthew.
“Teacher,* which commandment in the law is the greatest? He said to him,* “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it:* You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36
No one likes to talk about masters, especially today. when the very roots of our country are sown with masters and slaves. But Jesus is not talking here about ownership and denial of freedom in a plantation sense. He is talking about what we value will determine our behavior.
If we value greed, are we ready to share with those in need? If we value power, will we be willing to share with the marginalized? If we value pleasure, will we be willing to take up our cross and follow Jesus?
Jesus asks the question, “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Well is life more than food, clothes, cars, 401ks, fame and fortune. Is it? Is this world on earth all there is? …or is there “resurrection of the body and life everlasting” as we state in our Creed every Sunday?
Where will we spend eternity?…with a friend, Jesus, we made in this life or be by ourselves with our addictions and lusts…”Enter by the narrow gate,” Jesus says. Jesus is the gate, the way, the truth and life….There is no other path to eternal life.
Jesus became human while remaining Divine, that He might in justice atone for our disobedience and repair the separation from the Father. We are now adopted sons and daughters of God as long as we don’t rebel, resist, and reject the promise. We can’t do it on our own but amazing grace accepted and acted upon is a share in the divine life here on earth and promise of eternal life.
Jesus tells us that God knows all our bodily needs. We have all of Scripture that shows God’s loving providence from the liberation of His people in slavery in Egypt to a Savior that saves us from the slavery of sin. Jesus says,” Seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.”
PRAYER OF ST. IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA
Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess, Thou hast given me: I surrender it all to Thee to be disposed of according to Thy will.
Give me only Thy love and Thy grace; with these I will be rich enough and will desire nothing more. Amen.
