Matthew 6:19-23

2 Corinthians 11:18, 21-30

Psalm 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Matthew 6:19-23

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,

where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.

But store up treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“The lamp of the body is the eye.

If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;

but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness.

And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, the things of this passing world often vie for my attention. I know that they cannot ultimately satisfy me or bring me ultimate happiness. You alone satisfy. Love alone will last for eternity. May I love you above all things and with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Debt of Sin: More than any other Gospel, the Gospel of the tax-collector turned Apostle, Matthew, employs economic language to speak about spiritual realities. Heaven is a place to store up treasure, sinful actions incur debt, the Kingdom of the Heavens is like a pearl of great price, God is a king who entrusts his wealth (talents) to his servants for them to invest it, the rich young man is invited by Jesus to sell everything and give to the poor, the laborers in the Lord’s vineyard are given generous wages, and the vineyard of the Lord will be leased out to other tenants. The Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus has just given in the Sermon on the Mount, teaches us to ask God to forgive, remit, or cancel our debts. The debts in question concern what we have incurred due to our sins. Almsgiving is seen as an act that earns heavenly treasure, and this treasure delivers from death and punishment. Heavenly treasure redeems us from the debt of sin (see Eubank, Wages of Cross-Bearing and the Debt of Sin, 50-51). The meaning of the petition in the Lord’s Prayer is made clearer in the Parable of the ungrateful servant (Matthew 18:23-35): “Sin puts one in danger of becoming a debt-slave, but God will cancel the debts of those who ask him, provided that they in turn cancel the debts of their fellow servants” (Eubank, Wages of Cross-Bearing and the Debt of Sin, 56).

2. Treasure in the Heavens: The three examples of righteous deeds done in secret – almsgiving, prayer, fasting – were examples of how to earn a wage for righteous deeds from God rather than from people. Today’s Gospel passage approaches the question of heavenly treasure from a different angle. In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus contrasts the ephemerality of earthly treasure with the eternity of heavenly treasure. “Earthly treasures are here today and gone tomorrow. Pursuit of such wages is antithetical to the pursuit of heavenly wages. The parables of the treasure hidden in a field and of the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44-45) make a similar point: the kingdom is like a treasure that compels a person to sell all her possessions in order to gain it” (Eubank Wages of Cross-Bearing and the Debt of Sin, 81).

3. Reviewing our Heavenly Bank Account: When we make an examination of conscience, it is like a review of the ledger of our heavenly bank account. We can imagine it as follows. The first column of the ledger has the time, day, month, and year of an action. The second column summarizes the action. The third column records if the action was sinful and resulted in a debt that wounded or broke our relationship with God. The fourth column is for credits – heavenly treasure – stored up through righteous deeds of charity toward God and neighbor, empowered by grace. The fifth column has our balance. A daily review of this ledger can keep us on track. A yearly review of the ledger – in a retreat setting, perhaps, or at the end of the year – is also important. If we see insurmountable debt, we know the way out: humility before God, sacramental forgiveness, and deeds of charity. If we see heavenly treasure, this is not a cause for pride or self-righteousness, but for thanksgiving. We only have treasure in the heavens because God is with us, Jesus has merited it for us, and we have worked with God’s grace.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are my treasure. There is nothing more that I want. With you, all is right and bathed in divine light. Without you, chaos and darkness reign. I choose you and your Kingdom today.

Living the Word of God: Are we blinded by wealth and the pursuit of things that do not last? Or do we seek to be poor in spirit and trustworthy administrators of the gifts and talents we have received from God? Are there any “idols” I keep hidden in my life, but secretly worship? Have I allowed God to reign fully in my heart, or are there some places where I deny God entry? What is it that keeps me from the light of Christ? We pray, then, that God enlighten our hearts so that we may see this world as it really is. We pray that the idols of earthly wealth, power, and pleasure gain no foothold in our hearts. We ask God today to keep us on the narrow path that leads to eternal life. “There is one thing I ask of the Lord, only this do I seek: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (Psalm 27(26):4).