Matthew 6:24-34

Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus said to his disciples:

“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?

Why are you anxious about clothes?

Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.

They do not work or spin.

But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor

was clothed like one of them.

If God so clothes the grass of the field,

which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,

will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

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.

Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.

Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, my heavenly Father, you know what I need even before I ask you. You provide me with earthly food and drink and with heavenly food and drink. You clothe me with the robe of righteousness and shelter me under your wing. Help me to trust in you more fully each day and abandon myself to your loving care.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Loving and Serving God: One of the greatest temptations we face in life is to make money (mammon) our god. We can obsess over it and focus almost all our attention on it. We can place our trust more in it than in our Creator. What Jesus teaches us in the Sermon on the Mount is that we were made for much more than making and hoarding money. Jesus frames the topic with the word “service,” which in Hebrew also meant “worship” (avad). In the Exodus story, the people were called to serve/worship the Lord God and not Pharaoh. Will we worship and serve money, or will we worship and serve the Lord? No one can serve – totally and exclusively – two different lords. Here, Jesus uses a Semitic expression that compares two things with the words love and hate. Jesus invites us to love God and hate mammon. This means that we are called to love God more than money. Instead of serving money, we need to be good administrators and use our wealth to serve others.

2. Worldly Anxiety vs. Heavenly Trust: Jesus warns against stockpiling earthly treasures, exhorting his disciples to build treasure in heaven by good deeds. This can be done only if we are free from anxiety through the knowledge that the Maker of all things is our provident and caring Father. Anxiety and fear imprison, whereas faith in the Father frees us to give and trust, to be satisfied with our ‘daily bread,’ allowing us to ‘seek first the kingdom of God” (Gray and Cavins, Walking with God, 262). Jesus lists three specific areas of concern that represent the necessities of life: eating, drinking, and clothing. “While these are important, they are not the ultimate goal of life. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? We should look after these basic needs, but focus on what is more important” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 110). We will not conquer worldly anxiety unless we trust more fully in our heavenly Father and his providential care.

3. Seek First the Kingdom of God: Instead of seeking wealth first, we are called to seek the Kingdom of God first. “Jesus assures his disciples that, if they put God’s Kingdom first, God will care for their earthly necessities as well” (Mitch and Sri, The Gospel of Matthew, 112). Seeking God’s Kingdom first “does not mean not seeking anything else; it is a matter of priorities” (Martin, Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life, 120). The verb “seek” has the sense of “keep seeking” or being on a permanent quest. “The kingdom of God is the reign of God, inaugurated by Jesus and to be brought to fulfillment at the end of this age. Jesus’ disciples are to strive to live under God’s reign now so that they can enter into its fullness” (Martin, Bringing the Gospel of Matthew to Life, 120). Divine righteousness is found in the Kingdom and communicated through the Sacraments of the Church. By grace, we have been saved and made righteous. We are called to seek out God’s saving grace and cooperate with this grace to build up the Kingdom of God in this world.

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, your Word contains examples of sinners who foolishly chose the path to death and of saints who wisely chose the path to life. I choose life today and ask that you guide my steps always. Show me how to trust more perfectly in the Father’s care.

Living the Word of God: As I look over the past week, what was my primary concern? How the stock market moved or how the Spirit moved me? What can I do to put the Kingdom of God and God’s grace first in my life?