Thoughts going in, Sunday Feb 27th

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25 "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 important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:24-34, TNIV)

With this passage from Matthew 6 our extended look at the Sermon on the Mount comes to a close. Next Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, followed three days later by Ash Wednesday and Lent.

There are many fascinating aspects to this passage, not the least of which is found in vs 24. When Jesus says “you cannot serve two masters,” no doubt there were those listening who knew exactly what that was like. Peasants working for rich brothers, or a slave who had been willed by a rich man to two of his sons would’ve known exactly what that was like. The odd part is the way the verse ends out—pitting God against money. Note, “money” is an unfortunate rendering. A more literal translation would be to say “you cannot serve both God and WEALTH.” Not only does that clarify the meaning in its first century context, but it also gives us a depth of meaning for today, as we all know that there is much more to wealth (and being slavishly devoted to it) than simple money.

The big question that comes to my mind is simply, was this a problem?? After all, if Jesus wandered into a prestigious Wall Street brokerage house **today it seems like a key component of his message to them would be, “hey guys.....wake up.....you can’t serve both God & wealth!” But whether we go with the ‘original context,’ or for that matter St. Matthew’s original readers (some 40-ish years after the time of Jesus), it’s very likely that the people being addressed are at the very opposite end of the Wall Street social set. In other words, poor Galilean peasants heard these words of Jesus, and Matthew’s original readers were also, likely, poorer types. Why beat them over the head about wealth?

In the end, I’m not sure, but it could boil down to this: if you count up the number of times a form of the word ‘worry’ occurs in this passage, it’s like 6 times. That’s a lot. In the end one could even say that the passage isn’t about money/wealth as much as it is about WORRYING; worrying about the *lack of money/wealth; worrying about how to get more; worrying about the current economic conditions; worrying about the bills that are due; worrying about **EVERYTHING surrounding money/wealth—especially when there doesn’t seem to be enough. In other words, Jesus seems to be equating this sort of fretting/worry with **indentured servitude** to wealth. That’s news to us. We generally think of the fat cat rich as being the only ones slavishly devoted to wealth, but as usual, Jesus turns the tables on what we generally think.

OF COURSE, as just about every commentator points out, **not worrying .....or better yet, **refusing to worry about wealth is certainly not the same thing as being lazy, being derelict in one’s family obligations, or poor stewardship. This is but ONE passage of the Bible. We don’t want to get to a place where we make it teach something that contradicts a myriad of other passages. As always, it’s helpful when we ask the question “where is the Gospel?” In the case of this particular passage the gospel is that worry over wealth is a POOR SUBSTITUTE for our Heavenly Father.

My closing thought today has to do with vs 33, which says: “But seek first his [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Not surprisingly, the “prosperity gospel” gurus pick up on verses such as this all the time & twist them beyond recognition. For the prosperity preachers, “ALL THESE THINGS” means a brand new Mercedes, boats, RVs, a palatial estate, a cabin in the north woods and a condo in Florida, etc. etc. etc. No, no, no. Look back at the passage itself. Jesus is talking about clothes to wear, food to eat, and stuff to drink. In other words, “all these things” means the basic necessities of life.

Cheers,

TM