No one can serve two masters

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

- Matthew 6:19-24

As we have been for over a week, we continue today with the readings of the Sermon on the Mount. For previous readings and commentary of this Sermon, in order, please see The Beatitudes, Salt and Light, Till heaven and earth pass away, You shall not murder, If your right eye causes you to sin, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Your father who is in the secret place, and Our Father in heaven.

Today's reading ties us in with the teaching conveyed in the readings and commentary in If your right eye causes you to sin. In today's reading, Jesus has just finished teaching us about prayer, and about the importance of prayer, fasting and alms-giving done in secret, in a hidden place (see Your father who is in the secret place). This is in order to cultivate the understanding of the spiritual life; that it is not a matter of appearances only, of good worldly works, but of the cultivation of a spiritual life in the intimate relationship with God. The reality of this spiritual dimension that is within us is something we cannot forget nor neglect; it is the root of our whole notion of relationship and relatedness, the root of love and righteousness. In today's reading, we get a deeper understanding of the importance of this "hidden" life.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." My study bible notes, "By attaching themselves to treasures on earth people cut themselves off from heavenly treasures. They become slaves, not free in Christ. The heart of discipleship lies in (1) disentangling ourselves from the chains of earthly things, and (2) attaching ourselves to God, the true treasure (v. 21). We have need for certain material things (v. 25), but we use them, according to God's will and purposes." It is of the greatest significance to understand the primacy of this relationship to God, to the Lord. As the Source of love and relatedness, it is this primary relationship that teaches us, then, the relationship we must have with all around ourselves, including "worldly goods" - material things, and all that makes up for appearance to the world. We are to cultivate this inner, hidden relationship - and the treasures therein. Kindness, compassion, love, generosity, humility, peacefulness, reconciliation - all of these are treasures that moth and rust cannot destroy, and thieves can't break in and steal. They are those things cultivated through seeking the will of the Father. Treasures in heaven are those things we "build" in understanding and spiritual growth, hand in hand in this intimate relationship to the "Father who is in the secret place."

"The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" My study bible notes, "Jesus refers to things within the reach of the senses so that we might more easily grasp his teaching. We all understand the value of light in our lives. As the eye is the lamp of the body, so the mind (Gr. nous) is the spiritual eye of the soul: it illuminates the whole inner man. Keeping our spiritual eyes good, that is, wholesome and pure, is fundamental to a Christian life." I believe this teaching is a direct reflection on the thoughts conveyed in Jesus words, "If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out." Practicing love, and having this "hidden" relationship, is more than doing good works. We have already reviewed Jesus' condemning words of the hypocrisy of those who do good works to be seen by others, and for the praise of men. But here, Jesus conveys the idea of a deeper relationship within the context of the intimacy of prayer life with our Father in heaven. We wish to be fully light. We wish to have our darkness taken away. For this kind of transcendence and transformation, this type of repentance (Gk. metanoia, literally "change of mind") we need a different understanding of the levels of spiritual reality that are at work within us and within that hidden relationship to the Father. This is a type of illumination we cannot create of ourselves alone. And this illumination is part and parcel of the "treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal" that Jesus is speaking of in the previous verses. What do we treasure? What do we cherish? There is our heart.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." My study bible notes here: "As slaves serving two masters, people attempt to maintain an attachment both to earthly and to heavenly things. But this is impossible, for both demand full allegiance. Jesus calls mammon a master, not because it is by nature evil, but because of the absolute and wretched servility it exacts." We are being asked to make a clear choice - Jesus is posing it in exactly those words. What do we place first? Where is our heart? If our chief concern is with the things of the world - material things alone - then it becomes our master. Without this spiritual dimension to our lives, without our understanding of that hidden reality that is at work within us and within which we cultivate our relationship in secret to the Father, we become slaves to the material world. Regardless of good intentions, I believe this is true. We will serve one thing or the other. The greater dimension of spiritual reality teaches us that God created this world, including all of its material beauty, for a good purpose. We read in the story of Genesis, that "God saw that it was good."

But to pursue a life without a cosmic understanding of this spiritual reality is to see things from a limited perspective, and without benefit of the realization of those treasures that we have within ourselves, and "in heaven" that truly make us rich, and give us blessings. A material worldly view alone makes us slaves to that particular master, we are no longer free to choose realities and values that transcend what we see, nor even to choose to base our self-worth on something beyond "the praise of men." Many people turn to Eastern thought to find words and teachings of detachment, but you can find no stronger words of detachment and dispassion than right here in Jesus' teachings. We must link them with his words about hypocrisy and the praise of men. If all we seek is an appearance, in whatever form in which we are trying to keep up with an image, then we become slaves to that form of idolatry, to mammon. In this "secret place" of our relationship with the Father, we are given a different set of values that transcend that slavery. We are then free to choose. All of this is tied to the values of discipleship conveyed in the Beatitudes. We can choose to be peacemakers, we can choose humility. Everything in life does not have to go our way, nor does the world need to praise us. Indeed, in the midst of tribulation, and injustice, we can turn to this understanding and make our eye single and bright with illumination, and know there is a better way! And that there are far better treasures to cultivate. It is for this purpose the world that is good was created, within a cosmic economy of love in which the beauty of our material world shines with light.

What do you choose and where is your treasure? This will determine how we use our world, what kind of stewards we are, what we cherish. Where is your heart? Jesus tells us we must make a choice.