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"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
In the lectionary cycle, we are reading through the Sermon on the Mount. For the earlier readings in the Sermon on the Mount, see The Beatitudes; Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven; Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven; I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect; and Do not be like the hypocrites. In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught us about prayer: "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."
"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 says that "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. We have need for certain material things, but we use them according to God's will and purposes." Let us remember these teachings come just after the teachings on almsgiving, prayer, and fasting -- and especially the emphasis on the warnings against hypocrisy. Here, Jesus takes us to the real step He has in mind: our focus is on God and the love of God, and the real treasures in that bond of love.
"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 tells us: "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." If we recall, Jesus very early in the Sermon on the Mount, spoke of salt and of light. Here, the light is taken to that deeper internal level of unification within ourselves: the idea is that this bond of love in God, our real Master, is what illumines our own sight in the first place. Without that, how are we to shine into the world?
"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: "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."
Here's the real conflict, what do we choose to serve? A completely material-minded perspective, that has the outward "appearance" in mind, is going to miss the point. Or worse, in Jesus' teaching, one cannot serve both our real and true inner relationship to God and the relationship to a material-minded perspective. In this sense, these teachings take us even deeper into what it is to truly live as a hypocrite, focused on the outer life or appearance alone. Instead, it is the light of the eye that must inform how to live in the world, what to do with our possessions and our worldly lives. Jesus presents such a stark picture because He's trying to get us to understand the stark reality of our choices. It all depends on what we put first. Which master do we serve? If we first consider the things of heaven and the precious treasures there, then we are on a good road in our lives. He likens that treasure to the light of the eye, the thing we really need to see by, so that what we do with our lives will be illumined by that light. The absence of this light, He implies, conveys an incredible darkness -- without it, there is no light at all. It is God who gives the light that illumines us, and we may shine that light in the world. It all depends on what we hold first and best in our hearts, what we truly treasure, what we love. Whatever that is, it becomes our master. It is the first and most important thing. Elsewhere, in the parable of the Sower, Jesus speaks about "the deceit of riches." Here, He implies that you really can't rely on material life alone as if it were God, the true master. Material treasures can be eaten by moths and rust away, or stolen by thieves. But what we gain as the internal light of real wisdom, in a faith in something of true substance, we don't lose; it will see us through our lives, especially the times of uncertainty, apparent failure, and the letdown of position in a worldly sense. Who do we love? What lights us up? Who do we truly serve? God made the world and all in it good; let us remember how we use what we have as stewards called to be children of God. What is our true treasure? Jesus calls us to take good care to discern what it is we truly love, and what will truly love us back with our best interest at heart! What master will truly care for us?
