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

 "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

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught (in the Sermon on the Mount):  "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard by 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 comments that by attaching themselves to treasures on earth, people cut themselves off from heavenly treasures.  People becomes slaves, in effect, to earthly things, rather than free in Christ.  The heart of discipleship, a note reads, is to disentangle ourselves from the chains of earthly things and to attach ourselves to God, the true treasure.

"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 calls the mind (in Greek, nous/νοῦς) the spiritual eye of the soul.   This capacity for understanding illuminates the inner person and governs the will.  To keep the mind wholesome and pure, it says, is fundamental to the Christian life.

"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."  As slaves who serve two masters, my study bible notes, people will attempt to maintain attachments both to earthly and heavenly things.  But this is, in fact, impossible -- both demand full allegiance.  Jesus calls mammon ("riches") a master not as wealth is evil by its nature, but rather because of the control that it has over people.

I find it interesting to read Jesus speaking about treasures to which we cling in the light of our reading from yesterday.  Yesterday, we read the prayer Jesus gives us, called the Lord's Prayer, or the Our Father, in which we're taught to pray:  "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  These debts in the prayer are spiritual, or even debts of the soul.  But Jesus also implies this forgiveness -- or literally "letting go" -- in today's reading regarding material treasure as well.  Taken as a whole it conveys an attitude toward life which Christ calls us to cultivate and maintain.  In today's reading, we're taught to "let go" of our clinging to material treasure as our main goal or central reliance, and turn instead to treasures in heaven.  That is, those things which we acquire when we practice discipleship, especially in the practices of prayer, almsgiving, and fasting which Jesus has just addressed in the Sermon on the Mount (see reading from Monday and yesterday's reading, above).  In the parable Christ gives of Judgment (25:31-46), Jesus emphasizes practices of compassion as those which lend us "credit" in heaven.  Taken all together, our readings give us an emphasis in letting go of our immediate concerns, be they hurts or temptations or passions of any kind -- but doing so in order to give them to God for proper balance and prioritization in life.  Jesus immediately speaks of the eye as the lamp of the body, and therefore emphasizes how we see.  That is how we look at life around us and our immediate concerns and desires.  He encourages us to have a healthy state of perception so that the whole of ourselves may be led in the right direction for life, and so that we live a healthy life in all ways:  spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically.  Once again, it is an emphasis on a healthy integration and balance of body, soul, and spirit.  It reminds us of His earlier words, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell" (5:29).  It is again a warning that "little things" if left uncared for and properly maintained can lead the whole of us into darkness, where we don't want to go.  It will darken our entire worldview.  So, just as in today's reading, Jesus tells us that we can be unwitting slaves to mammon and so must choose what we will serve, so forgiveness of spiritual debts (as in the Lord's Prayer) keeps us from being slaves to old hurts and harmful experience.  So stark is this choice, apparently, that Jesus speaks in terms of slavery and service, and that each master demands full obedience.  This applies on so many levels.  If we are slaves to a worldly perspective, we may spend a lifetime nurturing a grudge and with an inner slavish demand for vengeance or getting our own back.  If our number one priority in life is accumulating possessions above all other considerations in life -- that is, not a healthy understanding of saving and choosing wisely how to use our goods, but rather a love of money (emphasis mine) -- then we are slaves to mammon.  We will not be capable of truly serving God.  I have quite literally experienced this to be true, with the "bottom line" outweighing all considerations of love and even family ties.  In each sense of the material or spiritual, it is Jesus' truth that can set us free of slavishness to something that will not love us back nor guide us in the proper direction for full health and well-being.  As Psalm states, it is far better to be "a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10).  For in the house of our Father we are loved and cared for, nurtured and given the best medicine and teachings for growth.  Jesus presents us with stark choices, which we perhaps only in rare moments see with such clarity in our normal waking lives.  Let us take His word seriously, for we know of His love for us.  And who wants to be a slave to that which cannot love?

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy

Adoration of the Magi, 1260, T'oros Roslin, MS 251 of Hromkla; Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate

 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.' "

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."  When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

- Matthew 2:1-12

Yesterday we read that, after Christ's crucifixion, when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, that they might come and anoint Him.  Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.  And they said among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?"  But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away -- for it was very large.  And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.  But he said to them, "Do not be alarmed.  You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He is risen!  He is not here.  See the place where they laid Him.  But go, tell His disciples -- and Peter -- that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you."  So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed.  And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.  Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.  She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.  And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.  After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.  And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.  Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.  And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will follow those who believe:  In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."  So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.  And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.  Amen.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? . . . "  Herod is Herod the Great, also known as Herod the Builder, among whose projects was the refurbished and expanded Second Temple, so splendid it was known as one of the wonders of the world.  Herod was also known as a particularly ruthless ruler even in a time when all rulers were known for their violence, even murdering some of his own children in his pursuit of power.  He is the father of Herod Antipas, who will rule Galilee at the time of Jesus' ministry.  The wise men, also known as magi, come from the East (most likely Persia, my study bible says).  They were the scholars of their time.  My study bible notes that in the Old Testament, Balaam (Numbers 23, 24) was one of their predecessors.  He was a Gentile who anticipated the Messiah.  These foreigners, it notes, are prefiguring the Church, in which membership is constructed upon faith, and not ethnic lineage.  Note their respect for the leadership of the foreign country to which they go; they go to Jerusalem where they address Herod the king.

"For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."   My study bible says that the star proclaims the extraordinary birth of Christ.  For the ancient pagans, a star signified a god, a deified king (Numbers 24:17).  That Christ is born under this star is a fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 109:3 Septuagint/DRA (110:3).  It shows all of creation participating in the Incarnation.  See also Psalms 19:1, 148:3.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.  So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:  'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.' "  My study bible points out that Herod had to summon the Jewish leaders because he knew so little about the Jewish Messiah, and he is afraid to lose his throne to this newborn King.  The chief priests, we understand, were the political and religious leaders of the Jews.  The scribes were high cabinet officers.  Their expertise in Scripture means that they knew well where the Messiah was to be born, but, as my study bible says, in spite of all the signs being in place, they had no idea that He had come (see 16:3).  The text quotation is from Micah 5:2.

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."  When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.  And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.  And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him:  gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.  The text tells us that the magi went into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother.   My study bible explains that Luke tells us the Jewish shepherds worshiped the Savior in the cave (or manger) on the day that He was born (Luke 2:8-20).   But the Gentile magi came to worship Him some time later.  By this time, Joseph and Mary have found a house in which to live.  This indicates that Christ first came to the Jews, and then afterward was worshiped by the Gentiles.  The Magi's gifts have a significance revealed in an Orthodox hymn sung at Compline of the Nativity:  "Gold is for the King of ages.  Frankincense is for the God of all.  Myrrh is offered to the Immortal One, who shall be three days dead."   We note also the divine warning in a dream.  In the stories that surround Christ in Matthew's Gospel, particularly of His infancy and childhood, dreams figure repeatedly in which divine messages are given (see 1:20, 2:13, 19, 22; see also 27:19).

In the story of the Ascension (see yesterday's reading, above) we're given to understand that Christ's human nature ascends into heaven.  That is, even His body and blood are glorified with Him in His ascent, where in His fullness He will be worshiped by the angels.  It is significant for our own participation in the communion of Christ, as it teaches us all about the Incarnation, that it is meant to save us -- and that means God's grace works fully within us and among us.  At Jesus' Ascension, He tells the disciples His final command, called the Great Commission.  In the Greek of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus literally says, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15).  In fact, the word for "world" is cosmos/κόσμος, indicating all of created universe.   There is no place, and no thing, no creature left out.  What this, in fact, tells us is the very purpose of the Incarnation, that it is for the salvation and life of "the world" (John 6:33, 51).    In today's reading, the wise men from the East follow a star to find Jesus.  As my study bible says, the star does indeed indicate to us that all of creation participates in this central point in the history of the cosmos.  The Creator is born as creature, so that we all -- and indeed, all of creation -- may become more like Him, restored to the proper order of things in communion with Creator.  As we read, the grace of God is already working through all things:  even through the wisdom and "old testament" so to speak, of the pagan world of the East, in the dreams of these Gentiles forewarned of the danger from the murderous Herod.  And, as we can also see, this Child's life which He brings for the whole of the world is immediately in danger from the worldly power, as will be His story in its fullness.  Let us ponder how God may work through all things, through us, through all aspects of our lives and being, through all of creation -- as our Creator is born as human being in order to heal all the cosmos.