Mammon

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 wildflowers 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.” (Matthew 6:24-34)

What is mammon?  One definition is: “wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion, or material wealth or possessions especially as having a debasing influence.” According to Jesus, when we serve mammon, we cannot serve God.  Seems reasonable and sensible.  We all have heard this expression many times over, but how many of us take it seriously?

But mammon is needed for us to eat and drink, and to buy clothes to wear.  Will tomorrow really take care of itself?  Perhaps Jesus’ meaning simply is tied to his question: “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life span?”  Worrying is part of our make-ups.  We worry all the time. Worrying can cut short our life span. It can be part of depression and contributes to fear, even crippling fear. 

Jesus always tells us: “Peace be with you.” Too bad, no, rather tragic, we tend not to listen, but through worrying we do the opposite of peace.  Gandhi had it right: “It is a first-class human tragedy that people of the earth who claim to believe in the message of Jesus, whom they describe as the Prince of Peace, show little of that belief in actual practice.”  I guess pursuit of mammon is our typical practice, and sufficient for a day is its own evil.

Deacon David Pierce