NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER SIX

Part IV (con’t)

Verse 24: “You cannot serve two masters at the same time. You will turn you back to one in order to love the other, or you will be loyal to one and not care about the other. You cannot serve God and Wealth at the same time.”

Now that Jesus established we have a choice of either investing in God’s kingdom or the world’s kingdom, and that our hearts will gravitate to where our treasure is because our vision of reality is either focused on this world or the world to come, we might find ourselves being torn between the two. The two masters identified here are God and Mammon. Jewish scholars point to this contrast between the treasures of unrighteous Mammon as outlined by Solomon: “Wealth gained by doing wrong will not really help you, but doing right will save you from death,”¹ and, the treasures of righteousness laid up for the world to come is explained by Isaiah: “They shall be delivered up to the law: our salvation is our treasure: they are wisdom and knowledge and piety toward the Lord; these are the treasures of righteousness.”² The NIV renders it, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.” We also read where one Rabbi asked: “What is meant by the verse, ‘and there will be faith in your times, strength, salvation, wisdom and knowledge?’³ ‘Faith’ refers to the Order of Seeds; ‘Your times’ to the Order of Festivals; ‘strength’ to the Order of Women; ‘salvation’ to the Order of Nezikin; ‘wisdom’ to the Order of Sacrifices; and ‘knowledge’ to the Order of Purity. Yet even so the fear of the Lord is his treasure⁴.”⁵

At this point we can see that God and Mammon are both treasures. One is divine and the other is earthly. Jewish writers compare this to the words of Jesus, in Luke, 12:33, 34, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” and here in Matthew 6:19-24. They point out that Matthew 6:22-23 about the sincere eye and the evil eye was somehow misplaced in Luke 11:34-36. However, when we read Matthew 6:19-21 and then skip over to 6:24 it seems to go together. Therefore, it may be the scribe who translated Matthew’s Hebrew notes into Greek, who misplaced this portion on the eye. Regardless, there are several rabbinical sayings that also speak to this idea of how the eye perceives giving. One Jewish Rabbi stated, “He that gives a free offering should give with an ungrudging eye,” whereas the rich man who shows an evil grudging eye to the collectors of Alms, will lose his riches⁶.”⁷ They also point to wisdom literature as evidence that God lavishes His bounty in the same measure as men give.⁸ In one document we find where it says: “We have not found that any man is fit for two tables. He will have less affection and regard for the one, than for the other; since the service or orders of the one, are less agreeable to him than the others.”⁹

It was the general consensus in Jesus’ day that while there was nothing wrong with having riches. In fact, we read where one Rabbi says: “It is the religious requirement that the high priest be greater than his brethren in beauty, strength, wealth, wisdom, and appearance.”¹⁰ But for anyone who was greedy, flaunted what they possessed, and wanted more than they needed, the love of mammon best described that attitude. One early Church Father says: “For mammon is, according to the Jewish language, which the Samaritans also use, a covetous man, and one who wishes to have more than he really needs. In the Hebrew text, it is the addition of a syllable called ‘Mamuel’ that signifies someone whose stomach is insatiable. Therefore, according to both these things which are indicated, we cannot serve God and mammon.”¹¹ The English word “mammon,” is a transliteration of the Aramaic word “mamona.” a term which had come to mean “riches” but originally was derived from a root word which signified “trust and reliance.” As such, it referred to that in which one puts their trust, other than God.

While Jesus does not call mammon a god, nor does He equate mammon with God, there is little doubt that for some they have turned mammon into a god. One that they serve and worship as though it can make them free and save them in the end. We read an enlightening story about Rabbi Yohanan ben Torta who was asking why Shiloh and the Temple were destroyed. He agreed that the Jews were devoted to the Torah and were very meticulous about tithing. Nevertheless, they ended up in exile. Why? “Because they loved mammon and hated one another without cause.”¹² It is quite possible that Jesus was inspired in this teaching by what His Father said to Israel: “Adonai will make you the head and not the tail; and you will only be above, never below — if you will listen to, observe and obey the laws of Adonai your God and not turn away from any of the words I am ordering you today, neither to the right nor to the left, to follow after other gods and serve them.”¹³ So Jesus was using mammon in a way that most all of His listeners clearly understood as putting what they wanted from God before what God wanted from them.

Verse 25: “So I tell you, don’t worry about the things you need to live—what you will eat, drink, or wear. Life is more important than food, and the body is more important than what you put on it.”

Common sense would tell us that Jesus was not discouraging people from planning for the future, especially when scheduled events are on the calendar. The key word here is “worry.” The Greek word used means to be overly anxious and troubled by caring about what has not yet happened. My Psychology Dictionary defines anxiety this way, “A mood state characterized by worry, apprehension, and somatic symptoms. Similar to the tension caused when an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune. The threat the person is responding to may be real or imagined or internal or external. It may be an identifiable situation or a more vague fear of the unknown. The body often mobilizes itself to meet the threat, whether this is real or imagined: Muscles become tense, breathing becomes faster, and the heart beats more rapidly. Anxiety may be distinguished from real fear both conceptually and physiologically, although the two terms are often mistakenly used interchangeably in everyday language.” The Psalmist had an answer for this, “Give your worries to the Lord, and He will care for you. He will never let those who are good become rattled.”¹⁴

Well-known Christian lady Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered through the Nazi occupation of her home country, Holland, had this to say about it: “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” I’ve often used the expression, that worry is like loading down your vehicle with everything you’ll need to build a bridge for rivers you will never have to cross. Sometime we get so caught up by the 12 hour cycle of night and day we forget that with God there are no days and night. Time with Him does not exist. That’s why He never sleeps or naps. No wonder Jesus said to leave each day as though it will never end. That way you won’t have to worry about tomorrow.

I once read about a farmer who discovered that a number of geese migrating to the south had landed by one of his ponds to refresh themselves. His kids were so excited they went out to feed them. Soon all of the geese but one took off for their destination. It wasn’t long before the lone geese was getting so fat from the free food that when it tried to fly it couldn’t. In the end, it became a nice dinner for the family. There are many things this world wants to feed us, but we are on a migration to a city whose builder and maker is God, and He will supply us with what we need just like He does the birds. Job stated, “He is the one who makes us smarter than any animal on earth and wiser than any bird.”¹⁵ And as David sang: “All living things look to You for their food, and You give them their food at the right time. You open your hands and give every living thing all that it needs.”¹⁶

Verses 26-27: Now Jesus continues with this subject of trust. “Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or save food in barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Don’t you know you are worth much more than they are? You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it.”

This care for the animals He created was expressed by the Psalmist: “He gives food to the animals. He feeds the young birds that cry out.”¹⁷ Of course we know that this does not indicate that God actually hand-feeds the animals, but that He provided through creation the nutrition they needed. So far, science has not discovered an animal, fish or bird for which God did not also create their needed food. They even call it the “food chain.” As one Rabbi notes: “The Holy One, blessed be He, sits and sustains [all creatures], from the horns of while oxen to the eggs of vermin.”¹⁸ In other words, the horns of the oxen could not grow and the vermin could not produce offspring if God did not provide for them to live and grow.

Also, another Rabbi speaks of the Holy One as: “feeding the whole world, from the horned buffalo to the brood of vermin,”¹⁹ while another asks: “Have you ever seen…a deer engaged in gathering fruit, a lion carrying burdens, or a fox as a shopkeeper, yet they are sustained without trouble, as though they were created only to serve me, whereas I was created to serve my Maker.”²⁰ In addition, one Rabbi goes to great length to show that neither birds or animals are worth as much to God as man, so if He takes care of them, how much more will He take care of His highest creation.²¹ And a Rabbi adds to this that it is animals that are sacrificed during Passover for man, not man for the animals.²² This clearly shows who God finds more valuable to Him.

In looking at these illustrations of God’s care, even for the smallest of creatures, Augustine states: “These examples are not to be treated as allegories, so that we should inquire what the fowls of heaven or the lilies of the field mean: for they stand here, in order that we may be persuaded not to show so much concern for the small things in life but concentrate on the larger ones; just as is the case in regard to the judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, and yet yielded to the widow who often implored him to consider her case, not by properly dealing with it or just to getting rid of it, but that he might be saved from being annoyed by her. For that unjust judge does not in any way allegorically represent the person of God; but yet as to how far God, who is good and just, cares for those who petition Him, our Lord wished the reasoning to be drawn from this circumstance, that not even an unjust man can despise those who contend with him with unceasing petitions, even were his motive to do so was merely to avoid being annoyed²³.”²⁴

There is no evidence that God sent His Son to the cross in order to redeem birds, animals and flowers from any eternal damnation or punishment. Therefore, if His Son tells us that God cares enough for all His creatures that in His wisdom He provided for them as part of their environment, how much more will He supply those He did redeem by having His Son pay such a high price. But one thing we must never get infatuated by is just how much care our heavenly Father will provide down here for all those who love Him. After all, staying here is only our temporal goal until we have finished the course and done His will for our lives. Going there to be with Him should be every believer’s aim, and they have His blessed assurance that He will provide all that is needed to reach that point where they can say, “It is finished,” and He can say, “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter in to the joys of eternal life.”