12312022 – Matthew 6. 24-34
The timing on this is perfect.
Perfect for NEW YEAR’S EVE.
The perfect time for a little REFLECTION.
Matthew’s gospel is DIFFERENT from Mark’s.
Matthew writes for a predominantly JEWISH or HEBRAIC audience.
Matthew and his concerns – LIE ELSEWHERE from that of Mark’s.
Matthew, you may recall, was a TAX COLLECTOR, a PUBLICAN, and a hated and despised individual among the Jews. He was nothing more than “a STOOGE for Rome.” A SELL-OUT.
That the young rabbi would “CALL him,” “SELECT him,” and “ASK and HONOR him to follow,” was indeed SHOCKING!
There were probably a lot of EYEBROWS RAISED over that one!
He called Matthew to leave a life of “DISHONEST tax collecting and GREED.”
Because that is exactly WHAT the tax collectors were known for…DISHONESTY and GREED. “FLEECING OTHERS” and “lining their OWN POCKETS” with the monies they had received…from others…
It was said that the PUBLICANS, the tax collectors, cared nothing for their own Jewish brothers and sisters.
It was about making “money FOR ROME” and “making themselves WEALTHY” … (at the very same time!)
Until “THAT MOMENT IN TIME” …money had been “THE MASTER” of Matthew’s life, it ran his world, it ran his life, it afforded him POWER and POSITION and PRESTIGE, but he willingly gave it ALL UP to follow Jesus.
Matthew made “A LEAP OF FAITH” that God would become “THE MASTER of his LIFE,” going forward and no longer MONEY.
He could do it. He was capable. And with the help of Jesus and the others, it WOULD BE POSSIBLE.
Jesus had also called Peter, John, and James to leave their old lives behind and to follow Him.
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.
Like with Matthew, this meant that Peter, Andrew, James, and John had to leave their families, work, and previous lives behind.
They gave up “ANY AND ALL PRIOR MASTERS” in their life – to follow Jesus.
It was all or nothing.
You can’t serve “TWO MASTERS,” is what Jesus had actually said.
And the basis of course, for this whole discussion was something that Jesus had said prior…“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
It is a matter of PRIORITIES.
It is based upon WHAT IS and WHAT IS NOT important to you.
What do you VALUE above all else?
What is the HIGHEST GOOD?
As only Matthew might do, we are given a glimpse, a peek inside “the street language of the day.”
He uses a word that Jesus himself would have used and been comfortable with…
“You are not able to serve God and mamona“–or “mammon.”
The word mamona is Aramaic in origin -and appears to have its root in “what is trusted in.”
What do you trust it?
Is it yourself?
Is it God?
Is it others?
Is it the government?
It then came to mean “treasure” and then “wealth” or “worldly possessions,” which is how it is used in the Early Christian Writings.
Because people put their trust in WHAT THEY HAD.
But as we know, what we have, our stuff, our possessions, our 401 K’s can all be taken from us.
In the four gospels, it appears only here in Matthew and three times in Luke.
“Mammon” itself is that “treasure” that HOLDS OUR HEARTS, which is why worldly possessions and wealth are in fundamental conflict with service to God.
They take PRECEDENCE.
They can become MORE IPORTANT THAN…
Matthew, being Matthew would have also been concerned with the TORAH, the DECALOGUE, the TEN WORDS or Commandments…
If anything is MORE IMPORTANT than YOUR RELATIONSHIP with God, then you are breaking the first commandment, as given by Moses.
Nothing is ABOVE God.
Nothing is MORE IMPORTANT that your God-relationship.
Nothing is a HIGHER-GOOD.
So, bring it around to TODAY and TOMORROW.
We stand on the brink of yet another NEW YEAR. TONIGHT, revelers around the world are ringing in the NEW YEAR 2023.
What will be IMPORTANT to you in the year that is to come? WHAT will you VALUE?
Will it be money?
Your stuff?
Your relationships?
Your health?
Your home?
Your job?
Your children? Grandchildren? Great Grandchildren?
And just WHERE does GOD fit into the whole equation?
Or does he not?
Perhaps this is no room for him, save these few minutes spent together in worship. You MUST DECIDE. Amen.