Who Do We Serve

Who do we serve? That is an essential question for us to answer, especially as a Catholic American. In America, we have this notion of freedom. I am my own man, and I can do whatever I want. I serve nobody. Yet ultimately, all of us have a master: we all serve somebody or something. In this Gospel, Jesus warns his disciples that you cannot have two masters. You either serve God or you serve the world. Therefore, we must look in our hearts and determine, who do we serve.

Who Do We Serve

Gospel- Matthew 6:24-34

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 wild flowers 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.”

Scriptural Analysis

It is impossible to serve two masters. Serving a master requires total and exclusive commitment. If one attempts to serve two masters, one must divide one’s loyalties. It is simply not possible to serve both God and money. If we pursue earthly treasures, we will neglect our relationship with God, the one who should be our true master. Jesus illustrates this point using two Jewish idioms. The contrast between love and hate is not literal. Instead, love means to prioritize, whereas hate implies an absence of commitment. Similarly, being devoted again means prioritizing, whereas despising means paying attention to the other. Both of these expressions suggest that prioritizing early treasures can lead to neglecting our service to God.

The word ‘mammon’ is a Greek translation of an Aramaic word for wealth and possessions. Its root means believe or trust. Thus, mammon means that in which one places one’s trust. Portraying Mammon as a master reveals the extent to which possessions can come to dominate our lives. We can become enslaved to wealth, to maintaining wealth, and to acquiring more and more. Therefore, Jesus says you can not serve God and mammon. If we focus on earthly treasures, then we cannot give God the service that is due to him. Only when we remain detached from wealth and possessions and trust in God are we truly free to serve him.

In the next section, Jesus uses the word ‘worry’ five times. The word is meant to denote excessive concern and anxiety that can monopolize our hearts and our attention. Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives and our bodies, listing three things that we all need: food, drink, and clothing. While all of these are essential, they are not the ultimate goal of life. While we need to attend to these basic needs, other things should occupy our minds and attention.

Jesus presents two examples from nature to illustrate why this worry is pointless. First, he mentions the birds that do not sow, reap, or gather (as humans do). Are we not more important to God than they are? God provides for their needs, so how much more will he provide for our needs? Second, he addresses clothing by pointing to the wildflowers. They do not work or spin to make clothing. Yet despite this, Jesus says that they are dressed more splendidly than Solomon, who was famous for his wealth. If God clothes these short-lived plants so splendidly, how much more will he care for us?

Jesus closes out this section by contrasting the life of the faithful disciple with that of the pagans. He notes how the pagan is anxious about life, what they will eat, drink, and wear, returning to Jesus’s opening of this section. They do not know God as a loving Father who will provide for them. Thus, they are never at peace and never find true happiness. The true disciple, however, entrusts their life to God and does not worry excessively about these things. They seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. His will for their lives is their top priority, and they strive to bring his kingdom to pass. In putting God’s kingdom first, Jesus assures them that God will care for their earthly necessities.

Daily Application

The question of who we serve is the most critical question we can answer, as it determines how we prioritize our lives and what captures our attention. Now, it is essential to note what God is not saying in this passage, that money in and of itself is bad. Money is not intrinsically evil. Jesus himself even says that the laborer deserves to be paid. Money is how we acquire what we need to survive peacefully. One of the precepts of the Catholic Church is to provide for her material needs.

Where money becomes a problem is when we begin to worship it, when the pursuit of money and wealth takes control of our lives, causing us to neglect serving God. While Jesus uses the example of money, recall that the root of mammon is belief or trust. What is it that we place our trust in? Anything can become our master: food, experiences, pleasure. There are many things that we can become so focused on what we are serving that we no longer serve God. We begin to focus on these things and worry about them: how are we going to continue to fulfill our desire for more of them? We are no longer free but have become slaves.

Our Heavenly Father wants more for us. He wants us to be free: to experience a freedom that can only come from Him. This freedom flows from our service to God. It flows from recognizing that he is our true master and by serving him. In doing this, the worry associated with material needs and prosperity, of serving all of those other ‘masters’, goes away. We trust in that, by doing the will of the Father, the Father knows what His children need and He will supply it. Now, that does not mean that food is going to appear out of nowhere, but that he will present the means through which we can acquire those things. It may be work, it may be a gift, it may be a miracle, but rest assured, he will provide. We only need to recognize that he is our master, the one whom we serve.