Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

Thoughts

I left school when I was 15 years old and went to a Secretarial College for two terms, which was all my parents could afford, but I managed to get good typing and shorthand speeds in that time. (I have a lovely memory of typing to music on an old Imperial typewriter with the keys only depressed to the beat of the music - because if you didn't the keys jammed). So by the summer of 1962 I was offered work in a typing pool with serried rows of other girls all sitting working for any of the men in the firm as they put work in one's "In tray". I sniffily turned it down, after all I had shorthand skills, and ended up working in a small estate agent for two different bosses, each of whom thought their work should have priority over the other, and each of whom had a completely different style! It was a nightmare, and I definitely preferred one to the other!

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel we have seen Jesus putting forward some radical ideas, and this one is no exception, for he is not saying that we cannot serve to bosses, for we can, even if it's fairly unsatisfactory. Instead he is saying we cannot serve two "masters". When we are owned by another our master demands our full-time service.

So who are these two masters? They are God, and "mammon". This word is derived from Aramaic and Greek and usually means money or earthly possessions. We like to think we can serve both these masters, but its not possible and we must choose. Money is not evil in itself, rather it is how we use it and whether we become its master or it masters us. This passage forces us to examine our lives and ask ourselves, who’s our master? 

Heavenly Father,
teach us to remember that as Your children
our priorities lie with You;
that through our Baptism we have dedicated
our lives to You;
and our future is Yours to decide.
May we joyfully serve You in this life
until You call us home.
Amen.