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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.
Mammon is a cruel master, and yet we are all tempted to serve it. Why is this? Is it not because it holds over our heads the threat of death and the promise of prolonged life in this world? Doesn't wealth seem to promise to protect us from disaster and discomfort, as much as anything really can? Don't the absence of financial resources seem to imply vulnerability and inevitable suffering? When we are tempted to discount the virtues of mammon we have only to look to the impoverished nations on the earth and we quickly find ourselves singing its praises once more. This idea that money must not rule ours hearts is radical and difficult.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
We assume that if we don't spend time engaging in focused, prolonged worry about wealth we won't be able to keep it. Perhaps it feels like a diligent repetition of worries and anxieties in our past was how we achieved the financial stability we now possess. But it was never the worry or the anxiety that was helpful. The emotional weight that made it seem necessary for us to serve mammon was always a lie. Prudential planning is one thing, anxiety another. Ruminating on all of the unknowns of the future can lead to paralysis rather than a useful plan. And when the primary concern of our hearts is focused here in this temporary world our priorities will always be too skewed to choose our actions well. The only way to avoid this is to approach life in this world as though it is not the greatest good, as though, compared to eternity, it is in fact trivial. Then we can trust in God to give us our temporal needs for the brief period while this life lasts.
When we're not trying to desperately appease mammon we're actually more able to appreciate the temporary goods that God's providence allows into our lives. We may not have the wardrobe of Solomon, but God nevertheless cares more for us than for the wild flowers, and the way we are adorned, if it is simple, is nevertheless wondrous. The birds do have to do daily work to attain their food. They even build nests, planning for the future. But they are able to do it all without a sense of desperation, never for a moment doubting that the next day will yield more of the goodness of God. Of course it is appropriate for human beings to store things in barns in preparation for the future. We need to engage our rational faculties for such purposes. But we don't need to build ever larger silos as the foolish rich fool did in the parable (see Luke 12:13-21). We should plan without paranoia or desperation, accounting for those variables of which we know and leaving the rest in God's hands.
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
The point is not that we should not plan, but rather that we should not engage in unproductive worry. Which, yes, easier said than done. But it is possible or Jesus would not have commanded it. He did not suggest it, saying, 'Consider that it might be better not to worry and stop it if you agree and feel up to it'. He said simply, "do not worry", in the imperative. But he always also empowers us to do anything he commands of us. The specific grace is when the revelation from our faith that time is short and eternity is forever takes root in our hearts. It is then that we are resilient against the lies of mammon and the temptation to indulge in its worship, the worries and anxieties we have been discussing.
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.
If we seek mammon first we may do so not because we are greedy but rather because we are desperate and afraid. But whatever the reason, it will always directly conflict with seeking the Kingdom of God. Putting our mortal lives here on earth as our top priority is always going to be opposed to taking up our crosses and following Jesus. The only way to seek the Kingdom well and consistently is to learn to trust in God with a trust that extends not only to subjective spiritual things, but even to his ability to order our steps and provide for our needs along the way. Like the disciples who went out with no money bags, if we walk in trust of God we will find that we too lack nothing we truly need.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Only when we internalize the truth of the Kingdom can we learn how Saint Paul was able to boast of his weakness. Only then will we learn that things that seem to be limits can actually be strength when they are part of God's plan.
Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints,
for the sake of Christ;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
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