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.
25 “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? 26 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? 27 Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? 28 Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. 29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. 30 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? 31 So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ 32 All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom [of God] and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. 34 Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.
Jesus begins with a clear choice. “No one can serve two masters” (v. 24). Mammon means wealth or property. Jesus warns that earthly possessions can become more than useful goods. They can become a rival master when the heart begins to depend on them as its source of security.
This is why Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (v. 24). He does not say that food, clothing, shelter, or money are evil in themselves. He warns that they must not rule the human heart. When possessions become the center of life, they compete with the love and obedience owed to God.
Jesus then turns from divided service to anxious worry. He says, “Do not worry about your life” (v. 25). The point is not that human needs are unreal. Food, drink, clothing, work, and daily responsibilities are part of ordinary life. Jesus is warning against the kind of worry that takes control of the heart and makes a person a servant of fear.
The birds in the sky do not sow, reap, or gather into barns, yet the heavenly Father feeds them (v. 26). The wild flowers do not work or spin, yet not even Solomon in his royal splendor was clothed like one of them (vv. 28-29). Jesus uses these examples from creation to teach trust in God’s providence. Providence means God’s wise and loving care for what he has made.
This trust rests on the Fatherhood of God. Jesus does not speak of an unknown power or a distant creator. He says, “your heavenly Father” (vv. 26, 32). The Father knows what his children need before they can provide for themselves and even before they ask. If God cares for birds, flowers, and grass, he will care much more for those made in his image and called to live as his children.
Jesus also shows the limits of worry. “Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?” (v. 27). Worry can occupy the mind, drain strength, and narrow the heart, but it cannot finally control life. Human beings are responsible to work, plan, and act with prudence, but they are not masters of tomorrow.
The phrase “O you of little faith” (v. 30) is spoken to disciples, not strangers. It describes those who follow Jesus but still struggle to trust him fully. Faith is not only belief that God exists. It is also confidence that the Father is good, that his will is trustworthy, and that his care is greater than the fears that press upon us.
Jesus contrasts his disciples with those who do not know the Father. “All these things the pagans seek” (v. 32). Those who do not know God may be tempted to live as though material security is the highest good. The disciple is called to a different order of life: “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (v. 33). The kingdom of God means God’s reign, his saving rule over our hearts and lives. Righteousness means the right order God brings into a person’s life: trusting the Father, loving what is good, rejecting what turns the heart away from him, and learning to act with mercy, honesty, purity, forgiveness, and obedience to Christ.
Seeking the kingdom means giving God the first place in our lives. Work, money, food, clothing, and planning for the future all have their proper place when they are ordered under God. They become dangerous when they take the place of God.
Jesus ends with a simple command: “Do not worry about tomorrow” (v. 34). Each day has its own burden. The disciple is not asked to carry tomorrow before it arrives. Today is the place where we serve the Father, trust his care, seek his kingdom, and do the good that is before us.
Heavenly Father, teach me to serve you with an undivided heart. Free me from anxious worry, strengthen my faith, and help me seek first your kingdom and your righteousness each day. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The New American Bible, Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 2011. Matthew 6:24-34 and notes on Matthew 6:24, 6:25, 6:27, 6:30, 6:33, and Matthew 3:14-15.
- Hahn, Scott, and Curtis Mitch. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010. Page 18, notes on Matthew 6:24, 6:28-30, and 6:33.
- Casciaro, José María, gen. ed. The Navarre Bible: New Testament, Expanded Edition. Dublin: Four Courts Press; New York: Scepter Publishers, 2008. Page 68, note on Matthew 6:25-34.
- Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990. Page 646, paragraph 45.
- Aguilar Chiu, José Enrique, Richard J. Clifford, Carol J. Dempsey, Eileen M. Schuller, Thomas D. Stegman, and Ronald D. Witherup, eds. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 2018. Page 923.
- Collins, John J., Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid OP, and Donald Senior CP, eds. The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the Twenty-First Century. Third Fully Revised Edition, with a Foreword by Pope Francis. London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2022. Page 1185.
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