BIBLE STUDY #31
EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
February 27, 2011


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.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Reflection

Our Sunday Gospels since January 30th had been from the Sermon on the Mount, the great teaching about discipleship. We have this week and one more week left from this Sermon.

Our Gospel begins with the well known “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 an Aramaic word meaning wealth or property.

There is always someone or something that is most important in our lives. This someone of something comes first before anything else and has top priority in our lives. The wants and needs of this someone or something supersedes all other wants and needs. It is obvious, then, that there can’t be two things that are most important in our lives.

That is why I think that there are no true atheists in the world, because we all worship someone or something; in other words, we all worship a ‘god’, just not the one, true, God.

Almost anything can be our ‘god’: our own ego, self interests and wants; careers; the accumulation and retention of wealth; anything that detracts us from God and deflects us from our mission as disciples, is our ‘god’.

This doesn’t mean that we ignore all human activity in favor of God. It is still necessary to work, build relationships, raise children, and do all those things that make up a life. Jesus is telling us to have priorities. We need to have balance in life; there is a time and a place for everything.

We make the mistake of thinking that if God comes first, we must be at every liturgical function and volunteer for every committee at our Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. My priority scale is as follows: 1) our relationship with God; that is our prayer and sacramental life. We will end up making some sacrifices by putting God first, but anything worthwhile is worth the sacrifice; 2) family; 3) work; 4) volunteering at church.
And as part of the last 3 things, I include witnessing to our faith, and learning about our faith.

When we put God first it in our lives, it changes everything. Putting God first doesn’t mean just rituals or believing in a creed, but making your faith your philosophy of life. A philosophy of life is something that guides every decision we make. Our lives would be a lot different and a lot better if we did this.

For example, we would no longer be worried about the latest fashions, or gourmet meals, or fancy houses and cars. We would realize that maybe we do have enough already. When I look in my closet, I realize that I don’t wear half of what I have. Our priorities change, from worrying about the accumulation and retention of wealth, to love, forgiveness, kindness, sacrifice, and other virtues.

Money doesn’t buy happiness. Happiness is a state of mind. Abraham Lincoln once said that we are about as happy as we decide we want to be. When we give up greed and take on God, we realize how lucky we are and how much God has done for us. We are happy because we are saved, and know how much God loves us. Living the Christian life brings us happiness.

I think we are happy when we have God because we realize in the end, what really matters except salvation? When I do a funeral, I usually ride with the funeral director to the cemetery. I walk with the casket to the grave, and wait while the grave is prepared and the people come to the graveside for prayer. While I am waiting, I usually look at the headstones near me to see if I recognize a name and how long they lived. Then I think to myself, “Did worrying make any difference? Did all their possessions save them? Where are they now?”

Jesus tells us not to worry. Here is a story from www.sermons.com that talks about worrying.

“Do you have a worrier in your family? Kais Rayes writes that he and his wife found their whole life turned upside down when their first child was born. Every night, the baby seemed to be fussy, and many nights, it seemed that their baby cried far more than he slept. Says Rayes, "My wife would wake me up, saying, 'Get up, honey! Go see why the baby is crying!'" As a result, Rayes found himself suffering from severe sleep deprivation.

While complaining to his coworkers about his problem one day, one of his colleagues suggested a book on infant massage. Rayes immediately went in search of the book and that night, he tried the technique, gently rubbing his baby's back, arms, head, and legs until the baby was completely relaxed and obviously had fallen into a deep sleep. Quietly tiptoeing from the darkened room so as not to disturb the rhythmic breathing of the baby, he made his way directly to his own bed in hopes of enjoying a well deserved full night of sleep.

No such luck. In the middle of the night, his wife awoke him in a panic. "Get up, honey!" she said as she jostled him awake. "Go see why the baby is not crying!"

Do you know anybody like that? Some people are just worriers. Even when things go well they worry, they fret, they fume. They worry that something bad will happen.” What a terrible, sad, and lonely way to live!

Brian Stoffregen in his Exegetical Notes writes something called “The Breakdown of Worries.”

“Some years ago I read the following in a business magazine:

Stress management experts say that only two percent of our "worrying time" is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The figures below illustrate how the other 98 percent of this time is spent:

40% on things that never happen
35% on things that can't be changed
15% on things that turn out better than expected
8% on useless, petty worries


Jesus tells us not to worry. Whenever I begin to worry about something I say to myself, “12 months ago I was worried about something, and you know what? I can’t remember what it was!”

Not worrying, though, doesn’t excuse us from striving in life and cooperating with God’s grace. There was a man who lived in a flood zone, and one day, it began raining heavily. The water got up to his front porch, and someone came by in a boat and said, “Hop in and I’ll save you!” The man said, “No, thanks, God will provide!” and the boat went away. Pretty soon, the water was so deep that the man was looking out the second story window, and another boat came by. The captain yelled to the man, “Hop in and I’ll save you!” The man replied, “No, thanks, God will provide.” So the boat went away. Finally, the water is so deep, that the man is on the roof. A helicopter comes by, drops a rope ladder, and the pilot yells, “Climb up the ladder and I will save you!” The man replies, “No thanks, God will provide!” and the helicopter flies away. The water gets even deeper: the man can’t swim and he drowns. He gets into heaven and sees God. He says to God, “You know, I’m pretty disappointed in you. All my life I’ve prayed, gone to church, and tried to be a good disciple. And, in my greatest hour of need, you abandon me.” God replies, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what else did you need?”

God provides us what we need; there is no reason to worry. The question is: do we recognize God in our midst?



Fr. Phil