Two Masters

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life.” – Matthew 6:24-25

I’ve been thinking about this particular “therefore.” In the original text, of course, there is no separation between verses 24 and 25, but because we often start reading the more-popular section on anxiety starting with verse 25, we often miss the link: that anxiety is related to trying to serve two masters. 

That’s hardly a popular concept in a place where we like to think we can “have it all.” Hasn’t that belief seeped in some way into how we all think? But Jesus is uncomfortably black-and-white, either-or, about this. He speaks in absolute terms: “no one,” “cannot,” love, devotion, hatred and contempt. “Money” here is Greek mamonas, meaning “riches, possessions,” akin to a Hebrew word signifying “to be firm, steadfast” (from which we get our word “Amen”), and thus meaning also “that which is to be trusted.”

Jesus is saying, when it comes down to it, your heart can only trust and serve one or the other: God, or the currency of this world. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes, “God and the world, God and its goods are incompatible, because the world and its goods make a bid for our hearts, and only when they have won them do they become what they really are. That is how they thrive, and that is why they are incompatible with allegiance to God.” The currency of this world is a master; it owns us, and we serve it, whether we deliberately choose to or not. In fact, Jesus’ point here is not that we should serve God, but rather that we cannot serve both God and the world. If we think we can, we are already turning our love for God into hatred. We have already made the choice.

Therefore—for this reason—do not be anxious about your life. Anxiety is both a road to, and a symptom of, serving worldly currency. One could read the subsequent section as a contrast between the two masters, one the way of anxiety, that focuses on the trappings of life, the other the way of faith, that seeks first the God who gives true life and will provide all that we need. The question is, which master are we serving?