We cannot have two masters. We need to make a commitment to our faith. We need to set priorities in our lives. Jesus, in a continuation of the Sermon of the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew that we have been hearing these past few weeks, continues to give us practical advice in how to live out our faith in the modern world. In the last couple of decades, we have been hearing how the wealth gap has increased here in the US, how the top 1% of families in the US are getting richer and richer, and how a lot of good paying blue collar jobs are disappearing from the American job market, how the Middle Class that has made up a majority of American society is shrinking. These statistics hit home to a lot of families who are having a tough time making it in the world today. But, in some ways, perhaps this is nothing new. In Ancient Israel in Jesus’ day, only a small percentage of the population would have been considered wealthy, and those would have mostly been the Greek and Roman aristocratic families living in that society who would have received most of their wealth through military conquest, only about 2 to 3 percent of the population. Their were priests and scribes who would have had prestigious positions in society, but who would not have had a lot of wealth. The tax collectors would have had a lot of material wealth, but not much social position. In Ancient Israel, there was virtually no Middle Class. Those who were farmers, merchants, fishermen, artisans, and laborers - they would have been the majority of society. And they would have struggled to make a living. Their would have been a lot of anxiety and worry in their daily lives, trying to provide for the material needs of their families, worrying about their future. The Danish existential philosopher Soren Kierkegaard defined anxiety as worrying about the next day. We don't know what will happen "the next day," which creates anxiety for us in the present. With all the changes going on in our country and in the world, a lot of us worry where all this is taking us. We are worrying about protecting and safeguarding ourselves and our families. We worry about terrorism and violence and world stability, about the type of world our children and grandchildren and the future generations will be inheriting. There is certainly a lot of worry and angst in the world today. We see a lot of worry and fear and rumors being posted to Facebook each day, don’t we? And where does all of that get us?
John Meier, renowned Biblical scholar from the University of Notre Dame who has given us a lot of insight into the historical Jesus, sees today’s Gospel as being linked to the petition in the Lord’s prayer that asks God to “give us this day our daily bread”. According to Meier, discipleship frees us to place our trust in God as the only true giver and sustainer of live. Our trust in the coming of God’s coming in the future and the way it is present in certain aspects today is to shape us and mold us in our present life of discipleship, in our present reality. A life of discipleship does not dispense us from the trials of this world, but it is to grant us a sense of security and trust and confidence in the midst of these trials. As disciples, we are to set our priorities and to free ourselves from needless anxiety - to trust that our life here on earth is a gift from God, and that the material things in this world such as food and clothing and our material treasures are just means to an end, but not the final end in themselves. Yes, we do need to take care of ourselves in our earthly existence. Even I as a priest save for retirement and pay into social security and need to take care of myself. But that is not my greatest treasure. Not at all.
Yes, what about God’s kingdom? What about God’s justice? It is a message that can threaten our view of the world, threaten some of the values by which we live our lives. Pope Francis has been very clear in saying that the justice of God’s kingdom does not stand for a society of exclusion and iniquity. It does not stand for a society of hatred and fear. It does not stand for a society that does not uphold human dignity. The Pope has pointed out that often the media makes a big deal of the ups and downs of the stock market, but ignores a lot of injustices and abuses to human dignity. We see a lot of people struggling to put food on the table, but then we are a society that wastes so much food each day. We are proud when see the profits of corporations grow and grow, making certain people richer and richer, but we often ignore the workers who have full-time jobs at those corporations, but with their low salaries, they have a hard time providing for their families. Pope Francis asserts that we cannot just concentrate on our own personal prosperity while ignoring the message of justice inherent in God’s kingdom.
Jesus says at the end of today’s passage: We are to first to seek the Kingdom of God. We are first to seek the justice of God’s kingdom. And the other secondary things will be added unto us. Yes, where is God’s kingdom and its values in the way we live out our lives each day? Good question. Very good question.
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