“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.”
Today’s gospel makes it very clear that in this life we are obliged to commit to either God or Mammon. There is no fence sitting on this matter. If you try and sit on the fence that very action commits you to following Mammon. If you do not positively commit to God in your life then you have made your choice and that choice is that you have said I belong to this world, and I follow the dictates of this world and my God is of this world. Indeed, you would come to despise any God that did not accord with this world.
We have two kinds of eyes – those that see the physical, fleshy things of this world and those that see spiritual things of the next. It is clear that if you only see the things of this world and you are oblivious to the things of the next then no matter what the beauty may be of the spiritual world it simply does not exist for you. If you cannot feel it, see it, use it or consume it then it doesn’t exist. And what a poor existence that is. One only has to go to the newsstands and see magazines upon magazines about the rich and famous who generally ruin their lives chasing 15 minutes of fame. How we envy them. How we would like to be in their position. Indeed, how many of us say if only I had money then all my problems would be over. Those people see only the physical world. They don’t concern themselves with anything other than trying to emulate whoever their heroes may be from time to time. If they have tattoos then we must have tattoos. If they do drugs then we must do drugs. If they sleep around and experiment sexually then if it’s good enough for our temporary heroes that it is more than good enough for us. In this way the mind is filled with lust, desire, envy, greed, jealousy and resentment so we imitate these empty people as best we can.
The problem of course is that because our eye is not sound our whole-body is in darkness. And what a darkness! As Christ says “if then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” So light, in order for it to be able to illuminate the body. must be able to pass through an eye which can see spiritual things that are important. How many times do we go through life meeting people who we can see are wasting their lives? These people are quite happy in their mediocrity. They are living and partly living. They are happy to live every year of their life over and over again making the same mistakes and never learning. It is as if they have lived every year of their life the same over and over – what a waste of a life. These people of course may be very successful in business, the arts, academia and sciences. They can be highly respected and envied but they just don’t get it – they have no idea why they are living.
The person who sees a spiritual things of the next world immediately has a purpose to his life in this world. He understands that this world is nothing but a dress rehearsal for the next and that the things that this world offers – the so-called trappings of success – cannot help you when it comes to things that really matter. What really matters is salvation. The person with a spiritual eye sees things clearly and differently. He acknowledges that he has to live in this world and indeed he is obliged by God to live as best he can and to contribute as best they can to others whilst of this world. However, he knows that this life is merely transient and that he is simply passing through. He knows all he leaves behind are his footprints and all he takes with him is good works.
Which is the better pathway? In truth there can only be one pathway – the pathway towards God. Therefore we should not be anxious about this life, about what we should eat or drink or about what clothes we should wear, for life is more than food or drink or clothing. God knows we need these things to live – but we need to live to carry out good works in his name. Our obligations as the children of God are to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness – then all other things will be ours as well.
So what does this gospel reading teach us? I think it makes it quite plain that you should be anxious for the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is our road and destination of salvation. We should not worry about the day-to-day things of life. We should look to all of God’s creations and realise how he cares for each one of them, and once we realise this, we realise that we can only love and be devoted towards the better portion as we seek out the kingdom of God and by so doing fill our whole-body with the light of God so we too, in our turn, light the path for others in their quest to seek the kingdom of God.