Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
ON GOD; Part CLXXI
In yesterday’s post we looked again at the Master’s saying that ends in “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13) which should be for us a matter of fact. First because this is the teaching of the Master and second because those who are at all awakened to the presence of the Soul, the Christ Within, will see this as the impossibility that it is. Serving in the context that we have it in the gospels is not limited to that incidental service that one might perform but it is rather the service of a servant to his master and, in this teaching, we must understand the import of serving. Vincent makes this clear for us in his exposition on the word other as it appears in the verse which we post here today again from Matthew’s Gospel: “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Vincent tells us that: The other (e[teron ). Implying distinction in quality rather than numerical distinction (a]llov). For example, “whoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other (th<n a]llhn); i.e., the other one of the two (Matthew 5:39). At Pentecost, the disciples began to speak with other (eJte>raiv ) tongues; i.e., different from their native tongues. Here the word gives the idea of two master of distinct or opposite character and interests, like God and Mammon4. In Vincent’s understanding here the Master is outlining the fact that whenever there are two masters, as in this case of opposite character as defined by the Greek word heteros, they cannot both be served; this does not mean that a man will not try as he will and he does and the Master is telling us here of how the heart of the man will react in such an endeavor. He is telling how, in the consciousness of the man, that either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other; this is the nature of man and, in this context, this is the nature of the man who has come to sense the duality of God and mammon. After His example of the man with two masters, his parable if you will, He tells us the plain fact that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon“; He does not say that a man will not try or that a man will not believe that he has accomplished this, the Master simply tells us that this cannot be done.
Yesterday’s essay centered on the context in which this saying is offered in the Gospel of Matthew, how it is a part of the Sermon on the Mount and how the preceding and succeeding verses serve to explain and to amplify this verse in the same way as this verse serves to explain and amplify those around it. We saw the progression of the Master’s thoughts which take us from the ideas of heart and treasure which is the consciousness of the man and what is important to him, his focus in Life, to the ideas of the eye and its nature or condition. He shows us that the single eye will reveal the treasures of the heart, the Light of the Soul, when a man’s focus is on the things of the Kingdom of God and, conversely, He shows us as well that the evil eye will reveal no Light but only the darkness of Life in the world of things which is lost in the illusion and the glamour as a mist and a fog that serve to blot out the Light and prevent the man from expressing it. We noted yesterday that all of these verses together serve to show us that the treasure of the heart and the condition of the eye can be seen in who or what it is that the man in form is serving; he is serving the things of the world or the things of God. What it is that is important to the man, those things that take his time and his attention are the focus, the treasure, of his Life and this treasure is likely KNOWN only by the man; the condition of the eye however is dependent also on this focus and this condition is seen in his display to the world, his expression in time and space. The eye can be single, or pure as Vincent paints it, and focused on the Soul and on God or it can be evil and focused upon the things of this world or, as in the idea of two masters, the condition of the eye and the treasure of the heart can vary from pole to pole and everywhere between as the man struggles through the sensed duality of Life in form. We have referred to the Apostle James’ writings to help us to understand much of what we have said over the course of the last days regarding this part of the Sermon and we do so here again. James tell us that “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:8) and this should paint this idea for us in the same way as regards the heart, the eye and the serving of two masters.
The Master continues to tell us then about the illusion involved in any thought that a man can server both “God and mammon” and then tells us of ALL of the things that a man should not focus upon and neither spend his attention and his time. Our understanding here should be that a man’s focus upon these things is focus upon mammon and it is here that Jesus tells us that we need not do this and that through one’s focus on God ALL that the man needs will be provided. This is the pinnacle of faith; a faith that will Truly allow the man in the world to choose God, to “Take no thought” for the things of the world and to “seek ye first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 5:31, 33).
We continue now to look at the context of this saying “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” as it appears in the Gospel of Luke. Here this saying follows immediately after the Master’s remarks on the Parable of the Unjust Steward, a parable that shows the very fabric of this idea of serving two masters. In this parable we have the steward, the servant of a rich man, who is trying to both serve his master and his own selfish interests as well. The parable goes thus:
“There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take Thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely….” (Luke 16:1-8).
We cover this parable in some detail in In the Words of Jesus parts 95-96 and 106 and there is much in this parable that can reflect on the worldly lives of men today. We should note that the tenor of the whole story is one of a devious servant, one who put his own interests ahead of those of whom he should have been serving with a single eye if we can borrow that term. This servant is caught doing that which is wrong and is asked to “give an account of thy stewardship” and, knowing that it is not possible to escape the wrath of the master, the steward turns to his cunning and shrewdness to curry favor with those who he sees as potential partners in his schemes. Together they further the crime and further defraud the master to the point where the master acknowledges that as the devious man goes, this steward is among the best. The Master then proceeds to give His own commentary and we count the last words of this verse as a part of that commentary. Jesus says:
“….the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16:8-12)
There is more to this parable than this and Jesus is here acknowledging that those that do earnestly serve mammon are, in their way, successful. Jesus also seems to say here that those who serve mammon earnestly are wiser, than those trying to live spiritually. Vincent tells us that the word translated as wisely and wiser would be better seen as shrewdly; he says: Wisely (froni>mwv). See on Matthew 10:16. Wyc., prudently. I would suggest shrewdly, though in the modern sense of sagaciously, since the earlier sense of shrewd was malicious, or wicked. Plato says: “All knowledge separated from righteousness and other virtue appears to be cunning and not wisdom.” In Matthew 7:24-26, it is applied to the sagacious man who built his house on the rock, opposed to the foolish (mwro>v) man who built on the sand. “It is a middle term, not bringing out prominently the moral characteristics, either good or evil, of the action to which it is applied, but recognizing in it a skilful adaption of the means to the end — affirming nothing in the way of moral approbation or disapprobation, either of means or end, but leaving their worth to be determined by other considerations” (Trench, “Parables”). This explanation by Vincent goes a long way toward our proper understanding of these terms. So we have here the idea that in action the “children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” and we could use any of these alternate terms as none reflects actual character. Why is it that the “children of this world” are better at what they do? Likely because they have been schooled in and understand the ways of the world. This is as true or truer today as all our customs and educational systems prepare us for life in the world of mammon. Today; men are brought up and trained in craftiness. It is considered wise to be able to manipulate things for one’s worldly benefit and many are good at it. Men today are schooled for careers of craftiness and to use this talent to ‘get ahead’. Nothing evil is intended here as our understanding of this term in most of scripture is just man’s focus and attention on the things of the world.
Who is there to teach righteousness, real righteousness, and how many are there that are truly proficient at it? Those of us who break out of this focus on the things of the world, those that are trying to serve the Lord, go out alone because for this there is so little real guidance except that which comes from that inner voice when we learn finally how to listen. Understanding this the Master tells us that if a man chooses to be in the world that he should be sure that he does so to the best of his ability so that he can be secure in his worldly pursuits as so many are today. The rest of this commentary by the Master reflects this idea that one should do one’s best in whatsoever direction he is pointed, toward God or toward mammon. He tells us also that we start out, ALL of us, in this world of mammon and it is by our faithfulness to this world and this Life that we are deemed worthy of the greater treasures of the Kingdom. This should not seem at odds with any other teaching as it calls out a matter of fact; we are here in this world and we are expected to do the best as we can within this world but this does not mean that we need to do well in a material sense as this is not the tenor of any of the Master’s teachings; we should see this in a moral and in an ethical sense. The Master would not be telling the criminal that he should try to excel in his as criminality and similarly he would not tell any man that he should focus upon the carnal Life; He does say however that we are here and that we should do our best to get out, to overcome the world and this is the objective of ALL of His teachings. At the same time if one is a shopkeeper one should be the best, if one is a laborer, one should be the best; in ALL one undertakes in the world of men, he should do his level best. This is the dialogue that leads up to our featured saying “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:13). Can we see how this naturally follows? Can we see the plight of the steward who did not KNOW nor realize the effect of this?
Coming out of this saying that follows the Parable of the Unjust Steward the Master rails against the Pharisees who know that they and their way of Life are the target of the Master’s words. It is Luke’s comment next that sets this stage for us; he says “And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him“. Vincent tells us that this word translated as covetous should have the connotation of lovers of money4 and this is how this is translated in the Revised Version (RSV). While the lexicon paints a broader picture of loving money, avarice2, we should try to see in these words more than just the idea of money as well. Avarice is insatiable greed and desire and it could be for anything; money, fame, position, etc. and we should regard this as selfishness as a general term. This then was the mode of the Pharisee; he was presumably serving God on the one hand and, at the same time, he was serving himself and his want and desires of the flesh. They were trying to and even thinking that they were, serving God and mammon. We will end here as the Master ends this sequence; He tells the Pharisees the same as He would tell like people today, and the same as is the message that we should take from the combination of the sayings that we have been studying on heart, and treasure and on God and mammon.
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).
This final thought brings us again to these words from James which we posted yesterday: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
We leave this again as our Quote of the Day with the intention of discussing it in some detail in one of our next few posts.
We have left this saying for several days now and want to here say that within this reflection is the reality of a True Son of God, a disciple if you will, and it is by accomplishing these things that a men can be seen as disciples and, for those who try to achieve, those who strive, as aspirants.
Evening Reflection
May the Power of the One True God flow through His group of all true servers;
May the Love of the Christ characterize the lives of all who seek to aid in His work;
May I fulfill my part in the one work through self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and right speech
(Evening Reflection)
- Self-forgetfulness which is the absence of self interest in our prayer and our service; as the Master told us Ye cannot serve God and mammon”.
- Harmlessness which, as a positive aspect, is that meekness of Jesus and of which He also said “Blessed are the meek”.
- Right Speech which is the ability to control the tongue remembering that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” and that in self-forgetfulness, harmlessness and Love will our hearts be right.
- 2New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 3Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
