When Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “You cannot be the slave both of God and of money,†He goes to the heart of the problem. Earning and spending are necessary, and prosperity in itself is good, but our human condition is such that we can so easily allow ourselves to be enslaved by materialism. We begin to think only of ourselves and to live only for ourselves. “Community†becomes a “non-wordâ€. Jesus redirects our vision. “look at the birds in the sky,†He says. Jesus also redirects our minds. “Think of the flowers growing in the fields,†He says. If we build our lives on what is here today and gone tomorrow, we shall know only disappointment. But if our lives are given to God, then God will take care of our needs and we shall find our treasure in heaven.
Most of us are like Martha in St. Luke’s Gospel, who was told by the Lord that she worried and fretted about so many things. All that was necessary, He said, was to listen to the word of God. Worry and anxiety about material things can deafen us to God’s word; faith and trust enable us to hear the Lord speak to us: “Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing!â€