Scripture: Luke 16:13
No household servant can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be loyal to the one and have contempt for the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Thought for the Day: This verse of scripture comes at the end of a fascinating parable that Jesus shared, and it acts as almost a summary or direct challenge to his listeners. The last word in the verse is wealth, but the King James Version gives us a direct translation of the word: You cannot serve God and mammon. The word in the original texts was Mammonas, which is an Aramaic word – the common language Jesus and his disciples would have spoken. It actually appears three times in the telling of this parable. Why would the Gospel writer use some of the most sophisticated Greek in all of the New Testament to write the Gospel, but choose to draw upon the actual spoken language for this specifical word? That should catch our attention! I would suggest that the word Mammonas carried with it meaning far beyond wealth or money. Had the Gospel writer wanted to communicate those simple words, there were plenty of Greek words to use. I believe the Gospel writer wanted to say something very specific, and so I would suggest the word Mammonas was something a bit more intangible. It was not just physical money or accumulated wealth, but the unhealthy power (some might say demonic) that exists within money and wealth that is triggered by greed. Money and wealth are neutral all by themselves, but greed animates them in such a way that they act upon the world in ways that are destructive. In fact, this animated force claims to be a god, and plenty of people bow down and worship it. Remember, you cannot serve God and this Mammonas.
Prayer: I do not wish to worship anything but you, O Lord, yet there is seductive energy that pulsates within money. So much wealth is used to hide the demonic intent behind it all – the power of greed. Forgive me, God, when both my eye and heart are seduced by its calling. Amen.
TOMORROW NIGHT
Session Three
