Matthew 6 24 – 34

You cannot be the slave of two masters! You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

I tell you not to worry about your life. Don’t worry about having something to eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food or clothing? Look at the birds in the sky! They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even store grain in barns. Yet your Father in heaven takes care of them. Aren’t you worth more than birds?

Can worry make you live longer? Why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow. They don’t work hard to make their clothes. But I tell you that Solomon with all his wealth wasn’t as well clothed as one of them. God gives such beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow. He will surely do even more for you! Why do you have such little faith?

Don’t worry and ask yourselves, “Will we have anything to eat? Will we have anything to drink? Will we have any clothes to wear?” Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these. But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.

Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.

Gospel Reflection

Look again, at the natural world – the lilies may grow; the birds of the air may sing and soar but their life is not easy – far from it.

When I look around at the grey bark of the trees that have stood this long winter; the snowdrops that reveal their pearly heads almost overnight and the birds foraging through the ashes of autumn leaves – tiny wrens bouncing through the frozen hedgerows whilst I cower in the warmth of my central heating – the blackbird that finds his voice to welcome a sun hiding behind layers of violet grey clouds – I am amazed at where they get their stamina from.

Why should we have aspirations to a life of luxury; why do we expect it to be easy? If Jesus is prepared to live as he does; struggle as he and his family does; suffer as he does – why should it be different for us? The example of our Servant King tells us all we need to know.

We have people to meet; places to be; deeds to do. This is a place of work.