"The Cliff Notes Version"
A Sunday Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Thomas C. Leinbach
May 25, 2008 - Harwich, Massachusetts

Preaching Text: "No one can serve two masters…" (Matthew 6:24)

Today's gospel reading comes relatively early in Matthew, itself a highly stylized, well-crafted, focused study of Jesus and his impact on our world.

After the birth narrative, baptism, and temptation in the desert, comes in quick succession the calling of the first disciples, who at the time are tending their fishing nets. For Jesus, the first order of business is to lead these newly minted followers away from the crowds that already are surrounding him to a quiet place on a hillside, a mountain or hillside biblically symbolic of the place where human beings often meet God.

On this hillside, Jesus sits down, the traditional posture rabbis assumed when speaking something of great importance and authoritative import. Matthew's intent here is clear. Having called the disciples to a new life based on God's governance, rather than that of human devising, Matthew is signaling to us that citizenship in God's kingdom requires a different way of being, which necessitates re-learning the basics of how we live.

Now that the disciples have been called to this new life, Matthew uses the "Sermon on the Mount" as a way of teaching them and us how to conduct ourselves, as they/we seek to live a God-centered life and as we seek to communicate that to others.

Modern scholars believe this extended sermon, spanning three chapters, is a distillation of Jesus' teachings over his lifetime. In a sense, it's the "best of Jesus," the Cliff Notes version of what Jesus thought we all should know about being Christians. It could even be labeled "Jesus for Dummies" at the Barnes and Noble nearest you!

In reading the sermon all the way through, beginning with the Beatitudes, one is struck not only by how all-encompassing is God's concern for life, but how the sermon turns the world's values on their head, yet another reminder of just how much God's ways differ from our own.

The sermon, in essence, draws the reader away from external, outward things, that is, outward words and deeds, and into the far deeper and far more telling recesses of the human heart. It is there, in that place others can't see, where God's concern is most keenly evident.

As for the Pharisees, who come in for a drubbing here, the idea is that while they talk and walk a good game, underneath it all their motives are less than pure. The point, simply put, is that Jesus is not so much interested in what we do or say. Instead his concern centers solely on the intent of the heart.

A person can do certain things which outwardly seem virtuous and true, which otherwise meet the exacting demands of the law, but which, on closer inspection, are performed for the wrong reasons or in the wrong spirit. While condemning murder, for instance, Jesus argues that it's not enough never to have committed it. I you so much as slander someone or harbor ill thoughts towards them, that's just as bad in God's eyes. As far as Jesus is concerned, the intent, the disposition of the heart, is as morally deadly as the act itself!

In the section of the sermon we read this morning, we are told that a servant cannot serve two masters. It is reminiscent of James' discussion of being "double-minded."

Here our true master is assumed to be God, the one who created us and all that is. Everything, therefore, belong to God, so that allegiance to anything or anyone other than God is sheer folly. The task of Jesus' life and teaching is to liberate human beings from any attachment to secondary things, which, by definition, is everything other than God.

As those called to be servants, then, or more properly, "slaves," we in reality have no true rights of our own. God owns us completely. Our job, then, is to do God's bidding. The things of the world, including our very selves, are indeed to be used, but strictly as only God wills. So we dedicate our entire being, especially the entirety of our hearts, to loving and serving God. Everything we think, do and say is to be a reflection of our love for God. And our every waking moment is to seek and find ways to make God happy! In so doing, paradoxically, we find the peace and joy for which our restless, searching hearts yearn.

We strive first for the kingdom of God, knowing that God and God alone is able to put all things in their proper order.

Consider Jesus words about money. My father always used to tell us about the importance of meaningful work. "You actually should look forward to going to work on Monday," he always would say. We weren't, to be honest, always so convinced. His point, though, was that getting paid for your efforts is of secondary importance; it is a by-product of doing what God wants you to do.

Our true vocation in life, again, is to make God happy, rather than pursuing money and what it can buy: food, clothing, shelter, security. If we set our sights on God, the rest follows naturally. Though this does not mean that all faithful people can expect great material abundance, knowing the delight of the Lord more than compensates, if our heart is pure and our love for God is strong.

Jesus then tackles worry, and here Jesus means "excessive" worry. In some sense, this is a question of how we use our time. If our focus, again, is on God, then time has a way of taking care of itself.

This past week, as you know, Linda and I went to visit our daughter and her family, in part to celebrate our granddaughter, Abigail's, third birthday.

During our brief stay, much of the worry, stress and strain of work for me completely disappeared. Early one day, I went to say good morning to Abigail. Peering around the corner into her room, I simply pointed at her with a mischievous smile. Her reaction was as big as life. She beamed and radiated that pure love only children seem to have perfected. In the purity of that focused moment, it was impossible to think of meetings, paperwork or deadlines, past or present.

To be in the moment, to know and experience God's infinite love there, is to banish excessive worry, if, that is, we use the time we have to make God happy. And this applies even when life is otherwise difficult.

Earlier, in the ninth and last Beatitude, Jesus tells his followers that they are blessed "when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account."

Eugene Peterson continues this thought, in his transliteration of the text. "You can be glad when this happens," Jesus says, "give a cheer, even - for though they don't like it (what one is saying or doing for God), I do! And all heaven applauds."

I like that. "And all heaven applauds." We seek to do God's will in every aspect of life, and we will do well, regardless of any momentary affliction. Tuning our hearts to God is the key.

I would close with one of my favorite sayings. More accurately, it is the title of a book by Søren Kierkegaard, the 19th century Danish theologian. "Purity of the heart," it says, "is to will one thing." That one thing, of course, simply put, is God.

Amen.