Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Today’s Gospel reading follows, fittingly, yesterday’s reading from Deuteronomy 8. In Deuteronomy 8 Moses exhorts Israel to remember … all the way which the Lord God has led you in the wilderness for forty years … that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. … He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. … Your clothing did not wear out … nor your foot swell these forty years.
So also we find in St Matthew 6 … “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? … Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
The immediate context for St Matthew 6:24f contrasts two treasures, two eye conditions and two masters:
Two Treasures:
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Two Eye Conditions:
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
Two Masters:
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
We are to treasure God and His heavenly kingdom in our hearts, to set our eyes on God, the light of the world, who illuminates (gives understanding to) our lives, and to serve God with love and devotion as our true master. In seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, we are storing up heavenly treasure, walking in the light and serving God. We are not to worry, then, about what to eat, what to drink and what to wear. God provided for Israel in the wilderness, feeds the birds of the air, clothes the grass of the field with lilies. Man does not live by bread alone and our body’s needs are more than what we wear … our heavenly Father knows we need all these to live. As our loving and generous Father, God will provide all that is “requisite and necessary, as well for the body as the soul.”
JSH+