What a beautiful and touching image we have in the first reading today! Like a loving mother, God will never forget His children. That’s a great lead-in to our Gospel reading which focuses on two subjects: “serving two masters”(our relationship with God and things), and worry. I’m sure there’s a hot button in there somewhere for almost all of us!
Lots of things can rule us: the love of money or possessions, the power of position, the glamour of prestige, and the driving force of unruly passions and addictions. Ultimately the choice boils down to two: God and things. How many of us in the business world had to work for two bosses at one time? It happens, but is rarely ever successful. There is a constant tug of war over who gets priority. There can only be one master in our life. Our “master” is that which governs our thought processes, shapes our ideals, and controls the desires of the heart and the values we choose to live by. It’s easy then to answer the question of who takes priority. It is God.
Now let’s shift gears. Sure, we fear not having enough, not being able to provide for our family and this is understandable because our society tells us to live 24 hours a day worrying about those things. It begs us to accumulate more and more.That’s why we worry, but worry or anxiety robs us of faith and confidence in God’s help. It saps our energy. That’s why Jesus tells us God knows our needs even before we ask and he gives generously to those who trust in him. Here’s where the rub comes in. It would be foolish to say a person who is jobless, poor, had 5 children to feed and a sickly spouse should not worry about tomorrow. This is where we come in. Trusting God means we believe everything else will take care of itself and that means we have a responsibility to take care of our neighbour. That’s what we’ve been hearing in the Gospel for the last several weeks.