No, this is not a take on the George Thorogood song. But it is an important question. Who do you love: God or Mammon? The Scripture readings for this Sunday focus on how we view money. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon” (Luke 16:13). Mammon is the personification of riches that oppose serving God and the poor. You could imagine him as a very wealthy yet dishonest, ungodly person. Now imagine this person as your master, lording over you. He drives everything you do. This is what it means to serve Mammon.
St. Paul taught: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil…” (1 Timothy 6:10). Sometimes this is shortened to “money is the root of all evil,” but pay close attention to what St. Paul actually teaches. It’s the love of money that is the problem, not money itself. Loving Mammon instead of God and others is the problem.
Money is a tool; it is morally neutral. A person can choose to use it for either good or evil. Donating our treasure is one of the aspects of stewardship. We are given the means of earning money for our families and donating a tithe back to the Lord through the Church is a very good thing that we are all called to. But the love of Mammon can hold us back from this good.
This week, ask yourself truly, who do I love? Does Mammon have any hold on me? If so, what is one way I can begin to break free of this mindset and allow Christ to free me to love and serve Him and others? How can I invite Christ to free me from slavery to an inordinate focus on worldly gain?
Jesus, I love you above all things. I want to serve You and my neighbors, especially the poor. Help me to see what others need. Make my heart selfless instead of selfish and generous instead of greedy.