Day 3: No One Can Serve Two Masters
Reading: Matthew 6:24
24“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
What They Had Heard
TODO — what a first-century hearer already had in their head when Jesus said this: the commandment itself, and the tradition of the elders built on top of it. What ruling was this teaching aimed at?
The Other Witness
13No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Luke 16:13 (ESV)
TODO — where Luke has this saying, and what is different in his wording, his placement, or his audience. Quote both and let the difference stand.
The Older Word
TODO — the Old Testament text underneath the teaching. Not a proof text: the passage Jesus is reaching back to, and what the Law actually said before the case law grew over it.
He Did It
TODO — where Jesus personally demonstrated this, usually later in the Gospels. If there is no scene — only a claim — say that instead of forcing one.
They Did It
TODO — the apostles, both halves. Where they taught this in the letters, and where they lived it in Acts.
Now Us
TODO — the payoff. Not “try harder”: what this looks like on an ordinary Tuesday, for a reader who has just watched three generations do it.
Reflection Questions
- TODO
Prayer
TODO