Two Masters
“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
Jesus is emphatic, NO ONE can serve two masters. This makes sense logically and we see the truth in other areas. For years there has been a myth of multitasking. Recent studies of brain function show that it is impossible for the brain to multitask.[1] When we think we are multitasking we are really “micro-tasking,” quickly going back and forth from one item to the other. If you are curious, they have also found that “multitasking” is less efficient and more time consuming than doing one task at a time![2] But this is intuitively obvious if we tried to give our full allegiance to two masters. I cannot tell one person, “I will wholeheartedly and fully serve you with all of my strength,” then turn around and say the exact same thing to a second person.
He then gives the reason why you can’t serve two masters, “either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other” Jesus reminds us that our affections will be divided. One master is telling us to do one thing, and another is asking us to do the opposite. Our allegiance and affection will ultimately fall to one or the other. The word “hate” here is used emphatically by comparison. Elsewhere Jesus says, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Jesus is not advocating hate for our parents! But he is saying that our love for God should be so total and complete that our love for our parents looks like hate by comparison. Similarly, if our affection is divided, we may not have contempt for one of our “masters,” but in comparison one we will love and the other we will “hate.”
Similarly, we will inherently gravitate and be devoted to the one we desire most. “He will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” The master that we desire most we will gladly serve and the demands from the other master we will do grudgingly. This attitude is an offense to God who demands all our loyalty and allegiance. He wants our hearts and our lives. He will brook no rivals. Our divided loyalty is an affront to God. Trying to pursue his kingdom and the kingdom of this world at the same time is unfaithfulness to God. Partial obedience is disobedience. There is no such thing as a truly divided heart. If we are pursuing sin, we have despised God even if we are not willing to admit that even to ourselves.
Jesus ends by repeating and expanding on what he said initially. “You cannot serve God and money.” The word translated money here is “mammon” which the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament notes it comes from the Aramaic which means, “that in which one trusts.” It goes on to say, “In the NT the word occurs only on the lips of Jesus. It denotes ‘earthly goods,’ but always with a stress on their materialistic character. When people trust in it (Lk. 12:15ff.) or give their hearts to it (Mt. 6:21), they cannot love God. Believers, then, must break out of enslavement to it and learn to depend on God (Mt. 6:24).” Money is a good translation because for most of us, that is what we think of when we think of wealth, but it could be any type of material possession or object of trust that we give allegiance to and in some way is over us.
This verse challenges us to look at the things we are pursuing and where are loyalties lie. What things are we trusting in for safety, security, peace, and happiness? Are we halfhearted in our fidelity and loyalty to King Jesus?
[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/creativity-without-borders/201405/the-myth-of-multitasking
[2] If you don’t believe me, just google “myth multitasking” and read a few scholarly articles.
