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Reflection on Matthew 6:16-21
by Rev. Martin Copenhaver, Senior Pastor of Wellesley Congregational Church, and Keynote Speaker at the 209th Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Conference
February/March 2009
If we are not careful we might read what Jesus says with a kind of scriptural dyslexia. We might remember him saying, “Where your heart is, there will your treasure be also.”
That would make ready sense to us because, after all, much of the time our dollars follow our heart’s lead. We give to what matters to us.
But that is not what Jesus said.
Jesus says something more profound and more hopeful than that,
affirming that wherever you put your treasure, that is where your
heart will end up. To be sure, how we spend our money does reveal
something about the kind of people we are.
But Jesus seems to affirm that how we spend our money determines
the sort of people we become.
“Give from the heart,” people say. But Jesus speaks of a different dynamic: Give where you want your heart to be, and then let your heart catch up. If you want to care more about the kind of car you drive, buy an expensive one. If you want to care more about property values, remodel your house. If you want to grow in your relationship with God, bring an offering to God.
Wherever your treasure is, your heart is bound to follow.
Prayer:
Dear God, help me hold on to you so closely that I do not hold on to anything else too closely.
Amen.