Jesus says in Luke, "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon" (Luke 16:13 NKJV). This is the constant struggle for we the baptized. What does it mean to serve Jesus and what does it mean to serve mammon, or worldly pleasures? How do we serve Jesus and how do we serve mammon.

Well, we serve mammon by making deposits in the bank of our fleshy desires. We serve mammon by hording our money, rather than giving it generously and joyously to the Lord and to our neighbor. Luther says this is the chief god, the chief incarnation of mammon in this world saying, "It is the most common idol on earth. He who has money and property feels secure, happy, fearless, as if he were sitting in the midst of paradise. On the other hand, he who has nothing doubts and despairs as if he never heard of God" (Large Catechism I.7-8).  However, money isn't the only idol that mammon works through to offer us false security or hopeless despair. We have lust, by which we make investments to our fleshy desires. We have a modalist mammon, a mammon who wears many different masks for the purpose of tearing us away from Christ and dragging us into utter despair. Modalism was an ancient church heresy in which a modalist asserted that God is one and appears to us three different ways, like wearing three different masks. This is rejected because it denies the triune God as being three in one and one in three. However, the devil is one and mammon is his demon who appears to us in many ways, shapes, and forms. He appears to us in ways that will tempt us to seek solace in the things of this world and trust in the things of this world, fear losing the things of this world, and therefore love the things of this world over and against God.

Unlike mammon who wears many masks in order to trick you and destroy you, Jesus wears only the mask of your Savior. And it is not a mask, for Jesus is truly your Savior and friend. He doesn't take the mask off to show a pernicious God who seeks to damage you beyond repair. Jesus is your Lord, the one who claims responsibility for you. He claimed this responsibility when He assumed all of your sin on the cross and paid the price by becoming the curse of the law for you. For the law never goes away, or becomes void in this life. It is always the will of God for you. As Jesus said, "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail." The law does not fail, but does its work of revealing the will of God and therefore accusing you of being a sinner. Jesus didn't tell you not to worry about the law. No. instead He took the accusations of the law and claimed responsibility for them. He took all the blame as your dear Savior and in that rescued you from the wrath of His Father, the tyranny of the devil, the dread of death, the burdens of the world, and the weight of the Old Adam. In Jesus then, we despise mammon because we know that he does not have our benefit at heart, but his own. Whereas, Jesus does have our benefit at heart and we see this by His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave. We are loyal to Jesus, not because we are no longer sinful, but rather because He is the one who claims us as His own and promises to protect us and provide eternal life for us. We are loyal because He is loving and sacrificial. This is the key distinction to make in this text and in our baptismal life. Mammon does not care about you and he will do anything to consume you. Jesus loves you and cares about you and bids you consume Him, receive Him, benefit from Him for life eternal. May the Holy Spirit, in Word and Sacrament, continue to make this distinction for you and assure you of your salvation which is in Jesus the Christ.

Peace be with you. May the devil be silenced, the world be hushed, and the Old Adam be drowned anew so that you hear only the voice of your Savior Jesus who says, "I am yours and you are Mine, and where I am you may remain, the foe shall not divide us," Amen.

Jesus' Sheepdog,

Pastor Hull