In the Sermon on the Mount, while warning about the dangers of greed and wealth, Jesus says we cannot serve more than one master. He was using language familiar to his audience. The relationship between a master and servant was well-established in the first century. While a person could have more than one job, and in some cultures a husband could have more than one wife, no slave could have more than one master.
Whenever we read about slavery in the Bible, it’s normal to assume it resembled the sort of slavery that existed in the United States before the Civil War. While there were certain similarities, the two institutions differed in significant ways. First, America’s form of slavery was race-based. It was widely believed that people of African or Native American descent were inherently inferior to Europeans, and therefore destined by God and nature to be ruled over and enslaved. Slavery in ancient Rome was not race-based. Anyone could be enslaved regardless of their ethnicity or skin color.
Secondly, unlike American slavery, Roman slavery was not hereditary, and there were more opportunities for freedom and social advancement. A person born into slavery in ancient Rome could work for their freedom, become a full citizen, and even rise to a powerful position in Roman society. That was inconceivable for an enslaved African in the American South.
Of course, slavery in both the U.S. and Rome was brutal and inhumane, but it’s important to recognize the differences so that we don’t misread or misapply the teachings of Scripture. But in both settings, the idea of loyalty to one’s master was similar. The fact that Jesus says everyone—both free and enslaved—has a master is revealing. He’s saying we are all enslaved to something or someone, regardless of our economic or social status. The only question is—who is our master?
In Maryland, before the Civil War, there was an enslaved man named Jacob who made it his habit to pray three times each day. At regular intervals, he would stop his labor, rest quietly, and commune with God. This enraged his master, a cruel and terrible man named Saunders. While kneeling in the field to pray one day, Saunders approached Jacob and pointed a gun at his head. He ordered him to stop praying and get back to work.
Jacob calmly finished his prayer and then invited Saunders to pull the trigger. “Your loss will be my gain,” he said. “I have two masters—master Jesus in heaven, and master Saunders on earth. I have a soul and a body; the body belongs to you, but my soul belongs to Jesus.” Saunders was so shaken by Jacob’s lack of fear that he never touched him again.
Jacob said he had two masters, but his commitment to prayer and his defiance proved he really had only one. His example validates Jesus’ words that anyone with two masters “will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Jacob was devoted to Jesus and despised Saunders.
No one can have more than one master. Who is yours?
Daily Scripture
Matthew 6:19-24
Exodus 20:1–3
Weekly Prayer
From Henri Nouwen (1932–1996)
Dear Lord, help me keep my eyes on you. You are the incarnation of Divine Love, you are the expression of God’s infinite compassion, you are the visible manifestation of the Father’s holiness. You are beauty, goodness, gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy. In you all can be found. Outside of you nothing can be found. Why should I look elsewhere or go elsewhere? You have the words of eternal life, you are food and drink, you are the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are the light that shines in the darkness, the lamp on the lampstand, the house on the hilltop. You are the perfect Icon of God. In and through you I can see and find my way to the Heavenly Father. O Holy One, Beautiful One, Glorious One, be my Lord, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Guide, my Counselor, my Comforter, my Hope, my Joy, and my Peace. To you I want to give all that I am. Let me be generous, not stingy or hesitant. Let me give you all—all I have, think, do, and feel. It is yours, O Lord. Please accept it and make if fully your own.
