Matthew 6:19-23 Jesus at the Center
SHOW NOTES
This week we are going through the Gospel reading for Friday of the 11th week in Ordinary Time, which is Matthew 6:19-23. In this passage, Jesus tells His disciples, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and decay destroy and thieves break in and steal... For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be”. This week, that final part about where we store up our treasure really hit me.
The scripture says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. The Greek word used for heart there is cardia—which you might recognize from terms like “cardiac arrest”. Jesus isn’t just talking about our emotions, our feelings, or love in a purely relational sense. In the Jewish mind, the heart was the absolute center of human life. It is where you make your choices, where your intellect sits, and where your will is formed. Whatever you value most—whether that is financial security, your job, your social status, or your comfort—will inevitably pull your entire life into its orbit.
I was thinking about this like a diagram, asking myself: “Where is my treasure?”. I could put my job or my family at the center and have everything else point back to it, but really, the diagram usually puts me right in the center. Whether I treasure my comfort, my job, money, food, or alcohol, if my selfishness and self-centeredness are at the core, then everything orbits around me. My own greed, needs, and fears start forming all the other things in my life.
When we live like this, we look at our relationship with God based only on our own internal wants and desires, sometimes turning Him into a “genie in the bottle” or just a “get out of jail free card” for when we need it. Our relationships become about imposing our will on others to get what we want, and our jobs become all about climbing the ladder, being proud of who we are, and accumulating money.
But what the scripture is really telling us is that Jesus is supposed to be the center. When He is at the center, the arrows point outward, and Jesus starts to form all the things that are in our orbit. You begin to look at your relationships differently, seeing people as brothers and sisters in Christ who God created. You start to ask how you can serve them, finding new compassion and empathy because it is Christ who is forming how you look at people.
Your job becomes work unto God rather than unto man. You look at how you can serve your employer, your clients, or your coworkers who need a helping hand, rather than feeling like they are just using and abusing you.
The same applies to money, food, and material possessions like technology or cars. These things have no moral compass on their own; they are just things. But if Jesus is at the center, it forms how you use those vehicles, that technology, and the blessings God has given you. You start using those tools to bless others and to learn more about God.
As I try to do a little lectio divina with these gospels, I always ask myself what God is speaking to me. Right now, He’s asking: “Who’s at the center? Is it me, or is it Jesus?”. Because if Jesus is at the center, things are going to get a little more peaceful and a little more joyful. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. I can start looking at how to use the things in my life to get closer to Christ, rather than just serving myself and using people to get what I want out of life.
I hope this reflection blesses you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
+JMJ+
Rich