Reflection on Heb 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and
be content with what you have, because God has said,
‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’
Before this statement from the Letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle writes: “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow-prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering. Marriage should be honoured by all, and marriages should be kept undefiled, for God will judge the immoral and adulterers.” Then follows this statement: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
The Apostle continues: “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.” (v. 3-9a)
As for the verse we are going to recite for two weeks, telling us to keep our lives free from the love of money, the Apostle says in another place: “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1Ti 6:10) A frightening example of the love of money is the treacherous apostle Judas. Jesus says clearly: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
How did the apostle become a traitor? Judas was blinded by passion – the love of money. Money took over his mind and his heart. It did not happen all at once. Passion has its beginning, growth and maturation. Judas first began to notice money and gradually to desire it exceedingly. Money and only money! It took over his whole being. The greed for money drove everything else out of Judas’ soul – from the moment he began to covet money, his love of the Lord grew cold and he became calloused to all His admonitions. He was heading for the abyss. His greed reached its peak, and when the opportunity arose to betray the Lord Jesus to His enemies for money, he did it.
Greed is one of the cardinal sins. It is an extremely dangerous passion, because it makes one more and more blind and intoxicated, and eventually callous towards God and neighbour. Saint Augustine writes: “Greed is insatiable. It always robs and never gets full; it does not fear God, it does not fear man; it does not spare the father, it does not acknowledge the mother; it does not listen to the brother, and it does not keep faithful to the friend. It oppresses the widow, it oppresses the orphan … it bears false witness.” Resist in the beginning! Judas was a prototype of all future ones who, driven by some passion, abandoned Jesus Christ. The passion of pride, the passion of greed, the passion of impurity! You cannot serve two masters; you cannot serve both God and mammon (sin). In the very beginning, you must do the opposite of what the passion demands.
The Apostle emphasizes: “Be content with what you have…,” and he adds: “…because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
Download: Reflection on Heb 13:5
