March 9: “Store Up For Yourselves Treasures in Heaven”
♫ Music:
Day 21 - Tuesday, March 9
Title: “STORE UP FOR YOURSELVES TREASURES IN HEAVEN”
Scripture: Matthew 6:3-4;6;17-24
“But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Poetry:
Gaza Is Not Far Away
By Naomi Shihab Nye
“Gaza is not far way.”–Dr. Luke Peterson
It’s in your cuffs.
The cup you just drank from.
Empty bucket outside your back door with an inch
of rain in it.
Sack of mulch to scatter on your winter beds.
Do you see these things as luxury?
It’s the crosswalk kids march in.
Mama with her yellow belt
waving them through. It’s rules.
It’s everything you keep a long time
in your refrigerator–pickles, tonic, apple butter.
Butter. The fact you have a refrigerator
and power to run it all day long.
Gaza might like that.
TREASURE
These words of Jesus have felt especially relevant to my soul in the few years since moving into a century-old and somewhat dilapidated house, the biggest piece of earthly treasure with my name on it. I’ve always appreciated the starkness and idealism of the passage; now I appreciate how palpable and practical it is. “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy…” To this Jesus might have added water damage, carpenter ants, a crumbly foundation, hazardous electrical wiring, gravity, heat, cold, etc. I’ve at times been so consumed with anxiety about the state of our house that I could practically hear carpenter ants munching away at my soul, or feel my mind overheating like a failing electrical system. Your heart certainly is where your treasure is, and when that treasure is in decay (or susceptible to it) – so are you.
It’s a very practical, common-sense command. When we take a millisecond to weigh the corruptible and fleeting earthly things of value against those of eternal and invincible worth, the real treasure is obvious. Why then do we so often choose to hope in and worry about our material possessions? Are we so busy or lazy that we don’t even take that millisecond to stop and consider? Are we so bewitched by the materialism of our age that, even as Christians, we forget that there’s more to life? Are we really that attracted to shiny objects? It’s a suspicious disconnect and one worth pondering. I suppose the reasons behind it vary.
Today’s artwork, however, points us to the particular role of wealth in that disconnect, where we have to acknowledge that some may have more difficulty than others in following Jesus’ command. The rich young ruler that we encounter later in Matthew’s Gospel had a particularly challenging time “because he had great wealth.” It was after this interaction that Jesus used the powerful idiom of the camel and the needle, which John Baldessari plays with in his sculpture below. It’s an impossible and absurd scene (even with that enormously large needle), and yet the camel almost looks like he thinks he could make it – with that little grin on its face. What a delusional camel. But how different are we?
Many of us are steeped in resources and wealth without even realizing it. Naomi Shihab Nye unveils that fact in her poem. She gently and poignantly describes the common elements in many of our lives that we simply take for granted, and then flips the script and places them in the light of those without them. The suggestion is that in every encounter with what we have there’s an opportunity to encounter others who do not have. That brings the situation close–too close for comfort.
But this place of discomfort is, paradoxically, the place of real, non-delusional peace as we share it with Christ and His followers. Out of this place flow blessings to a broken world, as we demonstrate clearly which Master we serve.
Prayer:
Lord, teach us to value what you value, and to invest our lives wisely. Protect us from the temptations and delusions of material wealth, and lead us to hold it lightly. Let it slip from our hands easily as we seek to follow you and be a blessing to the world.
Amen
Paul Rheingans
Biola Alumnus of the Institute for Spiritual Formation
Case Manager, The Salvation Army
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Camel (Albino) Contemplating Needle (Large)
Edition of 3
John Baldessari
2013
Fiberglass, aluminum, stainless steel, acrylic paint
Camel: 271.7 x 81.2 x 269.2 cm
Needle: 320 x 13 x 13 cm
Image courtesy Beyer Projects
John Baldessari’s large-scale installation Camel (Albino) Contemplating Needle (Large) references a biblical passage quoting Jesus as saying that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Matt. 19:24). The work by the noted American artist depicts a life-size white camel made of fiberglass staring in puzzlement at the eye of an oversized shiny needle—a not-so-subtle play on the New Testament Scripture about the difficulty some wealthy may have in entering the kingdom of heaven.
https://www.beyerprojects.com/john-baldessari-sculpture-camel
About the Artist:
John Baldessari (1931–2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated imagery. Initially a painter, Baldessari began to incorporate texts and photography into his canvases in the mid-1960s. By blending photography, painting, and text, Baldessari’s work examines the plastic nature of artistic media while offering commentary on our contemporary culture. “I’ve often thought of myself as a frustrated writer,” he explained. “I consider a word and an image of equal weight, and a lot of my work comes out of that kind of thinking.” Through a diverse practice that includes paintings, sculpture, and installations, the artist shaped the contemporary conceptual art landscape by garnering early acclaim for his signature use of colorful dots atop photographic images. Baldessari was instrumental in the West Coast art scene and influenced many younger artists through his long teaching career. The celebrated artist was a recipient of the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement awarded by the Venice Biennale. Baldessari’s works are currently held in the collections of several museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and The Museum of Modern Art in New York, among others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Baldessari
http://www.artnet.com/artists/john-baldessari/
About the Music:
“A Love Supreme, Part IV - Psalm” from the album A Love Supreme
About the Composer:
John Coltrane (1926–1967) was an African American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop idioms early in his career, Coltrane was at the forefront of the free jazz movement. He played on at least fifty recording sessions and appeared on many albums by other musicians, including trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk. Over the course of his career, Coltrane’s music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. He received numerous posthumous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 2007. Coltrane had a religious experience that may have helped him overcome the heroin addiction and alcoholism he had struggled with since 1948. In the liner notes of the album A Love Supreme, Coltrane states he experienced “by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music.” A Love Supreme became one of the most acclaimed jazz records and contemporary critics hailed it as one of the important albums of post-war jazz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Coltrane
https://www.johncoltrane.com/
About the Performers:
John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones
Alfred McCoy Tyner (1938–2020) was an American jazz pianist known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet. Tyner had a long solo career and was honored as an NEA Jazz Master and a five-time Grammy winner. Not a player of electric keyboards and synthesizers, he was committed to acoustic instrumentation. Tyner, who was widely imitated, was one of the most recognizable and most influential pianists in the history of jazz.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCoy_Tyner
James Emory Garrison (1934–1976) was an American jazz double bassist. He is best remembered for his association with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967. He formally joined Coltrane’s quartet in 1962. Garrison performed on many Coltrane recordings, including A Love Supreme. In concert with Coltrane, Garrison would often play unaccompanied improvised solos, sometimes as song introductions prior to the other musicians joining in. In 1971 and 1972, Garrison taught as a Visiting Artist at Wesleyan University and Bennington College.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Garrison
Elvin Ray Jones (1927–2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed an interest in drums at a young age. He served in the United States Army from 1946 to 1949 and subsequently played in a Detroit house band led by jazz pianist Billy Mitchell. Jones moved to New York City in 1955 and worked as a sideman for jazz greats such as Charles Mingus, Teddy Charles, Bud Powell, and Miles Davis. From 1960 to 1966, he was a member of the John Coltrane Quartet (with Jimmy Garrison and McCoy Tyner) and appeared on such projects as A Love Supreme and Live at Birdland. Following his work with Coltrane, Jones led several small groups, some under the name The Elvin Jones Jazz Machine.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvin_Jones
About the Poet:
Naomi Shihab Nye (b. 1952) is an American poet. Her father was a Palestinian refugee and her mother was of European descent. Her rich experiences with varied cultures have influenced much of her work. Known for poetry that lends a fresh perspective to ordinary events, people, and objects, Nye has said that, for her, “the primary source of poetry has always been local life, random characters met on the streets, our own ancestry sifting down to us through small essential daily tasks.” Characterizing Nye’s “prolific canon” in Contemporary Women Poets, critic Paul Christensen noted that Nye “is building a reputation…as the voice of childhood in America, the voice of the girl at the age of daring exploration.” Nye received her B.A. from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and continues to live and work in the city. “My poems and stories often begin with the voices of our neighbors, mostly Mexican-American, always inventive and surprising,” Nye wrote in Four Winds Press. In addition to her poetry collections, Nye has produced fiction for children, poetry and song recordings, and poetry translations.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/naomi-shihab-nye
About the Devotion Author:
Paul Rheingans
Biola Alumnus of the Institute for Spiritual Formation
Case Manager of the Salvation Army
Paul Rheingans graduated from Talbot School of Theology in 2016 with an M.A., emphasis in Spiritual Formation. He and his wife live in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He works as a housing case manager with the Salvation Army, and wrestles with the intersections of theology, poverty, prayer, and human nature.