Discovery BoxMatthew 6:24 
Context6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate 1 the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise 2 the other. You cannot serve God and money. 3
Matthew 19:21
Context19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money 4 to the poor, and you will have treasure 5 in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Matthew 21:12
Context21:12 Then 6 Jesus entered the temple area 7 and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, 8 and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.
1 sn The contrast between hate and love here is rhetorical. The point is that one will choose the favorite if a choice has to be made.
2 tn Or “and treat [the other] with contempt.”
3 tn Grk “God and mammon.”
sn The term money is used to translate mammon, the Aramaic term for wealth or possessions. The point is not that money is inherently evil, but that it is often misused so that it is a means of evil; see 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-19. God must be first, not money or possessions.
4 tn The words “the money” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
5 sn The call for sacrifice comes with a promise of eternal reward: You will have treasure in heaven. Jesus’ call is a test to see how responsive the man is to God’s direction through him. Will he walk the path God’s agent calls him to walk? For a rich person who got it right, see Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10.
6 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.
7 tn Grk “the temple.”
sn The merchants (those who were selling) would have been located in the Court of the Gentiles.
8 tn Grk “the temple.”
sn Matthew (here, 21:12-27), Mark (11:15-19) and Luke (19:45-46) record this incident of the temple cleansing at the end of Jesus’ ministry. John (2:13-16) records a cleansing of the temple at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. See the note on the word temple courts in John 2:14 for a discussion of the relationship of these accounts to one another.
