One may read Matthew's passage, which initially conveys an obvious message against materialism, and continue on reading. But what does one get out of the passage when they delve into words of the passage, the subtleties of the passage? When one discovers what the words meant to the people it was written for? These are only some of the questions that will be answered as we exegetically analyze these three sentences.

The immediate literary context of this pericope is the Sermon on the Mount with the large crowds; this passage is a part of this sermon. The Sermon deals with certain teachings of Jesus, most notably the beatitudes. This pericope may be connected with the next 3, and thus with the rest of the chapter. After this pericope, many of Jesus' healings take place, which is the wider literary context. This is an appropriate division for the pericope because the few verses before it and after it are quite similar in content and format.

The author of this passage was "Matthew", an apostle and the first Evangelist. He was the Son of Alphesus, and was originally a tax collector. Matthew was wealthy and his descriptions of money matters are characteristic. He collaborated with occupying power. Matthew also was educated, as we can tell by his literacy. Judging by his writing style, he was most likely more educated than Mark, but not as educated as Luke. His feast is celebrated on September 21.

Matthew wrote this for the Jews of Palestine. Jewish Christians for whom the Gospel was primarily destined, and non-converted Jews, would find there in abundant references to the Old Testament. Jesus is portrayed as the new Moses, as there are many parallels to Moses and Jesus (Mt. Sinai - Sermon on Mount). Matthew was well aware of the audience's religious practices, the topography, and the historical traditions of their country. His stylistic abilities and his full and carefully ordered collection of the sayings of Jesus in the 5 discourses made his Gospel particularly useful for the catechetical instruction.

The immediate social contexts for this work are the smart, clean and wealthy people (from our notes in class). Matthew's call to follow Jesus came to him while he sat in his tax office. He possibly had founded the Church in the city, which would account for the ascription of the gospel to him from early 2^nd Century. One reason that it is doubtful that Matthew himself wrote the Gospel is that a work so dependent on earlier sources most likely could not have been written by 1 of the apostles. So it was probably some of his followers.

Social conditions reflected in the gospel support the view that Matthew may have been written in Antioch in Syria on the River Orontes or for a cluster of urban communities in that neighborhood. In an area of Matthew's church there existed tension between Christians and Jews. From the beginning to the end of the gospel, Jewish leaders are branded opponents of Jesus (Browning, pg. 245).

"The Date of Matthew depends partly on the date of Mark, since Mark is one of the sources." After much analysis and research Mark was dated around 70 CE. Because of this, Matthew was dated around 80 CE. It is said that Matthew was probably written in Antioch. However,

Because of this analysis Matthew's Gospel was probably written in Syria or some other place close to Syria in the Palestine area.

The literary genre that this passage takes on is a deliberative rhetoric. This is apparent because in the pericope Jesus is not necessarily given a warning, but he is giving instructions about how to live life here on earth. He first tells you what not to do; then he tells you what to do if you want to see the kingdom of God. There is also a connection to this passage and the next 4 passages. All of these pericopes are about earthly things, and about not worrying about them. The passage that we are concentrated on is about concentrating on heavenly treasures. According to a book entitled "The Gospel According to Matthew" by David M. Stanley S.J., this pericope is basically saying "[m]aterial wealth does not give real security the thief could dig through the mud-walled Palestinian house to steal" . As one knows, no one can break into Heaven.

During the time that Matthew was written, if it was written in CE 80, Flavius Titus was emperor of Rome. He had just succeeded his father one year earlier. Titus' father was Vespasian and during his reign he began the war with the Jews. When Titus took over he concluded the war with the Jews. Titus was emperor until CE 81, which is when Domitian took reign.

This pericope is part of a very significant section of Matthew's Gospel. It is a part of the "Sermon on the Mount". Jesus presented this sermon to his twelve disciples one day after he saw large crowds. He sat on the side of a mountain when he gives this sermon. He was going to teach his disciples some things. This was presented orally of course. Jesus wanted to teach his disciples what to do to get to the Kingdom of Heaven. The pericope that we are analyzing is strictly about giving up worries about earthly thing and "storing up treasure in Heaven" (Matt. 6:20).

Our passage has one parallel and it is with Luke 12:33-34. Luke and Matthew have somewhat of the same idea, however Luke is concerned more with helping the poor and Matthew is more concerned with getting into heaven. Luke even adds "sell what you have, and give it to the poor." This parallel is significant because it may cause problems for some readers. Some may read Matthew and just get the idea that you must not be attached to earthly treasures or money. They may feel that it is okay to have money for your needs, but you must not "worship it" (Matt 6:20). On the other hand, Luke is saying that the Lord says give the money away to the poor. People may be confused by these differences and feel that they are getting mixed signals. Since these passages are being presented as parallels one may ask the questions "Which one is correct?"

I am going to imagine that Matthew had some help from the Q Source when writing this passage. I imagine this because he did not get any of this information from Mark, because Mark has no parallels with this pericope. However, Matthew does have quite a few parallels with Luke, and since the parallels are essentially the same, except for Luke's additional words, it seems as if they received information from the same source. That source was most likely "Q".

Some key terms pop up in this passage that should be explained. Matthew uses the word treasure several times throughout this pericope. The treasure that Matthew is referring to is faith (Kraszewski, 286). We must not have our treasure, or faith, in this world. The author is trying to point out that our faith in heaven and above will help us to achieve our ultimate goal. The word ‘Earth’ can be interpreted a couple of different ways, also. 'Earth' can mean what most people would take it to mean, which is of this world. The passage would then be telling us not to have faith in objects of this world. ‘Earth’ can be taken to mean our bodies as well. Thus, when Jesus preaches not store treasures on earth, he actually tells us not to have faith in our earthly bodies, for they can be corrupted. This is implying that we should have faith in our heart or spirit.

The central idea of this pericope is to persuade the audience to realize how fleeting treasures of this world can be. The most seemingly insignificant creatures like the moth or the worm can destroy valuable goods(McKenzie). Even other men can contribute to destruction of earthly goods. Thus, we must put our faith in the only place that is completely secure: heaven with God. MT may have been going for his target audience also, because "possessions competing allegiance for one's devotion to God's will is typically Jewish" (Senior).

The action the audience should take is to not worry about or get caught up in earthly wealth or power. The audience should be driven to find happiness and security with God. If they do not heed Matthew's advice, the heart of the owner will be "distracted from spiritual wealth which alone abides (20-21)" (Cox).

The author argues his point by illustrating how easily one can lose his/her earthly treasures. The smallest of God's creatures, the moth can aid to destroying what one has built here on earth. Time itself will lead to the decay of goods. Thieves can break in at any point and take away what one has. One is powerless to stop these occurrences and thus, should not put his/her faith into "treasures" that can be so futile.

A contemporary audience can really relate well to this passage. As capitalism takes over, so many are lured in by material possessions. Many associate societies moral breakdown with people's obsession with worldly benefits. I think that a contemporary audience may recognize that there must be more to life than material goods. So they may be persuaded to find another area to place their faith, which might be with God.

A way in which a contemporary audience might find this passage lacking is if they are wealthy and things are going good for them. They might not care what Matthew has to offer because materialism has done well for them. They might not realize how their treasures could go away by getting caught up in there own wealth. As far as the actual passage goes, there is not anything that is hard to understand, it is only hard to put into practice.

Since a big theme (if you can call it a theme) in the Catholic Church is charity and the lack of emphasis on worldly possessions, this passage is extremely Catholic. The way Jesus lived his life epitomizes this passage. Just as Jesus was not a material king, but instead was beyond the earth, we should not have faith in material things, but instead have faith in Jesus who is beyond this earth. It is also very Catholic because it speaks of heavenly treasures. The Catholic does believe that we will be rewarded with a perfect heaven in which we will need for nothing. First of all we must understand that we must have faith in heaven. This is why the passage ends with "for where your treasures are there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:21).