“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
Matthew 6:21
Read this saying in the chronological reader →Words of Jesus by topic
What did Jesus say about money and wealth?
Jesus talks about possessions often, but his teaching is broader than a simple rule that wealth is either good or bad. He focuses on allegiance, covetousness, generosity, trust, stewardship, justice and where a person’s treasure reveals the heart.
At a glance
- Treasure exposes allegiance: the heart follows what it treats as treasure.
- Jesus warns that God and mammon cannot both be masters.
- He treats covetousness as a spiritual danger even when possessions are abundant.
- Generosity toward the poor repeatedly appears in his teaching.
- He warns specifically about trusting in riches, not merely possessing them.
- Money also appears in teaching about civic obligation and stewardship.
Where treasure goes, the heart follows
In Matthew 6, Jesus contrasts earthly treasure with treasure in heaven. The famous line about the heart is part of a larger argument about what a person serves and trusts.
Money can become a master
“Mammon” is an older term associated with wealth or possessions. Jesus frames the issue as divided service: the question is not only how much someone owns, but whether wealth has become a rival lord.
“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13
Read this saying in the chronological reader →Beware of covetousness
When asked to intervene in an inheritance dispute, Jesus refuses to reduce the issue to possession and warns the crowd about covetousness. He follows the warning with the parable of a rich man whose expanding barns cannot secure his life.
“Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
Luke 12:15
Read this saying in the chronological reader →Generosity and treasure in heaven
Jesus repeatedly directs attention toward giving and the poor. The rich ruler receives a particularly demanding personal command, while Luke 12 more generally links almsgiving with treasure that does not fail.
“Sell that ye have, and give alms ... a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.”
Luke 12:33
Read this saying in the chronological reader →The danger is trust in riches
After the rich ruler departs, Mark’s wording makes the spiritual issue especially explicit: Jesus speaks of those who “trust in riches.”
“Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!”
Mark 10:24
Read this saying in the chronological reader →Caesar and God
Asked a politically loaded question about tribute, Jesus refuses the trap. His reply recognizes a claim belonging to Caesar while immediately placing beside it the larger claim of what belongs to God.
“Render therefore unto Cesar the things which be Cesar's; and unto God the things which be God's.”
Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25
Read this saying in the chronological reader →The widow’s offering changes the measure
Jesus evaluates giving by more than the visible amount. The widow’s small offering is described as greater because it comes from poverty rather than surplus.
“This poor widow doth cast in more than they all ... she of her penury did cast in all that she had.”
Luke 21:3–4
Read this saying in the chronological reader →Explore the complete collection.
Search related terms such as “rich,” “treasure,” “mammon,” and “money” in the reader.
Search sayings containing “rich” →This page is a textual study guide, not financial advice. Individual commands occur in particular narrative settings, so the linked Gospel contexts matter.