Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more value than they? Which if you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

- Matthew 6:25-34

We have been reading the Sermon on the Mount. We began with The Beatitudes, in which Jesus taught the blessings of the disciple's life. Next He taught, You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world - the necessity of discipleship to the world. Then He taught His vision of the Law, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." He then expanded His teaching on several statutes; the first against murder: "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder;'" then against adultery: "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery;'" and finally regarding vengeance: "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'" His expansion includes the inner life, not merely outward acts. Next He began to discuss spiritual practice (in almsgiving, prayer and fasting) - forbidding hypocrisy and again emphasizing the inner life, in "Do not be like the hypocrites." During the discussion of prayer, Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, teaching in Our Father in heaven. In yesterday's reading, He taught us about the separation between what rightly deserves our worship and what we place second in all ways. teaching that "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." He taught us the importance of how we see, the lamp of the eye - and letting in the light. Otherwise, "if therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Finally, there is the essential quality of discernment, making choices. He is completely in the tradition of the Old Testament, but now with an emphasis on the inner life, when He teaches: "No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Here, Jesus puts His emphasis on placing God and the life of the kingdom first, and puts it into specifics for us. What is the most important thing? What do we place first? Do we spend our time slavishly devoted to material priorities, or do they come second to Creator? This question, "Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" is a hallmark of Jesus' teaching, an idea that will come again and again in the Gospels. My study bible points out that this is a teaching against severe anxiety, rather than thoughtful planning and care.

"Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more value than they? Which if you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" Jesus gives us firm examples of creatures of God and the worldly life. How do the birds survive without endless planning and concern with the future? They don't do the work to grow their food: scattering seed or harvesting and storing -- and yet, He says, your Father in heaven feeds them. Of how much more value are we, God's disciples and children by adoption? It is an emphasis on God our Father as provider. Do we have the power to think or worry ourselves into physical growth or longer lifespan? My study bible says, "Physical growth and length of life is dependent upon the providence of God more than upon food, drink and clothing."

"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field; how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" In some sense, this teaching also reflects an over-concern with appearances, as Jesus has already taught earlier in the Sermon. Here, a dwelling upon or anxiety about clothing or raiment is what He focuses on. Note again how He emphasizes that the wild lilies grow beautifully, even though they don't labor themselves nor spin thread for fabric. And yet, Jesus compares their splendid beauty to Solomon "in all his glory" -- and the wild lilies come out ahead. And for me there is a teaching here about not simply what we gain but how we are deserving: through discipleship we rely on the Father, we put that first, and remember that ultimately the Father is the one who clothes and feeds. It's not the work of our own effort or anxiety that makes us worthy. It is in this relationship in which we put our trust first. The power here is in the Father's love and care.

"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Here, the teaching comes full circle. Where is our emphasis? On what do we ultimately rely? The emphasis here is on our preoccupation, the things that may distract us in life. It's similar to Jesus' words to Martha and Mary, in which He says that Martha is worried and distracted about many things. This preoccupation belongs to a different way of life. (Let us remember the pagan worship that focused on fertility gods, the production of the earth, good fortune.) Here He gives us two important messages: first, our heavenly Father knows that we have need of all these things. It's not that we don't need them! His conclusion is therefore that we put first discipleship -- the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto us. It is a question of emphasis, what is in our hearts and minds, what do we put first. Again, as in all the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, the emphasis is the fulfillment of what Jesus has called the greatest commandments.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Tomorrow has its own cares and worries and troubles. It doesn't do to focus in anxiety beyond today's troubles. This word for trouble, in the original Greek, is the same as the word for evil, or bad. It is tied to that which over-labors us, even to malice and spite and envy (see yesterday's reading). It seems to me there is an implication here that such overemphasis on worry and anxiety is a danger to our spiritual lives, one that can lead to temptations which are not healthy or good for our spiritual well-being.

"Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof" is the King James translation of the last verse, and it's a good translation. (While its language may be in some sense archaic to our ears now, the King James translation is still the most highly prized English translation among many biblical Greek scholars and translators.) This expression really seems to find all kinds of applications in my life! We have enough troubles for today -- and the word here seems to be that we can count on the fact that there will always be enough for today in our world. All kinds of adversarial things will always be there for us to contend with. So why add to our own troubles with extra things we pile on top of whatever today gives us? There will be enough for tomorrow that tomorrow brings with it! We live in an age of worry and anxiety. If we look around at our modern world, it seems that anxiety and depression are rampant. We have such an emphasis on image, what we look like, what image we project into the eyes of others -- and how the images around us feed our sense of what we really need, seeming to define who we really are. The emphasis here in Jesus' teaching is that placing God's kingdom and the righteousness He teaches first is an antidote to the upside down thinking that allows worldly things to define who we are, what we need, and where all our effort in life is focused. This is a recipe for overburdening ourselves with worry and anxiety, and for resulting depression. Moreover it will affect our own sense of what we are truly worth, our deservingness, and we easily lose sight therefore of God's great love and investment in us. Isn't it time to rethink all our emphasis, to consider what gives true worth and value to a human life -- and stature and honor and nobility? We are children by adoption, "for God so loved the world!" Look at the birds that are somehow lovingly provided for, and the tremendous beauty of the wild lilies. In God's eyes, how much more valuable are we? When we look at life backwards, we lose sight of this love and all that it does to teach us what we truly are, the kingdom and the righteousness we are capable of carrying into the world, as the salt of the earth, the light of the world. Mammon, as master, will take all of that away from us. It all depends on what we put first, where our real treasure is.