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"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 of more value than they? Which of 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 to 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 are now reading through the Sermon on the Mount. For the earlier readings and commentary on this Sermon, see The Beatitudes; Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven; Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven; I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; Let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect; Do not be like the hypocrites and Our Father in heaven. On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! No one 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? 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 of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" My study bible tells us here: "Severe anxiety, not thoughtful planning and care, is what is warned against here. Physical growth and length of life is dependent upon the providence of God more than upon food, drink, and clothing. Persistent anxiety over the things of this world demonstrates internal insecurity and a weak or superficial faith." It seems to me that Christ is calling us once again to put our "house" or rather our faith in order, and to focus on what is uppermost, the central things of our lives. He is calling us to remember God, to focus first on the kingdom, and away from a purely material-minded perspective that omits or forget to trust in God first. Worrying alone can't fix things!
"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?" Jesus gives us the example of God's love and care, and teaches us about God's love, reminding us that this is what we are to be mindful of in our lives. He seems to suggest that a purely material perspective causes anxieties that do nothing to help us or even to achieve the things we want. The antidote is to remember the love of God.
"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." My study bible tells us that "the pagan worship of the Gentiles did not deliver them from their earthly cares, because it was focused upon nonexistent gods, that is, idols."
"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 to you." My study bible teaches, "The kingdom of God is the central theme of the teaching of Jesus, and His righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount. Calling us to be set free from anxiety about earthly things, Jesus directs us to look to heaven, to this greater 'country' which will be received at the Day of the Lord, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings." Let us note the focus of Jesus' teaching here: we focus on the Kingdom first, and on God's righteousness that Jesus teaches, and "all these things shall be added to you." He is teaching us about faith, and right-relatedness to the things of this world.
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Again, we're cautioned against over-anxiety here. We have to remember Jesus' teaching style; it is full of aphorisms and brilliant images for us to understand what He is driving at. He's not necessarily saying we don't think at all about "tomorrow" -- but He's cautioning us about excessive anxiety and dwelling on things that turn them into a kind of idol. We're better off focusing on the Kingdom, and putting everything else second to this, in the proper place.
It seems to me we live in a time that is deluged with anxieties and worries about tomorrow. We're integrated into a modern age in which all kinds of media saturate us with images of what we are to be like, what we must look like, what we must have, what kind of house we need, what we must dwell in and how it must look, and what we must wear, eat, consume - in all sorts of senses of that word. As we become more materially prosperous as a world, so anxiety sets in not only about the things we have but about what we think we must have because others have these things. But Jesus calls us to something different, deeper, and a better perspective. He's suggesting that such a focus only leads us to greater anxiety; indeed, I believe that in modern industrial societies the effects of modern life tend to be confirmed in the widespread pharmaceutical use of prescriptions for anti-anxiety and anti-depressant medications. What Jesus calls for from us is a radical shift in our perspective on life: put the Kingdom first. Remember God's love first. Let that understanding temper our ways of thinking about what we have, what we wear, what we eat. Let the remembrance of God's love put those things into perspective for us. Excessive anxiety isn't healthful nor is it helpful in changing our lives and gaining us a better quality of life. All through the Sermon on the Mount, He's asked us to go deeper into ourselves, to examine our motivations, to watch our thoughts, to be aware of who we are on the inside. For His kind of righteousness, this is what we need. Here, He's telling us about excessive worry and anxiety. And He's teaching us what we should do to counter that: focus on the Kingdom, on the things that moth and rust can't ruin, that thieves can't steal from us. Focus especially on God's love for us. Look around at the incredible beauty of the world, the care and love and mercy in that beauty that we see all around ourselves. He's telling us to give ourselves a break. To focus on love and beauty is to focus on the mercy which gives us joy, which sets our perspectives in order. Let us consider what we do with our time, how we focus, what drives us, and most of all, what softens and truly adds to our lives. Let us focus on the real treasure. Where does God's love come into the picture for you? What does it teach you about where your worth lies? We don't need to add to our troubles by this perspective that omits all these things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
