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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 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 to tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
- Matthew 6:25-34
We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount. We began with the Beatitudes, then we read You are the salt of the earth, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, 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," Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, Pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly 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 says that this is a warning against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning. We are dependent upon God for our well-being, and indirectly on food, drink, and clothing. Great anxiety over earthly things, it says, demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care. An excessive anxiety means that concerns about all of these things crowd out everything else, depleting our capacity for life in its fullness and robbing us of joy.
"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 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 calls our attention to the natural beauty of the world. In some sense, this is a remedy to excessive worrying, which doesn't really solve problems in and of itself. Beauty is a kind of antidote to the worry, uplifting us and reminding us that God's hand is in all things.
"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." My study bible says that Jesus' emphasis is on the idols of the Gentiles -- in serving pagan idols they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things. To follow God gives us a freedom from that kind of dependence. This is the second time in the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus reminds us that the Father knows what we have need of. In Friday's reading, in which Jesus gave us the Our Father or the Lord's Prayer, He said, "For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him."
"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 to tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Here is the central theme of Jesus teaching, the kingdom of God. And the righteousness of God is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount. My study bible says that Jesus seeks to set us free from anxiety about earthly things so that we may look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings. This is all about what we put first, what our real aims and goals are, and our deepest needs.
In Saturday's reading, Jesus taught us that you cannot serve God and mammon. Here, He's building upon that teaching, and showing us an essential truth about ourselves. Everything depends on what we put first, what is our goal or focus, and what we choose to serve. If our first and highest concern is really what we'll wear, and what we'll eat and drink, how we'll do this or that, then what winds up happening is a life filled with anxiety first over these things. But what Jesus really asks of us is putting one consideration first before all these things, seeking the kingdom of God. It's not that we're to live such ascetic lives that we think we don't need anything of these things. No, it's quite the opposite, in fact. He assures us that God knows we have need of all these things. What He's asking is that we put everything in perspective by having our priorities straight, and by understanding what we really want to serve in life. This is all about what comes first as priority and goal in the heart. How do we live our lives every day, and what do we keep our mind on? What's the goal? What do we really want to serve? Is it just all about the material stuff, and that's it -- an end in itself? This kind of life is a prescription for anxiety, excessive worrying. And there's wise advice here: Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. We really don't need to add up things to worry about -- today's troubles are enough. Sometimes the shift in focus to the things of God is the one remedy that really helps to put it all in perspective, and to get us to take the time to focus on something beautiful, uplifting, that fills us with a much bigger sense of purpose than just what we're going to eat and drink or what we're going to wear. Those things may be ends in themselves, but they're not going to fill up the soul with what it needs. For that kind of depth, we need more, and that's where Jesus is trying to get us to focus. So think about it. What do you really want to serve with your life? What makes life good, and adds blessings of joy to everything else? Sometimes, forgetting about anxieties and losing oneself in what is more beautiful is just the thing we need to be able to solve a problem! Anxiety and worry, on the other hand, tend to just get us stuck, staying in the same old loop over and over again. Let us "seek first the kingdom of God," and remember all the beauty that might hold for us in so many ways, and the creativity that goes with it -- and the God who knows that we have need of all these things. Ironically, this is often a key to finding a solution to a problem that's been worrying us. The patience that comes with such a focus, and the detachment it helps us with, the rest we take in this place, always seems to come with its own blessings -- not least of all for our health and well-being!
