But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to 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 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 as 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 currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  In yesterday's reading, 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 were 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 boy 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 explains that Jesus is warning here against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  It says that excess anxiety over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

 

 "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 as 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 demonstrates here the natural beauty with which God has created the world, and clothed even the lilies and grass of the field.  Do we presume that God does not care about these 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 comments that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly 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."   The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount. My study Bible states that, calling us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, Jesus directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

 

 So much of what we worry about seems to be directed by demands that do not come from within us, but come from what seems to be going on around us.  Do we need to have an updated home?  Do we need to wear clothes  that resemble what's admired or popular?  How much will people think of us when we don't impress them, or gain their approval through the things we have, wear, the car we drive, etc.?  That is a first consideration when we begin to approach the questions which are raised for us in today's reading.  It's important to consider the beauty that Jesus spells out in His teaching.  God does not neglect beauty, nor even admiration.  Jesus points out for us the charm and delight of the birds.  How are they cared for?  Do they store up the grain they find for the next season?  How do they flourish and survive?  And regarding clothing, Jesus speaks of the real splendor of the simplest things we can find in nature, even the lilies and grasses that grow wild.  It seems to me to be a quite literal statement that even Solomon wasn't arrayed in the glory of these flowers and plants that nature produces for us.  Our own ideas of beauty stem from the beauty of the natural world around us, the colors of the sunset, magnificence of mountains, the brilliance we see in flowers or the coloring of birds, the trees that give inspiration, the natural grace and life of the animals we observe.  The world is filled with the creative beauty of God, so why do we consider that God doesn't care about food or drink or clothing?  What Jesus is saying is that when we look around at the creation of God, its beauty should inspire us to consider our Creator, and what it says about God.  Do we think that God doesn't care about us?  Clearly God has provided for the birds and other animals.  Do we think even the beauty of our clothing doesn't matter?  But we see extraordinary natural beauty all around us, so what does that tell us about God?  Jesus is telling us, therefore, to look to our Creator first before all the rest of the cares and anxieties and urgent stressful demands that seem to plague us all the time.  And He also tells us exactly how we should look to our Creator first:  He says we must seek God's kingdom and His righteousness in the very first place in our lives, as our top priority.  In Christ's Incarnation, it is made manifest God's love for us and for God's creation (John 3:16).  The Incarnation is for us, so that we may become like Him and live with Him, even an abundant, eternal life; and this Incarnation is for the whole of the world, all of creation (both seen and unseen).  Christ's ministry presents us with the overwhelming conviction of the value of human beings, even those who will carry His kingdom in this world.  With that astonishing, invincible love, do we think God does not care what we will eat or drink or the clothing we'll wear?  So let us seek God first, trusting in God, and putting into perspective the nature of our relationship to creation and to our world.  For it is in righteouness that we find right relationship to all of it, including our material needs and lives.  Christ's final words in today's reading give us a right attitude to cultivate for our well-being:  "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."  This last word, trouble, is in the Greek κακία/kakia, meaning evil or bad, wickedness, even depravity.   Whatever troubles and difficulties we have, let us not compound them, for the things on our plate today are enough for us.  Let us put our trust and efforts first in God's kingdom and our pursuit of God's righteousness, and what we need will be added unto that. 

 

 

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to 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 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 currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  On Saturday, we read that Jesus taught His disciples, "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 explains that Jesus is warning against anxiety here, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, it says, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  It further remarks that to be anxious over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  

 

 "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."  Because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained dependent upon earthly things, my study Bible says.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.  

 

"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."  The kingdom of God is the central theme of Christ's teaching, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount, my study Bible notes.  It says that Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven -- secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

 

So, what is God's righteousness?   The entire Sermon on the Mount is a way to express this, what life is like in living for the Kingdom.  We started with the Beatitudes, which taught us how to live and to view a blessed life.  From there we learned that believers are like salt and light, and carry these needful qualities with them in spiritual terms that help their societies and communities.  Deepening our understanding of the Law and its aims, Jesus teaches us about the reality of our interior lives, what it means to be part of this communion, and to take action to avoid sin at deeper levels within our own hearts.  In other words, true righteousness, and justice, even spiritual perfection.  Giving examples of this life, He teaches us how we should pray, and what to pray.  Yesterday, He taught us about the impossibility of serving two masters; we'll either be a slave to materialism or freed in true righteousness, embracing the life of the Kingdom (see above).  Moreover, in today's reading, Jesus elaborates on that freedom, asking us to become freed enough from attachment to our material desires so as to avoid excess anxiety, to stop making that the central focus of life and put God there instead -- "for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  In other words, we don't divide life into two realms, but we do put one first, the one governed by God, under whom are all things, for God creates and upholds all of reality.  When we lose the righteousness -- the kingdom of God and His righteousness -- then we lose the reason for being, the ways of relationship to the world and even to our material possessions, how to use them, what they are for, and how they are provided for us.  In our lives we may work hard, we may find very creative ways to live material lives, but ultimately our well-being depends upon placing our faith in something that colors everything and transcends it.  In recognizing dependence upon God, we not only find this righteousness and this Kingdom for ourselves, we also find a healthy gratitude, an understanding of life that places in our laps the means by which we find values and priorities for all that we do.  Gratitude is so often the alternative, and therapy, for the times one feels depression or meaninglessness, so let us shape our lives by this understanding of dependence upon God.  Even the sad parts of life, the things we experience as loss, pain, or suffering, gain meaning through God's righteousness, and relationship to Creator, including insights on how we go forward through difficulties.  So let us depend upon Christ and free ourselves from the anxieties that make us unbalanced and unreceptive to the righteousness and communion we can find.  Today's passage contains some of the most beautiful imagery found in all of Scripture.  It's not for nothing that Jesus reminds us of the stunning beauty of nature ("even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"), of the things created by God, the dependency even of the birds of the air for God's 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 of more value than they?"), and most especially how futile our worry and anxiety are ("Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?").  In this context, faith becomes the way of life that is not simply preferable, but needful, and for all of us as human beings.  In the modern world, we feel that we are constantly bombarded with things to worry about; we are constantly fed information guaranteed to stoke anxiety.  Jesus acknowledges that we have needs, and we also have troubles, but He puts them into context for us.  Perhaps it was always like this, but nonetheless even in our present age it remains true, that "tomorrow will worry about its own things -- and sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  Let us take Jesus at His word, for unlike some who preach all kinds of systems or philosophies or even faiths, He doesn't scare us with fear, but quite the opposite.  He teaches us that a focus on worry and anxiety avail us nothing; only faith changes everything and is the place we should take our stand and root ourselves in life.  Let us remember the beauty and wisdom He teaches to us. We are called to a particular Kingdom, and a particular righteousness.  The whole world may urgently chase the material life ("For after all these things the Gentiles seek"), but we are called to a different way.  In a world increasingly obsessed with security, let us consider how we may seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness.

 

 

 

 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to 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 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 currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5 - 7 in St. Matthew's Gospel).  In yesterday's reading, 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?  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?"  Here Jesus warns against anxiety -- not against thoughtful planning.  My study Bible asks us to note that our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  

"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 explains that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this excessive sense of dependence.

"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."  Here, we note the central theme of Christ's teaching:  the kingdom of God; and God's righteousness, which is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.   My study Bible expands on this, saying that Christ calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and in so doing He directs us to look instead to heaven -- secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.

Jesus' teaching today focus us on worry, on anxiety.  If we look up this word in the Greek (μεριμνάω/merimnao) it means, essentially, to be distracted.  Jesus uses this same word in St. Luke's Gospel, when Martha complains to Him that her sister is not helping her serve the guests, but spending time listening to Jesus teach.   Jesus tells her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42).   "Worried" is translated from the same word, while "troubled" is translated from a word that means to be fearful.  If we look more closely then at what Jesus is teaching here, the text implies that we can be overly focused on the wrong things through worry and anxiety.  Merimnao can also imply a mind that is split in some sense -- we become off-kilter, distracted, by things that take up our focus when Christ calls us (particularly in recent readings) to be "single-minded" and stick to our focus on God's kingdom.  This word can even be used in a positive sense, such as when we care for something, or pay attention, or take care.  But if we read these meanings in the text, and follow Christ's teaching as He's given to us so far, we come to see that what He says is that anxiety and worry tend to distract us from where our focus should be, on the kingdom of God.  They give us a "split mind," so to speak, and we are fragmented in different directions.  It's consistent with the teaching in yesterday's reading, in which Jesus says that our "eye" (the lamp of the mind) should be full of light.  Over-distraction with worry is a kind of darkness, that keeps us from focusing on Christ's light.  He suggests to us the remedy:  "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  He's teaching us that God knows what we need, and a life of faith means living in God's care.  But then He teaches us something equally important to remember: "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."  He's letting us know that He understands that worries are a part of life in the world, but each day will bring its own things to be concerned about -- and that is enough for the day.   Let us note, as is always so striking in this passage, the simple but stunning images Jesus gives us from nature:  the birds of the air whom God cares for, our stature which worry can do nothing to alter, and the lilies of the field, which even Solomon in all his glory could not match for raiment.  Jesus' poetic speech is nowhere finer than here, illustrating the precious things of life that can't be bought for money.

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

 

"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 either 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 have been currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  In Saturday's reading, 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 comments that Jesus is warning against anxiety here, and not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, it says, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  Anxiety over earthly things can be a demonstration of a lack of faith in God's care.  

"So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they either 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?"  Again, Jesus is putting faith in God first over anxiety over worldly things.  That is, we come to depend first upon God.  His warnings, as my study Bible put it, is against anxiety, as opposed to thoughtful planning.  

"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."  As the Gentiles served pagan idols, my study Bible explains, they remained consumed by dependence upon earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence.

"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."  Here is the central theme of Christ's teaching and the gospel message:  the kingdom of God, and God's righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.  My study Bible comments that Christ calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.  

So what does it mean to put God's kingdom first in our lives?  To seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness?  First of all, it is a way to set things in proper order in our lives, to put things in their right perspective.  This is not simply because God is Creator, but because God has the way for us to put in proper order and relationship that things in our lives -- which includes the right relationship to earthly things, material goods.  In Saturday's reading, Jesus taught  that we cannot serve God and mammon.  And it is clear that if we don't put things in proper order (that is, if we do not put the kingdom of God and God's righteousness first), we will wind up making an idol of material, earthly things.  When we are filled with excess anxiety over the things we might possess and use, then we dwell on them constantly.  We do not seek God's direction for how to live our lives, but wind up obsessing over things that really don't need to consume that much attention, and we take away from our faith.  We engage in practices that steal our own ability to live prayerful lives, to dwell in that Kingdom, so to speak.  This is not a teaching about escaping from material responsibility, or a two-tiered life divided into the spiritual and the material.  It is, instead, a teaching in which we're given the right recipe for wholeness, for right-relatedness to God and to the world, to put things in order, instead of living lives which are disordered and out of balance.  A modern vision that sees life as purely material, and focuses so heavily on what we wear, what we look like, what modern things we have, what our houses look like, isn't conducive to a focus first on the Kingdom and God's righteousness.  Neither is it a focus that leads to good judgment or mercy, as so much finally becomes measured by this material yardstick of "success."  This is a disordered way to look at life, upside down, one in which suffering even for one's faith, or for love, is simply seen as loss without meaning.  And that is truly a disordered worldview, because in the end it will rob everything of meaning.  Suffering is a part of life and of this world, it is the root of the very word for evil or "the evil one" in Greek (Matthew 6:13).  That word is πονηρός/poneros, the root of which means pain, and in its broader meaning includes suffering, trouble, and laborious toil.   But if it is for our faith we suffer, for the righteousness of God and the gospel of the Kingdom, then suddenly suffering takes on meaning, because we put real meaning first in our lives -- and this diffuses into everything, even the sacrifices we make for it.  It is the "good fight" (1 Timothy 1:18, 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7), the struggle for love and meaning, which is not blind to the darkness of the world but bears light into it.  A purely material yardstick leaves us with only winners and losers, anxiety and depression, a world filled with meaningless suffering.  Christ will transform and transfigure that world through the Cross, and we are given this righteousness as a way that leads us through life as more than just losers when we suffer, and as those with the opportunity to transfigure even worldly wealth into compassion when we win.  Now that is a great proposition, the good news indeed.

 

 

Sufficient to the day is its own trouble

 "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 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 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

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught (as we read through the Sermon on the Mount):   "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 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."  My study bible tells us here that Jesus is warning against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning.  It says that our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing -- and adds that anxiety over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.

"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."   Jesus refers to the pagan idols of the Gentiles, indicating that because they served such, they remained consumed by dependence upon earthly things.  Those who follow God, my study bible says, can be freed from such dependence.

"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."  My study bible reminds us that the kingdom of God is the central theme of Jesus' teaching, and His righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus calls us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, and directs us to look to heaven.   My study bible says that we must be secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.

I particularly love the images that Jesus gives of the beauty and splendor of the lilies of the field, and also God's care of the birds.  The "lilies of the field" one might say is a theme of this blog, as the largest picture is indeed of lilies that reproduce easily and freely (especially in the park where the photo was taken).  Jesus is so amazingly acute in His knowledge of detail of nature, and the wonder it inspires.  The colors of these lilies are indeed rich in splendor, in the most brilliant hues of orange and gold and red, that take on sunlight in a way to make them radiant.  And who has not paused to consider the birds, especially when they are plump and singing, and wonder how they are fed when they seem to have no one to care for them -- even the least of the little finches or sparrows?  Jesus emphasizes a dependency upon God and putting trust in God before all things.  This does not mean that we have no need of material things for life, and neither does Christ imply that we must never think about such things.  But, as my study bible puts it, He speaks against undue anxiety as emphasis.  It is, in my experience, a question of lifestyle.  We put our trust in God rather than our own worrying.  When Jesus tells us, "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble," He's teaching us about an attitude.  That is, an understanding that whatever we need to concern ourselves about will present itself to us, and we don't need to go stirring the pot to stir up yet more trouble for ourselves.  The word for trouble in the Greek is the same root as a word for "evil" or "wickedness."   It's translated elsewhere as "malice" and in modern Greek it literally means "bad."  So the wise advice here is not to go looking for trouble (and surely we know that in our lives trouble will find us!).  Once upon a time, I worried incessantly about a niece's wedding and what I would wear.   Her mother is a fashion plate and works in the beauty industry, and I have listened to endless criticism of the appearance of others.  I finally gave up my worry to God, and just trusted that whatever way I needed to be dressed I should trust in God.  Even if I didn't find my clothes impressive, others I had not seen in a long time seemed impressed and happy, and the occasion was surprisingly relaxed for me.  My simple experience of Christ's words was similar to what we've read all along so far in the Sermon on the Mount:  we must "let go" and trust God.  Whether we speak of past hurts, or anxieties, or the worry about storing up material goods, it's all the same.  We let go and trust God.  What remains remarkable about Christ's teachings is just how down to earth and full of worldly experience they are.  He's not giving us "pie in the sky" nor imposing impossible trials.  Sufficient to the day is its own trouble.  How much trouble would we save if we could remember these are wise words to live by!  By reminding us of the beauty of the lilies of the field, and the birds who sing as we pass by, Jesus gives us a picture of a world made in goodness, and reminds us to take a look and enjoy what God gives us.  If we can let go and trust, our lives become much simpler -- and how often do we need that reminder?

He who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty

Harvest of life mosaic, detail.  4th century.  Santa Costanza, Rome, Italy

"Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."

- Matthew 13:18-23

Yesterday we read that, after Jesus preached the parable of the Sower, the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?"  He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.  For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.  And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:  'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull.  Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.'  But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."

 "Therefore hear the parable of the sower:  When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.  This is he who received seed by the wayside.  But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while.  For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.  Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.  But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces:  some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."  Jesus gives the explanation of His parable of the Sower to the disciples.  Let us keep in mind that this is the first time He's preached in parables, and it's the first parable that has been given.  He has spent time alone with the disciples explaining why He's begun preaching in parables.  There are those who will "hear" and those who will not, as the crowds who listen to Him have grown large.  There will be those who hear and want to know more, but there will be many who also do not.   Here in His explanation of the parable Jesus speaks of how different people will receive the word, the "seed" He distributes as "sower."  His explanation is clear, but one thing we can note:  Jesus emphasizes persistence, and also the overcoming of obstacles to the fruitfulness of the word within ourselves.  The fertile good ground is the region of the heart.  Jesus speaks of the worldly as that which interferes with the root and flowering of the word:  tribulation and persecution, cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches.

Jesus' emphasis is on persistence, overcoming obstacles.  He knows that there will be many ways in which it will be made difficult for His word to be followed, to take root, to flower, to produce fruit.  He knows there will be many dangers to His ministry -- both in His lifetime and also throughout the centuries to follow.  This parable applies at both a community level -- even a universal level -- and also at an individual level.  Ultimately, He speaks of the ground of the heart common to each person.  We should, in fact, take heart in Jesus' assumption that His word is going to fall in places of struggle and even of hostility.  In the whole of the Gospel, Christ is quite pragmatic in terms of the warnings He gives to the disciples, and to all those who would follow, that this is not going to be an easy journey.  At the very least, in this first parable, He teaches us that there are pitfalls and traps awaiting the faithful.  We might hear the word with great joy, but what about when we face challenges to that faith?  What about when we struggle to make ends meet, or to keep up with the neighbors (or others)?  What about when something unjust happens to us?  Sometimes we might need to sacrifice materially in order to follow our faith -- and that will really take faith to do.  I have had the experience of friends questioning why I would not put material profit first in making decisions -- and it has been surprising to me that I can't sufficiently explain there are other things more important.  Jesus warns us that persecutions will come, and tribulations.  Nothing is left out of this parable for the person who seeks to be a follower of Christ.  But then, He's quite specific about what He's looking for in His followers.  He calls us to persist, and in our persistence, to bear fruit.  This is not an overnight sensation of elation in our faith that gives us all easy answers to every question.  This is something within which we'll struggle and meet our own obstacles.  There are things we'll need time to work out in prayer, hard decisions that are not simple.  But the reward is a particular kind of joy, a medicine for our souls, a kind of truth and fruit to bear which nothing else can replace.  His is the one thing necessary for that place in us that longs for real truth, a genuine need for security in God's love, especially when the transitory nature of so much of life lets us down.  Let us turn to prayer in our struggles, and to those who offer us the truth, and support our choice for what He offers us.  Christ's way is the one that shows us the long road for the long game -- for an outcome that transcends everything else.  Along the way, we learn patience, forbearance, kindness, joy, a peace that passes understanding -- and bear the fruits He wishes.  St. Paul affirms this in Galatians 5:22-23, and so does the full experience of the Church and her faithful.  Let us consider where our lives intersect with that experience and that challenge today, for His truth remains just so.

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

 "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 currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  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?  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?'"  What Jesus says here notably follows the admonition that one cannot serve God and mammon (in yesterday's reading, above).  He begins to speak about the material aspects of life, a focus on anxiety that is more than simply thoughtful planning.  Life is more than food and body more than clothing.   My study bible says that our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing.  Moreover, excessive anxiety over these things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.  It's important to put this into the perspective of His preaching about what we worship, what we put first.  He is speaking of a kind of worry in which these are the things which concern and consume us most, more than the greater blessing of having God as our Father.

"For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."  My study bible explains that because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this total dependence, as we can trust that our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things.  Jesus is not negating the need; He is rather asking us to keep in mind the love of God for us, and God's awareness of all our needs.  It is this mindfulness on our part that creates a holistic balance in our lives.

"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."  My study bible points out that the kingdom of God is the central theme of Jesus' teaching, and that God's righteousness is the true focus of the Sermon on the Mount.  His primary admonition is that we seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness, and that all the things we need will be added to this.  Therefore, this is our primary focus as His followers.  My study bible says that, calling us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, Jesus directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings.   That sufficient for the day is its own trouble is one of the wisest sayings that experience will teach us.  We do not need to drum up more troubles by needless anxiety!  Tomorrow will bring its own set of worries; there is no need to think up more.  Today -- and the things which present themselves immediately before us -- is enough for today.

In the central photo at the top of my blog, one will find one of the most beautiful (to my mind) flowering plants that grow quite commonly in the region where I live.  These are crocosmia lilies.  They grow so easily and abundantly that some consider them an invasive species.  Their beauty and color remind me of Christ's "glory" of the lilies of the field, as indeed these display in their ruddy gold brilliance.  Somehow by accident, my camera at the time of the photo captured the white of the sun's rays shining down on them and nurturing their beauty, highly appropriate for our passage today.  These rays are likened to God's mercy -- the energies of God that truly sustain life for us all, including the great beauty of the flowers that remind us of resurrection, especially the bulbs that rest in the ground to re-bloom each year.  The beauty of their colors, nurtured in the sunlight, give us delight through their glory.  And so it is that we are free to enjoy the beauty of the God-given world, as that very beauty also nourishes us and provides us with something we need.  When we observe the beauties of the created world, we may pause to consider how deep our need for beauty is, for beauty -- something hard to define as a material necessity for bodily survival -- is indeed something that nurtures the soul.  It is a reminder of God's love for us and God's care, for we may ask why it is that so much of created nature bursts with such beauty as if to give us an uplifting gift, a break from toil, a time of enjoyment or delight.  Jesus calls lilies such as these the "grass of the field," reminding us also of their simplicity == and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed such as these. Indeed it remains difficult to replicate through man-made objects the brilliance and dimensional richness of these colors in the sunlight.  In the most ancient burial sites discovered by archaeologists, we find evidence of such types of flowers buried with the ancient dead -- truly a teaching of our need for beauty and the reflective promise of resurrection of life our earliest ancestors intuitively grasped for.  Our own need for beauty teaches us about our dependence upon God for the finer things in life, the things that nourish the soul, give us the most heart, and the true faith in life's very goodness that sustains us and makes life more than toil.  Worry and anxiety, Jesus seems to teach us, take us away from that truth of life, and even from who we truly are as the children of a loving Father in heaven.  Excessive worry keeps us stuck in the "what ifs" == all those things that too often distract us from what is right in front of us and what is important, taking away our spirit for the real work we need, even the work of faith, of prayer, and of trust.   We need to remind ourselves that our health does depend on taking the time to appreciate the beauty we're given, telling ourselves that our focus is on what's needful, and not the fears that take us away from good health in every sense.  It's a common theme that so often we feel we can solve problems simply by worrying about them, when so often it is patience that is necessary to await a solution -- and time to contemplate the better and beautiful things that gives us a refreshed mind more able to cope with whatever the troubles of today really are.  Let us remember our need for beauty, and our Father in heaven who knows what all our needs are, and take heart in what is good, without giving in today to what rightfully belongs only to tomorrow.

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

 "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 reading through the Sermon on the Mount, which began with Matthew chapter 5, and the Beatitudes.  In Saturday's reading, 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?"  Here my study bible emphasizes that Jesus is warning against anxiety, not thoughtful planning.  Because our physical well-being is directly dependent upon God, and only indirectly on food, drink, and clothing, we live in all ways within that relationship.  Anxiety over earthly things, my study bible says, demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care.

"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 a sense of the natural beauty of life and the care built into even the smallest details of each form of life in creation.  All of creation, He's saying, is filled with God's love and care.  If even the grass of the field, with its extremely transient life, is so clothed by God with beauty, how much will God care for our adornment and clothing?

"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 because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence upon earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed of this dependence.

"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."  The kingdom of God, my study bible tells us, is the central theme of all of Jesus' teaching, and His righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.   If we place first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness by which we live in that kingdom even in this world, our focus is in proper order and right-relationship even with worldly things.  We rely on God for our lives, and God adds blessings to our lives.  "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" is good advice in an age of anxiety and depression.

Above all things, Jesus gives us righteousness, or right-relatedness.  In all things, we put our relationship to God first.  We cultivate our faith first, because this puts everything in the proper order in life.  Our worldly blessings, Jesus says, will be added unto us.  It is a recipe against anxiety, for a way of seeing our lives in context of the true relationship we have in faith and with the Creator of all things.  Above all, everything depends on what we put first.  It is the righteousness in the life of the Kingdom that Jesus emphasizes throughout the whole Sermon on the Mount, and it is this that He says is our greatest treasure that leads to all other good things and our understanding and proper appreciation of them.  Let us note carefully that Jesus does not despise the needs we have in life for clothing and food.  On the contrary, He points out the beauty of the natural things of the world, even the simplest flowers that grow in the fields.  It is such that God creates and adorns in raiment that bests even Solomon in all his glory.  Jesus wants us to understand that it is the love of God that comes first before all things, and within that context we live in each moment, each care, each need.  When He tells us that "after all these things the Gentiles seek," He is referring to a form of idolatry, where these cares and concerns come first -- outside of the context of faith and love of God.  Therefore, so much depends on this teaching about what we put first, what we seek first.  For Christ, the deepest teaching He does is right here:  "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."  First comes the trust we place in God, the seeking of the Kingdom Jesus says is at hand.   Modern forms of illnesses take on the shape of this broken trust:  addictions of all kinds, anxieties and their connection to depression.  Medications for these illnesses top the sales of all pharmaceuticals around the world.  Christ knows our weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and He knows our needs.  He understands what we need and what are our concerns.  He doesn't expect us not to have them, nor to ignore our desires for food, drink, and clothing.  But He also knows what hurts us and debilitates us, what keeps us from experiencing God's love and the trust of this deepest relationship, to Creator, the One who loves us and who wishes most fervently that we are one (John 17:20-21).  It is this depth of relatedness and communion to which Jesus points, a life filled with blessings too deep and varied to count, in which we can see God's love for ourselves in the care of the birds and the beauty of the natural world around us.  Let us remember that all of the Sermon on the Mount is meant to point to the righteousness of this life of communion, the kingdom of heaven and our growth within it, our way and journey in faith.  He opens the door -- He is the door.  Let us work on our reliance on God, and an active faith that seeks to discard the unnecessary anxieties that may plague our lives in the demands of a modern world so that we may find His care and direction instead.

You are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her

 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me."  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." 

- Luke 10:38-42

Yesterday we read that a certain lawyer stood up and tested Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  He said to him, "What is written in the law?  What is your reading of it?"  So he answered and said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'"   And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."  But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  Then Jesus answered and said:  "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.  And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word.  But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Therefore tell her to help me."  And Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."   My study bible notes on this passage that Mary and Martha are sisters of Lazarus, the one whom Jesus raised from the dead (see John 11:1).  It says that Martha isn't rebuked for serving, bu rather for complaining and for being distracted, worried, and troubled.  It says, "In following Christ, we serve in order to facilitate the spread of the gospel (see Acts 6:1-4)."

It seems to me that this story in today's reading is a kind of "female" counterpart to Jesus' teachings on anxiety and unnecessary worry.  Perhaps we could say that, in fact, this reading is an "introduction" to such teachings, as His comments, "Consider the ravens . . . " come in the chapter after the next one.  We've already read that reading, however, as the lectionary schedule prepared us for Ascension day.  Here, Martha is in her role as the one in charge of hospitality, a character trait carried over into the stories that involve Martha elsewhere (specifically, the 11th chapter of John, in which Lazarus is raised from the dead).  But perhaps we can look at this reading as something "sandwiched" in between the appointing and sending out of the Seventy and the teachings on avoidance of unnecessary anxiety and worry.  Martha is playing her particular role in the grand scheme of things, the one who does the necessary job of providing hospitality.  Hospitality is a form of grace and mercy, of truly being a "neighbor."  Her sister, Mary, is the more "contemplative" one (if we may put it that way) and she sits at Jesus' feet.  She's playing her role as well.  In the story of Lazarus, it's Martha who comes out to meet Jesus as He approaches on the road, while Mary remains in the house sitting in the traditional position for mourning.  We assume that each of the Seventy sent out, as images of all those who will follow in serving to build the gospel message in the world, has a unique role to play, just as do Martha and Mary.  So the message here is about how to fulfill one's particular role, to use one's particular talents and skills.  Each one of us is unique in that sense, and so each one will bring a particular set of skills and talents into God's service.  The message here, as my study bible pointed out, is about the anxiety that goes with it.  We each have our own role to play, and as Jesus points out, Mary is playing hers, and she's chosen "that good part, which will not be taken away from her."   This is what is necessary for her.   Yesterday's reading was about being a neighbor to others, how we act that makes us neighbors, and we can also see some instruction in today's reading that is relevant to this consideration.  If each has a role to play, how do we keep from being distracted by wanting what someone else has, envying another "part" -- and acting in competition rather than, in a sense, complementarily?   That is, in a way that enhances one another's parts.  Again, one imagines that in the great scheme of things, each one has a role to play in the bringing of the Kingdom into the world, the gospel message.  Such is the illustration of the Seventy, and the stories we know about them from Church Tradition (see The kingdom of God has come near you).   So, Jesus' teaching against anxiety and complaints to Martha here is also a way of counseling that each has "that good part."  One size does not fit all.  It's a similar reminder to the one that comes at the end of John's Gospel, when, after being told to "Feed my lambs" and "Follow Me," Peter asks Jesus what John ("the disciple whom Jesus loved") must do.  Jesus answers him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me."  Again, there is a cosmic sense in which we are to play our own role, rather than being so concerned with what others must be doing.  All of this comes under the category of worry and strife, anxiety that is unnecessary and distracting from our own purpose or passion.  This is a story -- in today's reading -- that I feel many women can still relate to.  Let us understand the essential nature of each of our roles.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble

"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

Currently, we are reading through the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7 in Matthew's Gospel.  In the previous reading, 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:  "Jesus is warning against anxiety, not against thoughtful planning.  Our physical well-being is directly dependent on God, and only indirectly on food, drink and clothing.  Anxiety over earthly things demonstrates a lack of faith in God's care."

"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."  My study bible notes here:  "Because the Gentiles served pagan idols, they remained consumed by dependence on earthly things.  Those who follow God can be freed from this dependence."

"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."  A note on verse 33 (the first verse here) says:  "The kingdom of God is the central theme of Jesus' teaching, and His righteousness is the subject of the Sermon on the Mount.  Calling us to be free from anxiety about earthly things, Jesus directs us to look to heaven, secure in the faith that God will provide needed earthly blessings."

Clearly, Jesus asks us to put all things in the hands of God.  Not only are we to trust all our worries and anxieties (What shall we eat?  What shall we drink?  What shall we wear?) to God, we are to be actively engaged in seeking His kingdom first, and His righteousness, and it is God who will add these things to us.  We are not to worry about tomorrow in the sense that the ordinary anxieties that each day brings are simply sufficient trouble!  We are not called toward anxieties!  I think maybe this is a much more crucial and central teaching than we expect.  Those worries and anxieties, it seems to me, also attend to our spiritual stature.  Are we to spend all our time worrying and anxious that God doesn't love us?  That we haven't done enough?  Can we trust to God's mercy and love?  Can we really trust the relationship that we have to God, to Christ?  I think that these things are crucial in exploring the attitude that God wants us to have in all ways, and they convey just exactly what sort of orientation we are to have in our lives when we feel that we truly are in a relationship -- an intimate relationship -- to God.  It is, after all, this God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.  Jesus' incarnation invites us into relationship and love, steadfast mercy, as the prophets of old might have said.  Jesus lived and lives eternally in the fullness of His glory and presence as one of us.  He knows what we go through.  He understands a world filled not just with troubles, with imperfections, with afflictions, but also one in which we dwell as those who are in some sense set apart by our love and trust in God, in Christ, so that we are to have a completely different understanding of anxieties than those who do not have this confidence.  Today, let us think about what He teaches.  Paradoxically, Jesus tells us about our own powerlessness and weakness (Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?), but at the same time, He gives us the confidence of our faith, reminding us as He will later teach in Matthew's Gospel:  "With God, all things are possible" (19:26).  Let us try to remember that sufficient for the day is its own trouble!