Matthew 6:25-33

Posted by DJL on Feb 19, 2014 in Daily Bread | 0 comments

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

This is the hard one.

Of all that Jesus counsels and commands in this sermon, this is the part that seems relentlessly in front of us and regularly so difficult. Why? Because our life seems full to overflowing with worry. Not just “what will we eat and drink?” or “what will we wear?”,  but also “will our kids be healthy?” and “will I find someone that accepts me as I am?” and “will we be able to retire?” and “what do people think of me?” and “will I find work?” and “will we go to war?” and on and on and on.

I suppose it’s always been this way. That is, I suppose life has always been full of worry. And yet I also think we live at a time when the usual cares of life are amplified in order to draw us more deeply into our consumer culture. Bombarded each days by ads stemming from inadequacy marketing – the desire to create in you a sense of inadequacy and lack so that you will purchase a product promising to reduce that feeling – our worries are multiplied. So it’s not just “what will we wear?” but rather, “will what I wear make me acceptable and attractive to those around me?” And it’s not only “what will I eat?” but “is what I eat tasty, low-fat, sugar-free, and organic?”

All of which makes Jesus’ counsel both timely and important. For the problem with worrying about such things is that we too easily fall prey to the belief that life consists of these things, rather than the relationships that actually constitute our lives. St. Augustine once said that we were made to love people and use things and that sin causes us to confuse these two. Worry – particularly advertising-induced worry – seeks to exploit this penchant.

Incessant worrying also slowly but surely erodes our trust in God and invites an unhelpful self-centeredness. We end up feeling like it’s all up to us, like there is no one around us to help. Or, worse, that those around us are competitors for scarce resources rather than God-given collaborators in sharing a rich and abundant life. Which is why Jesus simply and quietly reminds us that God knows we need these things already. For as we trust God more we begin see all that God has already given us and move from a sense of scarcity to abundance.

At this point, I know, it’s easy and perhaps fair to protest that while God may indeed know our needs, certainly many – far too many! – needs go unmet in this world. But I wonder: is the poverty that characterizes too much of our world caused by God not providing enough resources or is it a result of too many of us hoarding and misusing these resources because we are dominated by a sense of scarcity and inadequacy?

What would happen, I wonder, if we did indeed seek the kingdom of God first? That is, what would happen if we loved God by loving our neighbor, honored God by honoring our neighbor, and kept God’s commandments that seek first and foremost the welfare of our neighbor? I suspect that, indeed, all that we need and more would be added unto us.

Prayer: Dear God, draw our eyes, first, to you, that we may be reminded of the abundant life you have promised and provide and, second, to our neighbors, that we may see and respond to their need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.