Season 4 - Episode 6
To listen to an audio version of this post, visit www.covenantchurch.ca/podcasts/covenant-weekly.
Good morning, Covenant Family.
We’re back into the Gospel of Matthew and the collection of Jesus’ teachings, which we call The Sermon on the Mount. Over the past several lines Jesus has been talking about wealth and greed. While that can be challenging for us, the fact that few of us consider ourselves truly rich softens its impact. But Jesus seems to find a way to challenge everyone in their living. And the next section, still about money and stuff, hits hard. It almost seems illogical and impossible. One commentator even called it “stunningly naive but undeniable.” That is today in the Covenant Weekly for October 15, 2024.
In Matthew 6:24, the final words we read the previous time we considered The Sermon on the Mount, we read, “24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” With that background, Jesus continues in verse 25.
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
On one hand, this seems to make sense. Birds are provided for and all they need to do is go and pick their food. Lilies do grow without hunting down the spot to do so. But, what do we do about the birds that don’t make it? Or the lilies that die, get eaten or mowed, or where the seeds never grow in the first place?
Is Jesus suggesting that we shouldn’t even think about what will come tomorrow? After all, the big conclusion is “Don’t worry about tomorrow…today’s trouble is enough for today!” As I read this, I want to take Jesus’ words seriously. It would be so easy to skip past engaging them in any meaningful way. But I also don’t want to draw a meaning from them that goes beyond what Jesus actually wants us to heed - something that would result in weight or guilt on top of the troubles we face each day.
Let me start by saying, I don’t think Jesus is naive to the troubles and challenges of the world. They would have known famine and fear. The Jewish story is filled with manna and the miraculous preservation of shoes, but Jesus didn’t get manna from heaven and needed to replace his sandals.
There are times we see Jesus planning ahead - including sending his disciples early to get a Passover meal planned. Was he contradicting his own teaching?
I don’t think so. I think the keyword, used six times in this passage, is worry. Some commentators switch to using the words anxious or anxiety. It is a preoccupation with something to such an extent that it becomes our sole or primary focus. It doesn’t mean a level of wise planning for tomorrow when it is possible. But that planning shouldn’t become our primary concern. Nor should it prevent us from putting God’s kingdom priorities first in our day-to-day financial decisions.
It is easy to think about how hard this would be for people who are starving, or unsure of where their next meal will be. Many of them, however, don’t seem to be worried about tomorrow. They are very aware that the troubles and concerns of this day are enough to focus on. It may be a privilege of those with plenty to be able to worry about tomorrow. And just how often do we embrace that privilege!
I’m thinking out loud here, but this may be especially hard for us in a culture that is designed to make us feel like we are in constant need. Advertising is designed to make us feel we need the latest and greatest in everything from bread to cars, bank accounts to movies. We’re actively told that we need huge amounts of money for retirement. We need to take the kids to Disney. We need a newer car. We need the bigger house.
There are times when life circumstances do require us to upgrade our car, have more bedrooms, or purchase a unique product to address our health concerns. But wisely addressing our genuine needs is not the same as this marketing-driven chase to meet all of the felt needs that get created in us.
Living in a world that is largely centred around economic growth - increased purchasing of new things - fosters this race to make us feel like we need. And when we feel this constant sense of need it becomes very, very hard to not worry about tomorrow. Jesus’ words here challenge us to not just step back from wealth acquisition, but to look around at what our marketing-driven culture is trying to foster in us and take a stand against it.
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, one of the lines was, “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is certainly used as a desperate cry from God’s people to provide what we need when we can’t see our way through the day at hand. It could also be used as a centering prayer to pull our attention away from the pressures and worries about our felt needs which so easily become our focus and draw us away from the priorities of God’s kingdom. This prayer can be used to pull our attention back to this day.
And this prayer invites us to foster a deeper faith in God’s provision. Worry or anxiety isn’t the opposite of wise planning. It is the opposite of faith and trust in God. Even in our planning, we must maintain trust in God’s provision. Jesus assures us, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
As we move through this day and the days to come, may we keep our eyes on the one who is over it all, live in ways that align with God’s heart, and may God prove faithful to this promise.