Matthew 6: 25-34 Do not worry
Our activity today was a way to get us thinking about the kinds of worries we face each day – we mentioned the wider world issues like climate change Brexit and social media impact and more personal worries affecting family and friends.
We can see that our worries can be wide ranging; the more immediate ones like getting to the school in time for pick up because you’re stuck in traffic or a presentation in front of the top boss. Then there are other worries which are more persistent; a credit card debt or a boiler breakdown and the more long term worries like redundancy and illness.
The word ‘worry’ is repeated throughout today’s passage; and that worry is centred around the fundamental needs of life – food, water and clothing. Sadly, even today, the worry about these things still exist for many who are homeless or have lost their jobs or are living in poverty. When we were looking at this passage someone said ‘Food is so much more than what we eat’; that food goes beyond the physical hunger and need to eat but also encompasses the emotional and psychological stress about where the next meal will come from, how to cope with no money, the heartbreak of sending your children to bed hungry or sending them out to school with no breakfast.
Worry in these more extreme circumstances can be very debilitating too as other emotions follow on – apprehension, distress, fear, panic. Then there is the way we react when we are worried – it can be physical; sweaty palms, racing heart, dry mouth but there are the longer lasting and debilitating effects too; headaches, not being able to sit still, loss of appetite, not sleeping. Worrying can make our lives difficult and challenging and lead to more long term issues like depression. The image in your pew leaflet is a way to show how these worries can burden us; the man with the cares of the world on his shoulders which is in itself a well-known phrase to describe what is feels like to worry.
In these verses Jesus is teaching his disciples (the passage is part of the sermon on the mount), and this particular one is connected to the previous passage where Jesus is talking about not serving two masters, or not being a slave to two masters. Either we will be a slave to the things of earth, like wealth, and serve them, or we will be a slave to God and serve Him. If the things of earth are our master, then we must rely on them for our future and so becomes the cause of our worries. The rich person is anxious to get richer still—to accumulate more wealth such as cars and houses that advertise their success. Then there is the person who is anxious about job security, health insurance, mortgages and school fees to maintain a certain lifestyle, to keep up with the Jones’. Whilst the poorer person is anxious about keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table, tied up in credit and debt in their desperation to make ends meet.
However, Jesus is presenting the disciples, and so us reading His words today, a way out of this. The passage starts with “Therefore.” In this verse 25, Jesus is building on the understanding that acceptance of God as master and Lord of all means there is no need to worry about anything as God knows already and he can provide what is needed.
I wonder if the disciples may have been expressing some of their own concerns and worries, either to each other or even to Jesus. Where will their food come from? Who’s going to pay for it? Where will they sleep tonight? After all, they’ve left their homes and livelihoods behind to follow Jesus and this means they no longer have the ability to earn money to buy food and no time to work by fishing or sowing seed. Jesus refers to ‘toiling and spinning’ and in those times life was much harder and more labourious; no convenience stores or supermarkets as food had to be grown or it meant taking a boat out to sea to catch fish. Plus, it took time to grow wheat and hard work to reap and make bread; a bad crop or a poor catch of fish meant food became scarce. So, where the next meal was coming from was a real worry, a daily concern.
Clearly, Jesus is not unaware of the challenges of living though: "Today's trouble is enough for today" he says in that last verse 34. He understands. Yet, he is telling them to take life one day at a time; ‘do not worry about tomorrow’. Jesus is aware that ‘tomorrow will bring worries of its own’; he acknowledges life’s struggles don’t go away, they are always there in one form or another. Jesus is encouraging his disciples not to "worry", not to be overly concerned, not to care too much or to be anxious about these things. Jesus is teaching them that worry is futile, useless, hopeless even, as it does not accomplish anything.
Jesus is suggesting that where worry disables us, faith can enable us. The reference to the birds is to remind us that God can be counted on to work for us today and tomorrow. If God looks after the birds surely He can be counted on to look after us? He made the birds, the flowers and us and the world around us. He has invested in his creation and he won’t let us go cold and hungry.
Jesus tells his disciples that life is more than food and clothes. He says to them ‘… you of little faith’. He is asking them to think about where their faith is in respect of the every day cares of life. He is chastising them, just a little, as it seems they haven’t taken on board his teachings about the real presence of God, the real promises God has made and the real power that God possesses; the creator God who made the heavens and earth, the birds, the flowers and us. If Jesus' followers cannot trust God in the everyday mundane moments, how can they expect to trust God in the work for the wider world? Excessive worry and anxiety means losing sight of God and being in danger of focusing our energies on things that risk us living a life separated from God. Jesus is calling the disciples, and us, to a different set of values, a different set of priorities.
Jesus is saying that to live differently is to live in accordance with ‘the Kingdom of God’, to put this first. What does this mean? Well, as Christians we are a community within a bigger, wider community and we are called to live in a different way, in fellowship and in love – a way that has God at the centre, a way of that means we live out the values that Jesus taught us. Or to put another way, the Kingdom of God is living with an attitude of heart, a pattern of behaviour, that is centred around our love to one another, where we do not strive or worry endlessly about our needs but entrust our life to God, where we look to God to provide for us as he does for all of his creation.
Well that’s all very well and good when life is more than food, for those who do not need to worry about where their next meal will come from or whether they will be cold tonight because they can’t pay their heating bill. But still…Jesus is encouraging us to replace anxiety about these things with trust; trust in God. We can do this by praying, by asking God for help. Worrying in itself doesn’t get us anywhere. It doesn’t do us any good. Whatever the problem that is causing us to worry, it is very likely that our worrying about it will not lessen it or make it go away. It will only make us more miserable. So, don’t worry Jesus says, it’s useless. Jesus wants us overcome whatever is making us worried or anxious today. God likes to take care of His creation – remember ‘God saw that it was good’ which is repeated several times in the Genesis passages and also Genesis says ‘God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good’. We are part of this good creation, the world God made and he has a vested interest in it, He sees the world still and us in it, He has a real care love and attention to all of his creation including us, made in his image. He keeps his promises, he gave us Jesus, and so, if he can take care of the smaller creatures he created, like the birds, then we can rest assured that he will look after us.
The original title in the bible for this passage was "Leave it in the Hands of the Lord" but later it was generally referred to as "Do not Worry".
However, I think the original title helps us; it’s practical because what you leave to God you no longer need to worry or feel anxious about – God has it. So, take your burdens to the Lord and leave them there. Like the line from Psalm 55 ‘Cast your burdens on the Lord and he will sustain you’. Let us tell God what we need in prayer but also thank Him for all He has done for us already. Overcoming worry is to trust that God will take care of us. This in turn releases us, to put our energy into living in a way that shows God is active in our lives, in our church and in our community. Jesus isn’t giving us a happy pill as such but he is giving us hope; ‘hope for what we do not see ..’ as Paul says in the Romans passage; this hope which allows us to live more positively, to be happy with what we have, to appreciate the world God created for us and the people around us.
Amen.
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