WHAT MAKES YOU ANXIOUS?

Matt 6: 25 – 33 November 22, 2006

Pilgrim Bud Precise

Do not be anxious!!!! That is a hard one for us, isn’t it? We have so much to be anxious about. Anxious – uneasy in your mind; apprehensive; worried. We have personal issues which cause us to be anxious – job, children, health, relationships. Then we have community issues – public transportation, crime, poverty, schools, the murder rate. We have national issues – war, our relation to other countries, global warming, hunger. Lots of issues cause us to be anxious. It is a hard saying for us.

Of all the passages in the Bible about trust in God, our passage in Matthew today is probably the best known and most loved. The other passage so familiar to us is in Philippians “Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.” I think the power of our Matthew passage is bound up in it poetic nature. At face value, the passage encourages irresponsibility and laziness. Furthermore, it is not true to say that all birds are adequately fed and that all lilies turn out beautiful. Drought and other catastrophes cut short the lives of both birds and flowers as well as human beings who trust in God. It is simply not true that those who seek first the kingdom of God find invariably all the things necessary for life. And how unwise is it to counsel “Do not be concerned about tomorrow.” I think Jesus would support the Red Cross, insurance and old age pension. Careful planning can help avoid the worst effect of drought and life threatening events.

I think that one can defend the passage against some of these criticisms by putting the passage into the original context. Jesus’ closest disciples did leave their vocations in order to work full time with Jesus. They became dependent on God’s providential care as birds and the flowers. After Easter, there was the commitment to spreading the Good News from village to village. Those who did this depended on the hospitality of the villages. But Matthew does not set this passage in Chapter 10, which deals with itinerant missionaries. It is placed in the section with the Sermon on the Mount and is used to address the use of money. Thus the passage serves as a commentary on treasures, generosity and addresses both rich and poor. It is not a bad text for Pledge Sunday. It has to do with our trust in God and God’s goodness toward all creation.

Maybe we need to appropriate the passage as poetry. The “birds of air” and “the lilies of the field” become larger symbols. They are powerful symbols of God’s care. Yes, some birds die and some lilies do not bloom. As God cares for birds and lilies, God does care for us. I don’t believe you can prove God by nature. On the one hand, you have the beautiful sunset of last Friday. On the other hand you have the fury of a Katrina. But creation can point us to the order and creative process of God. My religion teacher in college came into class on day and walked to the desk and pushed a stack of books off in the floor. He proceeded to ask us what we would think if we came into the room and found the books pushed into the floor. Some brave student answered that we would think someone came in and pushed the books off the desk onto the floor. Then he got down on his hands and knees and arranged the books in a pattern. He asked what we would think if we came in and found the books like that. Someone responded that we would think someone arranged the books on the floor. Then he taught us a way to look at creation. It was a beautiful fall day in Birmingham. He said, “Go over to the windows and tell me what you see.” People write poems about the beauty of nature and about birds and lilies.

One way to read the passage is to see it as part of our ecological understanding of the world. There is a relationship between the many forms of life on Planet Earth and we would do well to understand a balance between our living and our interdependence on other forms of life.

We could interpret the passage as a social justice reading. Not only did the disciples make themselves poor as they followed Jesus, but they were among those who did not volunteer to be poor. Like the birds, the poor did not sow or gather into barns for themselves. They were dependent on uncertain wages as day laborers and charity. The passages assures the poor that they are of more value than birds and lilies. But how will God care for the poor? Not by manna from heaven but through human hands. The affluent, who have no need to be concerned about daily needs, are summoned by the passage to identify with those who spend most of their time and energy trying to make it through the day. A rich lady told a hungry child, “If God loved you wouldn’t God send you food and clothes. The child answered, “God told someone, but they forgot.”

My favorite way to read the text for today is to see it as a celebrative text. Just consider how the lilies of the field reflect the glory of God. Consider our relationship to God – who knows our needs before we ask. The passage calls us to rejoice in the power and love of God. That is another part of our worship today – thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is our time to stop and give thanks for family, friends, food, our country, our health – you can finish that list.

Do not be anxious according to the text today asks us not to be distracted by cares. Who can add a single hour to your life by worry. Life is more than food and clothes. God knows there are things that are needful for life – food, clothes. The text uses this “take no anxious thought” 5 times today. Must be important. If you were to receive a million dollars, what would you do with it? If you can answer that, you are working on what comes first in your life.

What is the center of life for us? What is most important? When we put God’s kingdom second in life what do we spend our money on? We spend it on more jails, more hospitals, more wars.

The text is also encouraging us to not be so anxious about tomorrow – but to live one day at a time. Many a good football team has lost a game on Saturday because they were thinking of the game the next Saturday and did not prepare for who they considered to be a less important game.

Jack Beal has painted a picture of living “in time” titled “Hope, Faith and Charity.” The books in the painting, both the one atop the table and the one held by Faith seem important to the image. Faith (character is a man) is rooted and nurtured in human history and in the reflections of those who have searched for God in the past as well as in the present. He appears totally engrossed. On his left, Hope (the younger of the two women in the picture) leans close to Faith, maybe suggesting an intimate relationship between Faith and Hope. She holds a red rose, that is just opening, in her right hand, for hope flowers in relationship with faith. Though Hope’s face is turned toward Faith, her gaze does not appear to rest exclusively upon him. Her eyes seem partially to rest on Charity, the more mature woman seated at right. Having found Faith and Hope, Charity gladly extends her gifts to one beyond the picture itself.

For our Thanksgiving, we always extend our hand to those beyond our reach. Our thanks includes family and friends we will not see this day. Our Thanksgiving includes those who have blessed our lives who have finished their course and are now with God. And our Thanksgiving always includes those beyond us who depend on our generosity and advocacy to help on our journey together.