why do you worry?

questions Jesus asked

introduction 

At the heart of the Christian faith is our participation in the life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ as Lord.

Traditionally, during the season of Lent, then, Christians enter into the suffering of Jesus by sacrificing some aspect of their lives: Alcohol, chocolate, swearing, gossip, etc. Such fasting is meant to cause us pain; this pain is meant to draw us closer to the presence of God.

Why is the spiritual discipline of fasting so painful? Because of our attachment to the temporal needs and wants of this world. There is no question that we need food and clothing. What else do we need? According to this week’s edition of The Bulletin magazine, apparently some Christians argue that we need money and sex to meet these needs, to demonstrate that we are "blessed of God". But what do we really need? What should be the focus of our life?

Today is part three of our sermon series, Questions Jesus Asked, and we will hear Jesus ask us, “Why do you worry?” This is a deeply probing question that challenges all our presumptions and concerns in life.

the problem with pericopes

Our scripture focus today is Matthew 6:24-34. Before we read and explore this passage together, I need to let you in on a couple of secrets regarding the Bible.

Despite their ubiquity in any and all English translations of the Bible, the chapter and verse markings do not actually belong to the original texts. They were added quite early in history to aid our reading and memorisation of the scriptures.

The second secret is like the first: the titles included in most English translations were also not part of the original text. They were likewise added as an aid to our reading. The translators compartmentalised the text, even more so than with the versification, so as to identify themes for the reader. Such compartments are called pericopes and do not necessarily correspond to any distinctions intended by the biblical writers; thus, should not be included when the Bible is read from publicly.

The problem with these pericopes is that they differ across translations and they influence interpretation. Our scripture focus for today is a perfect example of these problems.

²⁴“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

²⁵“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? ²⁶Look 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? ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But 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? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴“So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today (Matthew 6:24-34).

A textual analysis of the whole of Matthew 6 reveals that it is an amalgamation of various sermons and wisdom sayings of Jesus, rather than one prolonged discourse. Verse 24, for example, is distinct from verses 22-23 and verses 25-34, although only a minority of the English translations, to which I have access at least, actually indicate its distinctiveness. Nevertheless, Matthew, as compiler, clearly placed verse 24 in this chapter because of its obvious resonance with both the preceding and following verses.

Consider also, that the titles predispose one’s approach to the passage. Titles connected to vs. 24 range from “Serving Two Masters” (NRSV), “Teaching about Money and Possessions” (NLT), “Wealth” (NKJV), “Treasures in Heaven” (NIV), “God is More Important Than Money” (NCV), just to name a few. None of these are wrong, in and of themselves, but they predispose our interpretation of the passage, thereby, if only in a slight way, minimising our openness to the teaching that the Spirit intends for us.

at the beck and call

In the first wisdom saying of Jesus included in our scripture focus today, he uses the inconceivable image of a slave serving two masters to highlight the importance of identifying God’s nature and, thus, serving him first and solely (:24). The image is inconceivable because if it is hard for an employee to ‘moonlight’ two jobs, then it is doubly-hard to be at the beck and call of two masters!

Because of who God is (i.e. his nature) —the implied argument of vs. 24 goes— we are obliged to worship and serve him. Interestingly, this saying does not envisage distraction coming from the worship of other gods, despite the somewhat dominant polytheistic Hellenist culture of Jesus’ context. Instead, distraction will come from the worship of materialism, a false-god which is given the name “Mammon” in some biblical manuscripts.

Verse 24 argues that there is a choice of which god we will worship, but it is a false choice between service or slavery, hatred or love, devotion or contempt, external materialism or internal dedication, the bondage of the money-lovers or the freedom of “the children of God”. This issue is as much theological, as it is ethical and psychological.

How fascinating that this choice is just as real for us today? I dare not say that this choice is more real today because only the context of this saying has changed; the issue itself has obviously never left us, despite Jesus’ teaching on the subject two thousand years ago. Will we never learn?

Jesus the expert debater

In the rest of the passage from Matthew that we read, Jesus then presents a carefully crafted argument against worrying (:25-34).

The passage opens with a command: one should not worry about present internal or external needs because the whole and healthy life is comprised of so much more (:25b-c).

Following this command, three arguments are provided as proofs:

First proof (:25): “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (:25d). The answer to be filled in by the enlightened reader is, “Yes”. This first proof is then expanded by two examples from nature.

First example: The birds of the air do not work for their food, as, instead, they rely completely on the provision of God (:26a); God provides (:26b); humans should expect at least the same level of treatment (:26c).

Jesus strengthens this example by pointing out that even though we are provided food, this merely sustains us, but cannot add an hour to our life (nor 18 inches to our height, depending on the translation, as the original is uncertain), which is determined by God as creator (:27). A concern for food belies future and eternal concerns. We are unreasonably worried about tomorrow, in other words, when one’s present hunger is the real issue —this line of reasoning comes up again.

Second example: The “lilies of the field” do not work for their beauty, relying also on God for their growth (:28b); God provides, and does so with a beauty that surpasses the highest level of human artistry, which is the renowned glory of the garments of King Solomon (:29); humans can expect at least the same level of treatment, particularly since God considers the beauty of lilies as fleeting as grass (:30).

Second proof: The argument is restated, but uses self-parody (:31), and is also followed by two examples, from human nature however.

First example: The pagan Gentile strives after food and clothing, a behaviour condemned by implication (:32a). To engage in such materialism and consumerism would be tantamount to assimilation with the Gentiles, which is expressly forbidden in Judaism.

Second example: The faithful Jew or Christians knows, both theologically and first-hand, of God’s omniscience and provision (:32b).

Third proof: The argument is again restated, but the qualifying “for tomorrow” is added (:34a).

First example: Without a doubt, there will be things to worry about tomorrow. These should be dealt with then (:34b).

Second example: One should deal with today’s troubles as they present themselves today and only today’s (:34c).

Surprisingly, these short maxims are not encouraged anywhere else in the New Testament. The apostle Paul does cite a similar phrase from Graeco-Roman wisdom literature in 1 Corinthians 15:33, when he quotes, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die". It is this resonance with popular wisdom literature which really makes this passage deeply fascinating.

Commentaries and historical accounts refer to the period of Roman history in which Jesus lived as an “Age of Anxiety”:

There were indeed more than enough reasons for such a description. The political catastrophes and socioeconomic unrest of the period have often been detailed. Less widely known is that for centuries men and women had been taught by anxiety-ridden writers, teachers, prophets, and philosophers. The literature of the Hellenistic age is full of admonitions, arguments for or against, and stories about anxiety, or its opposite, “tranquillity of the mind”. Therefore, the topic of anxiety seems a most appropriate one [...] Thus, behind our text stands an entire spiritual and intellectual culture dealing with human behaviour, and it is this culture that unites the various themes found in our text.

This is such a powerful passage because its argument is constructed extremely well, and because its topic reflects a universal and eternal theme of the human condition. The chances are very good that even someone here is anxious.

what’s wrong with worry?

Regarding anxiety and worry, what is Jesus’ command? Do not worry. But certainly a life absent of worry would be completely impossible?!

It is important to distinguish that Jesus’ command is not directed at excessive worrying, but at the habit of worrying. Given his sociohistorical context, even Jesus could recognise that people were, and are, anxious about the matters of living. Which is precisely why he starts his argument with the prohibitive imperative, “Do not worry”, and then quickly qualifies this with, “about what you will eat and what you will wear” (:25). Jesus wants us to realise that there is more to life than our appetites and desires.

Concern for what one eats, drinks and wears represents a popular secular conception of the full life (a concern promoted particularly well by our individualistic and materialistic culture). These are means of life should not be confused with fulness of life, which has aspects both temporal and eternal (:25d).

A concern for these appetites and desires is completely normal. The problem arises when they become the sole focus of our life and we become obsessed with the superficial. God knows we need these things. Jesus wants to help us discover a different perspective on life and living.

The worldly person strives after food, drink, clothing, sex, wealth, fame, etc. Jesus encourages us to seek righteousness (:33). He is certainly not encouraging his followers to laze about idly, but to actively pursue faith and holiness through spiritual discipline. It is such as these who live in the kingdom of God and experience the life abundant that Jesus promised (John 10:10b).

When a person becomes dissatisfied with worldly and superficial living, they seek after life. Our food, our drink, our clothes, indeed all the good things of living are gifts of God. We cannot even be certain that there will be a tomorrow. Who controls the present and the future? The creator and sovereign God. We can take nothing for granted, no matter how much effort we put into our obsessive pursuits.

When we discover trust in God, we place being right with God as our top priority. What is the result? Our appetites and desires are met, being a gift of God’s provision, an added bonus to living in his kingdom.

conclusion

What are your priorities in life? Do you struggle to find food to place on your table each day? Are you uncertain, when you look in the mirror, what clothes you should wear? Have you not advanced up the ‘pecking-order’ of your workplace fast enough? Has your boyfriend or girlfriend refused to take your relationship ‘to the next level’, even though you “love” them? In their own way, these may reflect legitimate concerns, but how easily sin is confused with life.

I, too, have gone without food, clothes, employment, relationships. Life is hard for all of us. But God is not unreasonable nor is he unkind. He wants only to show us the better way of life that he intended from the very beginning.

Do you want wholeness and health? “Then why do you worry?”, Jesus asks. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty [...] I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me [...] will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 6:35; 11:25-26). Put seeking the righteousness of God as the top priority of your life and really discover how to live!

sermon delivered by Ian Forest-Jones
at Hurstville Church of Christ
on Sunday, 11 March 2007 at 10am
[email]

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