Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 6:25-34
Therefore take not thought—How kind are these precepts! The substance of which is only this, Do thyself no harm! Let us not be so ungrateful to him, nor so injurious to ourselves, as to harass and oppress our minds with that burden of anxiety, which he has so graciously taken off. Every verse speaks at once to the understanding, and to the heart. We will not therefore indulge these unnecessary, these useless, these mischievous cares. We will not borrow the anxieties and distresses of the morrow, to aggravate those of the present day. Rather we will cheerfully repose ourselves on that heavenly Father, who knows we have need of these things: who has given us the life, which is more than meat, and the body, which is more than raiment. And thus instructed in the philosophy of our heavenly Master, we will learn a lesson of faith and cheerfulness, from every bird of the air, and every flower of the field.
Too often we believe like theists (a personal God) and act like deists (a distant, impersonal, noninteractive, uninvolved god). We say we believe in God, trust in God, and are sustained by God; but in our actions we do everything for ourselves, trusting in ourselves and anxious about the providence of God, which unravels our theism.
A careful reading of our text in the context of Jesus’ own radical itinerant ministry prompts us to think that our full pantries and refrigerators are playing a different game than the one Jesus and his followers played. These are words for radicals about a radical lifestyle of trusting God for the ordinaries of life while devoting oneself unreservedly toward the kingdom mission.
1. Prohibition, with questions (6:25)
2. Illustration 1: birds, with questions (6:26–27)
3. Illustration 2: flowers, with questions (6:28–30)
4. Prohibition repeated (6:31)
5. Two reasons for prohibition: pagans and providence (6:32)
6. Counteraction (6:33)
7. Prohibition repeated, with wisdom argument (6:34)
As can be seen from the outline, three times Jesus prohibits anxiety over provisions. He provides three reasons not to have that kind of anxiety: pagans do such things, God in his providence cares, and each day has its own problems, so let tomorrow take care of itself. This is an Ethic from Below, a rare approach of Jesus in the Sermon.
This passage requires that we remind ourselves to whom Jesus is speaking: his disciples. He is addressing not the poor as a result of a famine but instead disciples who have more or less what they need
Anxiety is a barometer of one’s God: those with anxiety about “life” worship Mammon, while those without anxiety worship the providing God. Teachings like these, of course, fall hard on the emotions of those who are more prone to worry than those who are careless, while the same words of Jesus are easily absorbed by shirkers. Jesus’ words are misunderstood by both: some of us need to learn to trust while others need to be more concerned in a proper way.
Father Alexander Schmemann writes: “All that exists is God’s gift to man, and it all exists to make God known to man, to make man’s life communion with God.”
Jesus sees creation in light of the presence of the new age,” and only “in light of the new age, the coming of the Kingdom, does Jesus assure his own that the Father in heaven will act on their behalf.” This eschatological orientation transforms Jesus’ teachings here from mere wisdom into mere kingdom, from mere provisions into mere blessings, or from
an Ethic from Below to an Ethic from Beyond. The “Beyond” reshapes the “Below.”
For kingdom and righteousness the disciple of Jesus is to “seek” or “pursue.” The idea is to focus on, to want, to plot, and to act in a way that keeps one aimed at the goal—and I’m thinking of how Olympic athletes (like Allyson Felix) aim their entire life toward the gold medal.
Dallas Willard is well-known for his “VIM” strategy in spiritual formation: we need a vision, and this needs to prompt in us intention to accomplish that vision, and then we need to discover the proper means to get there. Willard’s focus is on the spiritual disciplines
Jesus, but his “seek” encompasses what Willard means by VIM.
Jesus assumes a world in this teaching in which his followers, while they will not have a bounty, will have enough for sustenance. His teachings here assume the ordinary provisions for life, and he instructs his followers about how to live in that kind of world.
What Jesus is saying, then, is not insensitive to many who pray for food and starve to death. He would say something else to that condition
Jesus is not dreaming of some far-off world that does not yet exist; rather, he is seeing the world through the eyes of a first-century Galilean whose followers have access to provisions.
I suggest, then, that we learn to hop over these critical tremors that come our way, and I have myself experienced this text’s tremors in the face of class after class of young college students wondering how in the world Jesus could say such things when there are people who are starving. I don’t say this insensitively toward those who suffer, but instead I say this with an eye out for those who are called by God to some mission and who need to trust God for what God is calling them to do.
Jesus doesn’t call us to be care-less about provisions but to be care-free.
Those things do “matter,” but the kingdom matters even more.
In his book The Birds Our Teachers, Stott found eleven lessons about life:
From the ravens, we learn faith.
From the migration of storks, repentance.
From the head of owls, facing both ways.
From the value of sparrows, self-esteem.
From the drinking of pigeons, gratitude.
From the metabolism of hummingbirds, work.
From the soaring of eagles, freedom.
From the territory of (English) robins, space.
From the wings of a hen, shelter.
From the song of larks, joy.
From the breeding cycle of all birds, love.
Indeed, the birds can be our teachers. One can peer into the hand of God in this world as well by examining flowers
God’s kingdom, and the way of life that goes with it; the ‘righteousness’, or covenant behaviour, the way of life, that marks out God’s people; these are the things you should aim at.
Why not learn how to share the happiness of Jesus himself?
