“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
This can be a difficult text to preach and teach. We live in an "age of anxiety." Young people are described as the "anxious generation." Anxiety on the rise and everywhere you look. Which makes Jesus' message extremely relevant but also hard to hear. To say to people "do not worry" can sound like you are disregarding people's experiences. Plus, simple religious exhortations are deemed inadequate for treating stubborn mental health issues. Lastly, a moralizing and judgmental attitude can show up if worry and anxiety are described as failures of faith and trust.
We discussed all this out at the unit, how to talk about worry and anxiety in a complicated mental health context. And beyond mental health issues, worry and anxiety are just natural human emotions. So, how are we to think and talk about Jesus' teachings about worry and anxiety?
I was struck by the word "Therefore" at the start of the passage. Which indicates that the "do not worry" exhortations are flowing out of something preliminary and prior.
Backing up, then, here's the passage that comes right before:
“Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness!
“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."
