Posted by Fr. Doran Stambaugh S.S.C. in Christian Life, Fr Doran | 0 Comments
Don’t Worry About a Thing
Jesus’ parable of the lilies of the field, in Matthew chapter 6, is one of my all-time favorite passages of Scripture. In this Gospel passage, we hear Our Lord gently charging us with those most comforting words: “Do not be anxious.”
This passage always reminds me of that song “Three Little Birds” written by the legendary Bob Marley. The story of the song goes something like this. One day, Bob was sitting outside his house and took notice of some neighboring birds. Contemplating their beauty and freedom, he wrote these lyrics:
“Rise up this morning
Smile with the rising sun
Three little birds
Sit by my doorstep
Singing sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true
Singing, this is my message to you:
Don’t worry about a thing
Cause every little thing is gonna be all right.”
As it turns out, Bob Marley had something in common with Our Lord. Jesus also took the time to look up to the heavens, to smell the flowers, to notice the beauty and the freedom and the peace of the world around him. In the Gospel passage we’re talking about, he describes some of his observations to his disciples: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them… Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Jesus was able to see, and appreciate, and take comfort in God the Father’s providence for all of creation. And he draws the natural conclusion: If creation is filled with God’s goodness and provision, why should human beings be any exception? What do we have to worry about?
Now, this may come as a surprise, but there are also some fundamental differences between Jesus and Bob Marley. (We won’t go into all of them for the sake of time.) But one difference is this. Jesus was not saying “Chill out” in the same relaxed, mellow, hippie way as Bob.
No, Jesus was speaking with authority – a gentle authority, but still authority – and actually charging his disciples: “Do not be anxious.”
Remember, this is all still part of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ words here are on the heels of many other charges he has just made: “Do not swear at all… Do not resist one who is evil… Do not lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… Do not be anxious!”
Three times he says it:
Do not be anxious about your life.
Do not be anxious about what you are to eat and wear.
Do not be anxious about tomorrow.
Jesus says these words as if we have a choice, as if we had some say in the matter. As if anxiety and worry are something we do, not something that happens to us.
Do we have any choice when it comes to anxiety and worry?
There are many angles from which we can examine anxiety. For instance, in the modern age we have come to learn much about anxiety from a physical, psychological, and emotional perspective.
But today we are going to speak strictly from the spiritual perspective. And as it turns out, from a spiritual perspective, we do have some say in matters of worry and anxiety. In fact, giving in to worry and anxiety is actually categorized as a sin!
From a spiritual perspective, worry and anxiety actually fall under the sin of Pride.
It sounds a little crazy at first, but the more we ponder it, the more sense it begins to make. Pride, by definition, is “Putting ourselves in the place of God. It is the refusal to recognize our status as creatures or be dependent on God for our existence.”
If we put ourselves, or anything else for that matter, in the place of God, we simply cannot find satisfaction and peace.
When we are yielding to the sin of Pride, we are trying to sort everything out by our own power, our own strength, our own initiative. And as we discover that our needs are not being met by our own solutions, that’s when worry and anxiety begin to creep in.
As someone once said, there is a God-shaped hole in each of our hearts, and only God can fill that hole.
Our Lord tells us that we cannot serve two masters. We can only have one. And there is only One who can satisfy our every need.
Whom then shall we serve?
St Peter in his second epistle writes, “For whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved.”
Who is our master?
We need look no further than the desires of our own hearts to find that which has authority and power over our lives.
If we put all the desires of our heart on a scale, which one would weigh the most? Which one takes up the greatest time and the most space? This we might call our ‘Higher Power,’ or that which has authority over us.
Whatever we seek, that we shall find.
If we seek the world, we will find the world. If we seek money, power, sex, drugs, we will find them. But we will not be satisfied. We will not find peace. And in fact, anxiety and worry will continue to grow, precisely because that which we desire most, our heart’s contentment, can only be found in one Higher Power, God Himself.
If we seek God, we will find Him. And we will be satisfied. We will find peace.
And He will provide for us all that we need.
Who could know better what we need, than the Author and Creator of life itself? And who better to provide for our needs than He who created us?
All that we have is from Him, beginning with our very lives.
And all that we need is in Him.
Who better to turn to for all our needs than the Creator and Sustainer of our lives?
From a spiritual perspective, worry and anxiety are the fruit of a misplaced trust, or a misplaced faith.
And worry and faith are inversely proportional to one another. The more we give in to worry, the less faith we have. But the more we grow in our faith, the less room we have in our hearts to worry.
Jesus says to his disciples: “O men of little faith… do not be anxious.”
Do not worry!
Worry is not productive.
It will not create solutions.
It will not solve problems.
It will not lift our spirits, enrich our minds, or strengthen our wills.
Jesus says, “Do not worry; instead, seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness.”
Our Lord shows us yet again this fundamental principle: do not give in to the negative, to worry and anxiety. But rather grow in the positive. Seek God’s Kingdom. Grow in your faith, and in your trust in God. And all these things will be added to you.
If we seek God first, we will find that anxiety and worry will naturally melt away.
Don’t worry
About a thing
Seek God’s Kingdom
And His Righteousness
And every little thing
Is gonna be all right.
Amen.
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