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One of the hardest things that we are ever told in the scriptures, the most impossible, may be not to worry.

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” (Matthew 6:25)

We are to have faith, and to trust in God to provide for us. For on earth we do need the things.

When things are going well, this is easy. But when the troubles of this life come –whether in sickness or death or the loss of a job or a home or the life we had planned – it can seem nearly impossible. How can we not worry in times such as these?

Truly it as been revealed that Jesus was both fully God and fully man, he could say “don’t worry” easily. If someone was sick, he could heal them. Possessed? He could exercise the demons that plagued them. He could put more fish in a net than a boat could carry. And if he needed money, then he could cause it to be found in the mouth of a fish. Of course he did not worry.

Let us remember the time when Jesus fell asleep on the boat and a storm came.

“And behold, there arose a great tempest on the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves; but He was asleep. And His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We perish!”. And He said unto them, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, “What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:24-27)

God incarnate does not worry like we do, for he knows what will happen. “All things were created by him, and for him.” (Colossians 1:16) He has perfect faith, perfect hope, and perfect charity. But it is not so with us.

We do not know what will happen. We may trust in God, but the wind will not cease for us. We know that terrible things happen to good and faithful people, so why not to us? Are we really not to worry?

It is easy to look at that line from Matthew “take no thought” (6:25) as if it is a rule unto itself, but that is not how the church has interpreted the scriptures. Instead, scriptures exist in the context of what is said and the other verses related to it. “Are we really not to worry?” Let us not leave this question unanswered.

Remember how this gospel reading began:

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

Everything that follows is to rest on this context, that we cannot put the things in this world above the things of God.

In giving examples of why we should trust in God above all else, he says:

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?” (Matthew 6:26-27)

That is, who can improve himself or his life by worry?

“And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Matthew 6:28-32)

And here’s the important part:

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)

Here is the context. Every care and worry we have in this life, it is not only about this life. As he tells us elsewhere:

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

That is why in our reading Christ not only said don’t worry (i.e. “take no thought”), but “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:32)

Now this is something that we already know and understand. If a person seeks wealth or even safety without a mind to always do what is right, then he will surely do what is wrong to attain these things. A person can find much gain through immoral means. Through lying and cheating. By stealing or swindling. But as Jesus himself says, “what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mattew 8:36).

Jesus is telling us a heavenly truth, that if we put anything before God, and before his righteousness, then we will degrade and corrupt those things we are given in this life.

A flower is beautiful, but if you put the flower above beauty itself, then you will diminish both. For all truth, all beauty, all goodness, and purity come from God. Can we put the worldly above the heavenly and expect it to go well with us? No.

Jesus Christ has died for us. It was a historic event that has echoed throughout eternity. He did so as one of us, feeling our fear, experiencing our pain, and paying our debt. A once perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Shouldn’t we seek him first? He, who has taken our place on the cross, and who now advocates and mediates for us eternally before the Father?

You may worry, but you are to do so in the faith of the promises of our God, in hope that he will give you the grace necessary to partake of those promises, and the charity for others that they may attain the same.

It is the charity that Jesus Christ has shown for us on the cross. If we worry in this way, then our worries will not be those of worldliness. They will be the righteous worry of the faithful, for we will never let our worries displace our love and trust in our God. Amen.