After Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, he went to the desert to fast and pray, following which he began his ministry by calling his disciples and healing every kind of sickness. He then went to a hill in Galilee and preached his longest discourse, the Sermon on the Mount. Today’s gospel selection comes from the middle of that sermon and in it he tells his listeners, who include us, not to worry.
Strange words coming from a man who will suffer humiliation and excruciating physical pain, seemingly planned all along by the very God who tends to birds and wildflowers with such care and concern.
I think about my friends Mary Ann and Jim who suffered and died of ALS leaving loved-ones behind and I think of the women in jail in Framingham who have led painful lives of poverty and drug addiction culminating in a prison sentence. I ask myself, “Where was God then and where is God now? This God who tends to birds and wildflowers with such care and concern?”
Strange questions coming from a healthy middle-class American person. Why don’t I mind my own business and be grateful for my luck or my success or whatever it is that I seem to have at the moment?
Although it seems presumptuous to do so, I picture Mary Ann at my table sharing a cuppa with me right now. She tells me to love every minute, every person, every place. Not a love that says, “I might die tomorrow so kiss me quick,” but a love that shines just for the joy of it. Be present to the here and now and do not think about the past or the future, she says. Not because the past and the future are unimportant but because the present is so juicy and delicious and glorious it pales in comparison to every other distracting moment. This one moment. Don’t cling to it or dismiss it, just be in it.
Like a bird in flight would do, like a wildflower in the field.
Namaste! Amen!
The Readings
Isaiah 49:14-15
Psalm 62
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6:24-34
You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.
If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
The reading is from The Message by Eugene H. Peters
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