Lectio Divina on Matthew 6:25-34

Matt 6:25-34

²⁵“So I tell you to stop worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?

 ²⁶“Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?

 ²⁷“Can any of you add a single hour to your life by worrying?

 ²⁸“And why worry about clothes? Notice how the flowers grow in the field. They never work or spin yarn for clothes. ²⁹But I say that not even Solomon in all his majesty was dressed like one of these flowers. ³⁰That’s the way God clothes the grass in the field. Today it’s alive, and tomorrow it’s thrown into an incinerator. So how much more will he clothe you people who have so little faith?

 ³¹“Don’t ever worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear?’ ³²Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them. ³³But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you.

 ³⁴“So don’t ever worry about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I’ve read many times Matthew 6:25-34.  For some reason, I am used to separating the verse into two distinct parts and taking them as such.  I usually break them down into verses 25-32 and verses 33-34.  So, I’d say that what is most striking to me today is the connection between the two.  I think this distinction comes because these are two verses independently and frequently quoted of each other.  The overall idea hear becomes clear when read together – place your trust and worries in the Lord’s hands and it will go well with you.

Here the speaker, Jesus, gives us an illustration of the actual affect that worrying has on a circumstance – nothing!  Basic human needs become objects of concern for us many times (for some of us, most of the time).  Now what immediately pops into my mind is starvation.  I think about third world countries and families who die because of lack of food and water.  For them it seems (from my point of view), that life is food and drink.  And also, does this mean that they lack the faith or direction to survive?  Implicitly, does it require faith and direction to survive?

Even birds with tiny brains can find food to eat. Even plants without a brain have food to eat.  What about inner-city poverty?  Do they lack brains, means or will?  These are questions on which I am not an expert.  I have never lived that life, nor do I know anyone who really has.  I’ve heard that in the case of the inner-city destitute, they dumpster dive – or search for food in the trash.  They do this because no shop owners or restaurants owners will give them any food.

Distrust and uncaring have become integral parts of American society.  A store owner won’t give out the day old bread or meat; rather, he’ll throw it away.  Why?  Liability (distrust).  If the unfortunate person gets sick off of the food given to him out of charity, that person can sue the owner who was only trying to help; and when his act of charity clashes with the destitute’s  desire for self-betterment (through the means of money), the result is a sown seed of distrust.   Then, as the news spreads around and we learn that we can sue people for spilling hot coffee on ourselves – we learn that we can take advantage of nearly anyone and those liable are taught that everyone is potentially the end of their livelihood.

What’s at play here is more than just faith + direction.  It now has become evident that it has to do with other factors.  So what can one do?  I posit the simple question: Isn’t God bigger than any situation?  It’s easier said than seen many times.  This indeed is where faith comes into play.  But I think I hear someone say in disgust: “So you’re blaming the starving children in Africa for their situation because they don’t have enough faith?”  Of course not!  That is ludicrous and foolish on my part to think that way. A part from that, who am I to judge what they do or do not correctly?

So, what then is the outcome?  There is not any one specific, over-arching answer to this question.  Each case is different.  I am of the opinion and belief that Jesus is the answer to all situations.  But then again, I understand Jesus seemingly very differently than people around me.  This does not put me in some higher rank or class, rather I see life and death in a different light than most – I trust in the old saying “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” and I have faith in Jesus Christ to get me out of any situation - and that faith is constantly tested – as well as it should be.  For who would I be to be sitting in my comfy chair, under my roofed home, with heat having the luxury of coffee in my belly and a computer with internet in front of me and writing about the redeeming works of Jesus Christ without fear of death and cast judgment and speak ignorantly about a third world living condition that I have never even seen apart from a few documentaries on NatGeo?

Yes, my faith is tested; yes I am persecuted as a Christian.  No, I don’t for an instant pretend to face the same level of testing as my Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world, nor do I pretend to face death for my beliefs.  So, I have become quite aware that it is easy for me to say “look for God first in everything that you do and all the rest will follow”; but my ease of saying this scripture has nothing to do with the actual Truth of the scripture.  Whether it is easy for me to say or I am like Job and have literally lost everything – I know it is pure truth, tested truth, that when we seek God above all else, the details and the needs are provided to us.

Now, I would pray that I could put this into action through living out my trust - even taking it so far as to become unlike that store owner who has bread, and who will not throw it away, but rather bless those who need it - even if it means losing everything - that I would be able to say that I did my part.