But I don't want to be a bird! -- Thoughts on Matthew 6

By Kelly

Matthew 6:24-34

24 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.

So This text used to bother me.  It made me angry.  You see, when you read this story, it kind of seems like Jesus is promoting a lazy lifestyle.  It seems very much against Proverbs 6:1-7 which is, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise.  Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her food in supper, and gathers her sustenance in harvest” And THAT is one of my favorites.

 The problem with this text is it tells us to go against everything we assume Christians should do.  Isn’t Christianity a call to action?  And what does this even mean Jesus?  I take the following issues with your sermon:

(a)    Don’t compare me to the birds, they have the whole sky to fly around in and yet most of them decide windshield height is the ideal altitude..  Sometimes they even fly into my dorm windows, and it’s a stationary building.  Birds don’t seem to have it so great.

(b)   And don’t compare me to flowers either!  Flowers get plucked.  They wither and die and spend their lives getting stomped on.  I don’t want to be stomped on Jesus!

(c)    If you’re going to tell me to emulate an animal.  Let me be an ant or a squirrel, they’re both savers and team-players, that sounds more like me. 

But the more I think about it, the more I think Jesus is not really speaking about specific worries about food and clothing.  He is speaking about “the habit of worrying”. Jesus is talking about those types of worries that are not very important, AND YET these worries are what we spend our time on.  I know what you’re thinking: “How is food and clothing not very important?  Aren’t those too a little high on the whole “Maslow's hierarchy of needs?

Yes they are.  But I don't think Jesus is saying “Don’t worry whether or not you’re going to eat or starve to death”.  He’s saying that the “chicken or fish Tuesday dinner conundrum is probably not worth the majority of the time it spends in your brain.”  Likewise, the message is not “Who needs clothes?”  It’s “does it matter what brand you’re wearing?”

And as my friend pointed out to me :The birds of the air do eat; they do prepare. They do what needs to be done.  But they don’t WORRY.  The sparrow for example is one of the hardest working birds in the animal kingdom.  The sparrows take care of themselves.

This was the lectionary text last week.  At Grace Presbyterian, where I was worshipping, this was our prayer of confession:“ Gracious God, You tell us not to worry, but we cannot seem to help ourselves. With refrigerators full of food, we still make grocery lists; with closets so full we cannot shut the doors, we run out and buy new outfits; with a simple invitation to 'follow me,’ we form committees to help us decide.  God we confess that we have allowed the pressures and call of the world to drag us from you.  Forgive us God.  Grant that we come to seek your kingdom in every moment of every day, coming to experience the abundant life you intend.”*

The preacher on Sunday, Jan Alexander, pointed out that we seem to “need” a lot of stuff and a lot of space.  We spend a lot of time working on ways to acquire more stuff and more space. And we don’t need it.  So I started thinking about it this week.

I wondered if I was to able to map how much time I spend each thought, what would my map look like?  How much time would I give thoughts of loved ones?  Thoughts of God?  Thoughts of how I could answer God’s call?  And how much of it would be about what color shoes my bridesmaids should wear?  Which restaurant should I order take out from?  

(Have you ever seen www.whitewhine.com?  It's one of my favorite funny websites that makes fun of what privileged and wealthy people complain about.  It's all in good fun.  But this reminded me of it.)

I think it would be impossible to never worry, and I really don't think that's where Jesus is heading.  After all, there are some important issues that occupy our brains.  I don’t think Jesus would tell us that worrying about the safety of loved ones would be a waste of time.  I don’t think worrying about providing necessities for ourselves and our families is a waste of time, especially in these times.  After all, the Lord ’s Prayer, taught to us by Jesus, asks God to “Give us this day our daily bread.”  So maybe it's ok to worry about getting your daily bread.  But to worry about the flavor and texture of the bread that might not be the best use of your time.

Maybe what Jesus is challenging us to do is to be aware of how we prioritize our worries, and to re-examine what we do with them.  I think I could get on board with that.

Other thoughts:

What would the map of our thoughts look like if we worried about the important things and gave the little things up to God? 

How much calmer and happier would our lives be?  And is it easier said than done? 

What on earth would we do with all that extra time?

*This is a prayer of confession that I heard at Grace Presbyterian church on Sunday February 20^th.  I have found multiple sources on line none of which, as far as I can tell, are the original.  If you recognize it, please let me know.  I love it so much.