Text
25 For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life in terms of what you are to eat or drink, or about what you are to wear on your body. Is there not more to life than food, and more to your body than the clothes on it? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor harvest nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than them? 27 Who among you can add a single day to your lifespan by worrying? 28 And why worry about clothes? Consider how the wildflowers grow in the fields: they neither labor nor spin. 29 But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed like one of these. 30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, how much more will he do for you, oh you of little faith? 31 So do not worry and say, “What are we to eat?” or “What are we to drink?” or “What are we to wear?” 32 All these things the Gentiles seek after. Your Heavenly Father knows you need them all. 33 But seek first the Kingdom and its righteousness, and all these things will be granted to you. 34 Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Enough for today are its own troubles.
Comments
One way of understanding the Sermon on the Mount is as a NT parallel to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Moses ascended the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law from God. Likewise, Jesus ascends a hill to teach his disciples the ethical demands of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus’ teachings and the Ten Commandments cover similar ground: how to truly honor God, how to avoid harming one’s neighbor, how to live out one’s sexuality with integrity, how to honor the truth with one’s words.
The Ten Commandments end with the prohibition against coveting, which is an obsessive, malicious desire for what someone else has. It arises from the selfish urge to have a higher status than one’s neighbor, and from a fearful lack of faith in God to provide for what we need. Jesus addresses this attitude in 6.19-34. In this life, we may not have everything we want, but like the birds and the wildflowers, we will have everything we need. Excessive concern with food and clothing represents the values of the World, not of the Kingdom (6.31-32). Jesus encourages his followers to trust in God to provide for their daily necessities and reminds them that sometimes it is more important to do what is right than what is prudent (6.33).
