Now the “out of context” crowd will use the same easy answer
they always use: “He didn’t really mean it.” If we take the text as the actual
words he is supposed to have said, it’s pretty obvious that he did mean it.
There’s some snippet of the unusual in his words, though. He
slips a little deeper thought into what sounds simple. He’s bad about that.
Maybe, just maybe, it is the kind of worry we often employ
that he is talking about. Someone said that the word “worry” means to be “torn
in two.” There is an old story about the hobo who decided that he wanted to go
see his friends in New York and grabbed hold of a northbound freighter. Then he
decided it was nice and warm in Florida, so he grabbed the end of southbound
and held fast to both. The story goes that he wasn’t the first person ever to
be torn apart by indecision.
The Galilean, thought, slips this in about worry:
“So
do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What
shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly
Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. herefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has
enough trouble of its own.”
Did you catch that? First seek his kingdom and his righteousness.
That is fascinating. How might all our worries take better care of themselves if
we first seek righteousness in whatever form is meaningful to us?
Today’s news, once again, offers a prime example. As alluded
to earlier, we seem to have real crisis confronting us, one that deserves genuine concern. What we have left out of the process so far is exactly what
the Galilean commanded: First seek righteousness.
Blaming the crisis on your political opponents is hardly a
righteous first step.
The sermon from that lonely hill still resonates after all
those years, doesn’t it?
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