Having exposed the folly of covetousness in the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), Jesus now exposes the kind of anxiety that leads to such behavior.

Jesus moves from addressing the crowds to speaking to his disciples. In Luke 12:13-21, the crowds are warned against the danger of greed in general. Now, the disciples are warned about the distraction of worry (Luke 12:22-31).

The disciples have “left everything” to follow Jesus (cf. 5:11, 28). Their problem is not in managing the abundance that the rich fool possessed, but in providing for the basic needs of life: food and clothing. Obviously, they must reject the greed that typified the rich fool, but even further, as disciples, they must not worry about their own basic needs.

A Worrisome Problem

Worry is a universal phenomenon. It plagues all people. Everyone can relate to feeling as if they worry too much about too many things. To make matters worse, it is possible to be anxious about everything – even anxiety itself. We can worry about worrying!

Worry affects more than our mind and attitude. Worry ails the body. It causes us to lose sleep, to be short of breath, to become angry. It stresses the body, bores holes in the lining of our stomachs, and shortens our lives.

The problem of anxiety has not changed throughout history. Jesus’ teaching is proof of this. Much of our experience of anxiety stems from “the idol of control” – our attempt to control every detail of our lives and manage the outcome for our own benefit. In the book The Spirituality of Imperfection, authors Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham state it well: “The attempt to control the future and the demand to be in charge of everything in our lives sentences us to a daily existence obsessed with life-numbing worry.”[1]

Is All Worry Wrong?

Before we address the problem of worry, it is important to recognize that not all worry is wrong. Some worry is healthy and appropriate. Self-help guru Alan Cohen simplifies matters too much when he states, “Worry is not an expression of love. It is an expression of fear and mistrust.”[2]

Not all anxiety is wrong. Saint Paul was positively concerned for the welfare of the Corinthian church (2 Corinthians 11:28). Paul’s son in the faith, young Timothy, was commended by his mentor for his concern for the Philippian church (Philippians 2:20). The common denominator in both examples is care and concern for the welfare of others.

When Jesus condemns worry, he is not condemning legitimate concern for others. Instead, he condemns selfish preoccupation with material things. Self-centered worry is abominable; self-less concern for others is godly. In the latter sense, worry can be a deep expression of love. The complete lack of worry is apathy, disinterest, sloth. It is the attitude reflected in the saying, “I don’t care!” We must remember that the opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is apathy.

Therefore, let us refrain from painting all worry with one broad brushstroke. Worry is not always sinful and wrong. It all depends upon what is being worried about and why. And, ultimately, we must learn to cast all our concerns – both selfless and selfish – before God (1 Peter 5:7).

A Lesson in the School of Creation

Jesus begins his teaching with a direct command against worry: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear” (Luke 22:22).  There is more to life than food and clothing (Luke 22:23). These things, though basic, are not the most meaningful things in life. Indeed, creation itself reveals this.

Jesus’ basic argument is this simple: “God cares for all creatures; God cares even more for you.”[3] How does Jesus know this? He has learned this through the simple observation of ordinary creatures. His schoolroom is God’s creation and his books are the creatures that inhabit God’s world. Jesus invites us to reflect upon the divine lessons hidden in creation (for just as there is more to life than food and clothing, there is more to life than meets the eye).

First, he puts forward the ravens for our reflection. Unlike the rich fool, they do not store up large amounts of food. God feeds them. It is significant that under the Old Covenant ravens are unclean birds of prey (Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14). In spite of this, God’s care for them is mentioned in Scripture (Ps. 147:9). This highlights God’s indiscriminate goodness toward all his creatures. Jesus takes this fact and argues from the lesser to the greater. If God is good to unclean birds of prey, then how much more will he demonstrate his goodness to human beings made in his image and likeness? “Of how much more value are you than the birds!” (Luke 12:24)

Second, he submits the lilies for our observation. In contrast to humans, they do not work or toil, and yet they are clothed in glorious splendor. Jesus compares the beauty of flowers to the legendary glory of Solomon’s court. God shows extravagance to simple plants that are ultimately used as “grass” for fire. Again, Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater: “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you” (Luke 12:28).

The lesson in the school of creation is simple: “God cares for all creatures; God cares even more for you.”[4]

The Theater of God’s Glory

Jesus invites us to a new way of seeing. He desires that we view creation in a whole new way, that is, in the way it is intended to be viewed – as the theater of God’s glory: “The heavens declare the glory of God, the earth proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1); “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of host, the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3).

Jesus invites us to see glory in the ordinary – “the holiness of the commonplace.”[5] The world is a schoolroom, the teacher is God, and the lesson is God’s love. In the well-known words of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “Earth’s crammed with Heaven, and every common bush afire with God.”

Faith transforms everything we see and hears God whispering in and through creation. Armed with faith, spiritual lessons arise from the most unexpected places. For example: tiny seeds speak of great spiritual potential and plants represent the transformation of seeds to living entities. Soil speaks of rootedness in the foundations of faith. Sunshine speaks of God’s faithfulness (the steady rhythms of sunrise and sunset are the foundation for time) and God’s glory (we cannot stare directly into the sun, but we see all things in light of it). Rain speaks of cleansing and renewal. Rocks speak of God’s steadfast, unmovable faithfulness. Clouds speak of coming storms that both terrify and replenish. The wind speaks of God’s mysterious breath that enlivens, sustains, and moves all things. And so on.

The Discipline of Faithful Sight

This way of seeing does not happen naturally. We must train ourselves to see with and through eyes of faith. It requires a steady gaze, a pure heart, a disciplined focus. Thomas a’Kempis puts it this way: “If thy heart were right, then every creature would be a mirror of life and a book of holy doctrine. There is no creature so small and abject, but it reflects the goodness of God.”

This is what it means to be spiritual: God’s way is known in the routine rhythms of daily life. “The spiritual path is not an extraordinary path, not a path that leads us out of our everyday existence, but it is instead quite an ordinary path that leads us into our existence with eyes capable of seeing everything as holy, of seeing everything as an opportunity for union with the divine.”[6]

Catholic theologian, Peter Kreeft invites us to this discipline:

This way of looking at things, as gifts and signs rather than simply as things in themselves, is not our usual way of seeing. Try this new way for just one hour and see the difference it makes. See the sunrise not as a mindless, mechanical necessity but as God’s smile. See a wave not just as tons of cold salt water crashing down on the shore but as God’s playful action. See even death as not just a biological necessity but as God tucking us in at bedtime so that we can rise to new life in the morning.[7]

Thomas Merton states the truth with great simplicity yet deep profundity:

Life is this simple: We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God manifests Himself everywhere, in everything, in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that He is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without Him. You cannot be without God. It’s impossible. It’s simply impossible.[8]

Even though we “cannot be without God” – since we live and move and have our being because of God – we can live as if this is not the case. We can deny this fundamental aspect of reality.

And when we do, we pay a deep price. For then, everything – food, clothing, security, etc. – does depend upon us. When we live without God in the world, we must strive to maintain control by worrying about food and clothing, and, if we are fortunate, building bigger and better barns to assure our continued success. When this is the case, we have no time for God’s kingdom or devotion to others’ welfare. Thoughts of survival and success occupy our thinking, shrivel our soul, and lead us to believe that life is about food, clothing, and security. But it is not!

Conclusion

Through thoughtful, spiritual reflection upon creation, Jesus desires that his disciples experience a “new recognition of God’s goodness and care, [in order that they] can be freed from anxious striving for food and clothing (v. 29) so that they may strive instead for God’s kingdom (v. 31).”[9]

Our first strike against worry has to do with changing our sight – seeing with and through faith. It involves beholding glory in the ordinary; seeing God’s faithfulness, love, and care in the rhythms of creation. It is an alternative vision of the world that allows us to lose our preoccupation with self and strive with all our passion for God’s kingdom – a kingdom that challenges the greed and anxiety of this world.

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© Richard J. Vincent, 2006