“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?”
That part of today’s gospel begs the question about God’s providence. Jesus tells us not to worry, saying “What will we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or What shall we wear?” Yet most of us do worry about such things. We worry about our security, about our retirement, about food and clothing. I believe that we all have a responsibility to work to our capacity, to plan for the future, and to provide for ourselves so that we do not become an unnecessary burden on others.
Some of you know my first career was as a biologist. I know that not all the birds of the air get fed. Often only a small fraction of a species survives to adulthood. Often it is only the strongest that survive. It is the way of nature, and it is a good thing because otherwise the world would be grossly overpopulated. We live in a world where children starve to death at an unconscionable rate, not because there is not enough food but because of political division. Of course we should worry.
I am talking with a congregation that knows some people do not get enough to eat or drink, who do not have enough clothing to stay warm on a cold day, who do not have a place of shelter to sleep comfortably. I am talking to people who know that some people die without enough to keep them alive, not even enough to be buried properly.
I cannot in good conscience preach prosperity theology, which says that if we only believe the right things, live a righteous life by following the rules, that we will be blessed with material affluence. But the corollary of prosperity theology is that if you are poor, that you have been cursed by God. I don’t believe that, and I don’t think that Jesus believed it either.
So how are we to interpret today’s gospel?
First, let me say that God has provided us a great deal, and he has provided in abundance, but we may not view abundance in quite the same way. Each one of us has been given the great gift of life itself. We have been given a share in God’s creation to enjoy it, sometimes to use it as co-creators with him. We have all been given the gift of time in equal measure every day, to use as we see best. We have been given the dignity of being made in God’s image. Homeless or not, hungry or not, we are all precious in God’s sight. We have been given the opportunity to have a spiritual relationship with God, and he has promised to be with us in suffering, to be available when we seek him. He has promised to love us through thick and thin. Each of us has been given gifts of the Spirit that helps to build up our community. These are not to be sneezed at.
The trouble is we have been conditioned to be concerned about what we do not have, rather than to be grateful for what we do have. The whole purpose of advertising and marketing is to inform us that we need something that we do not already have, or that we need something better than what we have. We are cajoled into comparing ourselves to some airbrushed standard of beauty, and find ourselves lacking. That lack can only be fixed if we buy such and such shampoo. Or our 19 inch television is so out of date – we need, NEED, the 36 inch high-def model. We have been conditioned to believe that we are never good enough, never worthy enough, never have enough. We are conditioned to measure our worthiness by what we possess, and so we are anxious to accumulate more and more. Like the bumper sticker says, “He who dies with the most toys, wins.”
Second, God’s abundance seems to come to us when we share. I know that most of you have had the experience of helping people, through the Red Door, or the Gathering, or mentoring kids, or other ministry. I know, and many of you know, that we almost always feel that we receive back from that ministry more than we gave. Perhaps not in material goods, but in that most precious feeling that we have done some good for someone else. When we share and give of ourselves we become God’s providence to other people.
That highlights the other abundance that cannot be measured in dollars. True riches are found in relationships, I believe. We are made by God to be social animals. We could not survive alone. We need the intimacy of friends and family to be healthy and whole. A recent study has shown that loneliness can actually make us sick and shorten our lives as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Giving of ourselves, sharing what we have, is the basis of righteousness and the foundation of community. And when we find ourselves in situations where we lack what we need, the communities we belong to will often help fill our own need. That too is God’s providence for those who live righteously.
Third, I don’t think that Jesus is trying to say that our own material necessities are not a proper matter of concern for us. But he does say that we should not worry about it, we should not be anxious about it. There is a difference between proper concern and obsession. Indeed, we do not have to look far to see folks who have been obsessed by their possessions. They become possessed by what they own, not the other way round. For them, their identity, their worthiness is defined by what they have and can control. In a twisted sort of way, their success tells them that they have earned God’s favor. But we know that our dignity and worth is given by God as a free gift. Our identity is defined not by what we own, but by being children of God.
All of this is quite as counter cultural today as it was in Jesus’ time. We live in a time and a place where individual choice is one of our highest values. But we choose to find our freedom in serving God and others. That is counter cultural. We live in an economy which seems to depend on ever growing consumer demand. But we choose to live simply, sharing what we have in gratitude for what we have been given. That is counter cultural. We live in a culture where independence is a right. But we choose to live in obedience to a higher power, interdependently with our community. That is counter cultural.
We are not perfect at following those choices, of course. We too are tempted by the glitzy offerings of the market, and to the extent that they offer real progress, they are not bad things. We too want to assert our independence, especially when the community decides on something with which we disagree. We too want to make our own choices. But we do not measure our success in the perfection of our living. We measure our success in the seeking to be good people living good lives.
Jesus said “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we seek to be in relationship with God and Jesus, we will know the peace and love which affirms our worthiness. When we seek to lead a good life, a righteous life, we will grow in character, becoming fully human as God means us to be.
Seek first the kingdom of God, seek first righteousness. I can’t promise you a Mercedes Benz, but I believe you will find a providence and abundance of spirit which surpasses our earthly expectations.