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INJ
St Matthew 6:24-34
'Therefore Do Not Worry'
Matins
15th Sunday after the Feast of the Holy Trinity | 24 September 2006
Dear Saints of God,
“Qua na laga,” that's how they say it in Fiji: “None the worries.” “No worries, mate,” in Australia. I heard a Bob Marley song a few days ago, “Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little things gonna be alright.” That must be how they say it in Jamaica. We hear it all the time: “Don't worry.”
This sounds a lot like what Jesus says to us, even commands us in our Gospel text today, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; nor about your body, what you will put on... Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing?... Therefore do not worry.”
This all sounds nice, but this command of our Lord Jesus isn't so easy. We are surrounded in this sinful world by the darkness of death and sorrow and sickness, with trouble and distress on every side, our devil pushing us toward despair, our flesh dragging us to the grave. Our lives seem like a mountain of trouble, and as we stand atop this precarious pinnacle of anxiety, Jesus' words crash in: “Do not worry.”
For our worry, our anxiety, our fear, the trembling thoughts about our bodies, our health, our bank accounts and our retirement, our life and death, our children and families and the violence that surrounds us, these are all the result of being sunk in this world of sin. The result of sin is sickness and death, and more, it is the result of sin that we are afraid of sickness, afraid of pain, and afraid of death. Our fear (of anything but God) shows forth our sinfulness. Our worry is the manifestation of our idolatrous hearts, that we have broken the first and fundamental command to have no other gods, that we do not fear, love and trust in God above all things.
That is why Jesus introduces this text with the words: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” [6:24] Worry, then, is idolatry, and what makes is worse (at least for me) is that my own heart is so full of worry that it's hard to take this command seriously. “Don't worry? That will never happen. I'm just a worrier. I've always worried, and I always will.”
Oh the loathsomeness of our sinful flesh that makes a mockery out of God and His Word and His commands. This is what is happening when we hear this command of Jesus, “Do not worry,” and we don't even think twice about or worry, our anxiety, our fear.
So this command stands as a mirror that shows us our own sinfulness, the rotten fear-filled hearts, but worry and fear cannot be lawed out of our hearts. The law shows us our sins, but it cannot help us be rid of them, for that we need a different medicine.
And so we find comfort in the fact that Jesus says more to us that, “Do not worry.” He says, “Therefore, do not worry.” “Therefore” means that Jesus is giving us a reason not to worry, a rationale that ought to stand behind our lack of fear. How is it, then, that we do not worry? Perhaps a story will illustrate.
Oli and the End of Worry
Oli never knew his parents. The story was (or at least what he was told) that his mother had died and his father couldn't take him to the coal mines were he worked, and so he had been handed over to an orphanage. There wasn't much money, and really, at the orphanage, there wasn't any money at all. Oli, being older, and being a boy, got the worst of it. All the food and blankets and care went first to the babies, and then to the girls, and the boys were left to fight for what was left. He knew nights so cold that there was no sleep, and the pain of an empty stomach. No one cared about him, or even gave him a second thought.
There was even the time that Oli ran away from the orphanage, he said it was to find his father, but really he wanted just a bit of attention, someone to chase after him, to see his pain, but when he came back two days later no one had noticed that he was gone. “No one cares for me,” Oli knew it, “I'll have to take care of myself.”
So his thoughts turned on his own self-preservation. How will I be warm? How will I be full? How will I be safe? These questions were his constant diet, a meal of anxiety and worry, for, in the small world of his poor orphanage, the answers were often difficult to come by, but Oli's worry energized him, it made him powerful, sometimes mean but always motivated, and even, it seemed, successful. He found (no one knew how) clothes and shoes and food, and his clothing and food kept getting nicer and nicer. But underneath all this success there was fear, and worry. He was almost 15, the age when the young boys were put out of the orphanage.
But then it happened, two weeks before his birthday, that the lady of the orphanage called Oli into her office. Sitting across from her was a nicely dressed man with a smooth face and smiling eyes. “This,” said the woman, “is Mr. Pataer. He has adopted you. Gather up your stuff, you'll be leaving us now.”
There was a few hours of stunned silence as Oli collected his belongings and traveled from the orphanage to his new home, really his only home, even though it was strange to him. He wasn't sure if he was happy or angry, but a times like this feeling don't really matter. Mr. Pataer was quiet on the ride home, knowing, it seems, that Oli was fighting an internal fight that was better left alone, but when they arrived at him home he put an end to all the turmoil. “Oli,” he said, “I'm your father. You are my son. It is my job now to care for you. This home is mine, which means it is yours. This kitchen is mine, which means it's your. These clothes are mine, which means they're yours. All that I have belongs to you.”
For the first time in his life, Oli had someone else worrying about him, caring for him, loving him, and so now is was no longer necessary for Oli to worry about himself, in fact, that all seemed quite silly. Oli had a father, and that was all that matters.
This, dear saints, is how it is with us. Jesus says, “Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” [6:31,32]
You have a Father in heaven, who clothes the lilies and feeds the sparrows and counts the number of your hairs. He knows you more than you know yourself. He loves you more than you love yourself. And He cares for you. You are in His hands, adopted into His family through the waters of your baptism, made into His child through the death of His only Son in your place. He has forgiven you all your sin and given you His righteousness; He has given you His Name, and His kingdom, the inheritance of His Son, even eternal life.
With our Father caring for us, we do not need to care for ourselves. We are free from that, and can care for our neighbors. With our heavenly Father loving us, we do not need to love ourselves, we are free from that, and can love our neighbors. With our heavenly Father looking after us, we do not need to worry or be afraid, perfect love casts our this fear, even the fear of sin and death, for our Father in heaven has taken care even of this, by sending Jesus to the sinner's death in our stead and in our place.
“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” [1 John 3:1] “Therefore, do not worry.” Amen.
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Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller
Hope Lutheran Church | Aurora, CO