Jesus said to his disciples, "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do no sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the open tomorrow, will he not much provide for you, O you of little faith? So don't worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or ' What are we to drink?' or What are we to wear?' All these things pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil".
The Word in other words
There is a story about a man suffering from insomnia. He decided to try the old remedy: counting sheep. He went to bed and closed his eyes, but when the first sheep came along, it stumbled and fell. Would someone come along to help the sheep? How many more sheep would come along and stumble over the fallen sheep? How many sheep would be injured? How much more would the shepherd lose as a result of the accident? The man was so personally involved with the situation that the more he could not sleep!
In today's gospel, Jesus teaches us not to worry and put more trust in God. When He tells us that we should learn from the lilies of the field and the birds of the sky, He is saying that God, in His Providence, takes care of us "who are much more of value than they".
But the write J.C. Holland had this insight on God's Providence: "God gives every birds its food, but He does not throw it into the nest. If you observe the birds, they work so hard scraping food here and there in order to feed their nestlings." When Jesus says, "Don't worry", He doesn't mean, "Don't work".
Following Jesus' teaching on worrying, some might say, "Do you mean to say I should not worry if my creditors are running after me over my two-million peso debt?" Or, "should I not worry if I'am on the verge of losing my job due to retrenchment?" Or "if this lump on my neck is diagnosed as terminal cancer?" These should be causes for worry, indeed. But with firm faith in the Lord, we should do our utmost best to remedy them. But if the situation is beyond human control, say, the unexpected death of a loved one or an incurable sickness, then we just have to accept them in faith. As someone rightly said, "Don't worry about things that you can't do anything about." Do your best, then, God will do the rest.
