What shall I wear? It’s not like I lack options. In fact, the opposite is true … I have so many choices that I don’t know where to start. I plan to drop into the gym later and need something that is neat enough to wear to a meeting (especially the top half … many of my meetings are online) yet stretchy enough to be suitable for the ‘older ladies gym’ (Curves) I frequent.
I’m not like that older lady at the gym who turned up in a bright orange T-shirt the other day on which was printed, ‘Gezellig – an untranslatable word’. Of course, I asked, “So what does ‘gezellig’ mean?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t know,” she replied. “I just buy gym gear from the op shop.” She doesn’t worry about what to wear.
Happily, another lady DID know what ‘gezellig’ meant. Her husband had been Dutch and he used that word often. It refers to a cozy, friendly, comfortable atmosphere. Many coffee shops, for example, are ‘gezellig’ but a dentist’s waiting room rarely is rarely ‘gezellig’.
But I digress. The point is this: Jesus told us NOT to worry about clothes! Or, by implication, other mundane minutiae of life, necessary though they be.
Flowers of the field
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.
Matthew 6:28-29 NIV
When Jesus spoke these words, he was sitting on a hillside preaching what we now call ‘The Sermon on the Mount’. Can you imagine him waving his arm about, pointing out the variety of little flowers amongst the grass on the hill on which his listeners sat?
Some translations refer to ‘the lilies of the field’ because the original Greek word κρίνα (krina) literally means a particular type of small wild lily.
The word translated ‘field’ in many translations like the NIV is interesting too. In fact, our English word ‘agriculture’ comes from the same root word from that which is used here – ἀγροῦ (agrou). Basically, we’re talking farmland.
As I understand it, Jesus isn’t referring to flashy flowers such as roses and hydrangeas that have been lovingly cultivated. No, he is pointing out the pretty weeds!
God clothes the grass
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith?
Matthew 6:30 NIV
I don’t know what happened to the pretty weeds of Jesus’ day, but I do know what happens to pretty weeds in my neighbourhood. I live in suburbia, and the pretty weeds that grow between the side of the road and the footpath get mown.
Just like that, all these pretty flowers will be beheaded!
Yet despite their short-lived beauty, God clothes the grass in spectacular fashion. How much more can we count on him to adequately provide for us?!
Food, drink and clothing
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.
Matthew 6:33 NIV
It’s not wrong to proactively provide for ourselves and our families. Indeed, some years after ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ was given, the apostle Paul would pen a letter in which he rebuked ‘the idle’. He even gave the early Thessalonian church a rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10 NIV).
But it IS wrong to obsess over food, drink and clothes. I think of the society in which I live, here in Australian suburbia. So many TV shows are based around food, and my social media feed is full of that too. (That probably reflects my browsing habits.) A recent challenging TV show (War on Waste – well worth watching) highlighted the dreadful waste in the fashion industry.
It’s not just pagans whose lives are consumed by questions of ‘What will we eat, drink and wear?’
We have far more significant things to focus upon – God’s kingdom and righteousness. Let THAT be the object of our concerns and may it be reflected in our social media feeds too.
Therefore, don’t worry
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 NIV
“Therefore do not worry….”, said Jesus. What is the ‘therefore’ there for? As Jesus spoke those words, what preceded the ‘therefore’ was Jesus’ gesturing to the flying birds and pretty weeds of his day.
“Look at the birds of the air…. See how the flowers of the field grow.” Don’t worry. Don’t obsess over the basic necessities of life.
Our lives won’t be trouble free. Jesus himself experienced anything but trouble-free days during his time on earth. Opposition culminating in his arrest and crucifixion were part of Jesus’ everyday existence during his three years of public ministry.
But don’t worry about tomorrow. Just deal with what is in front of you today.
Lilies of the drain
Today I sat down to do work on my annual ‘spend estimate’ (essentially a budget, and something the agency through which I work helpfully requires of us). I had not realised until two days ago that our annual spend estimate is due in today, which was actually kind of helpful, as I would have procrastinated doing it until today anyhow.
I had also planned to write up this blog post today. I preached on this passage a few weeks ago, but hadn’t yet written it up. Two days ago, I meditated on this passage and drafted the blog post. However, the weather has been grey and my days have been full, so I hadn’t yet taken photos to illustrate it nor typed it up.
Today, after a morning of meetings, I finally 硬着头皮 (a Chinese proverb literally meaning that I ‘hardened the skin on my head’ ie just gritted my teeth and got on with an unpleasant task) and plugged through my ‘spend estimate’ paperwork. I promised myself a ‘weed admiration walk’ (taking pictures for this post) made even sweeter by a cafe coffee along the way as a reward for finishing my budget.
God is SO kind. Finances stress me out, even though year after year I enjoy God’s generous provision through his good people. I’ve never lacked anything I needed. In God’s providence, these past two days I have been thinking about ‘flowers of the field’ exactly at the same time as I focused on finances.
As if to emphasise the point, as I walked along, God even provided a magnificent picture of lilies growing out of a drain cover over a nearby drain. I felt his Spirit gently saying, “Consider the lilies of the drain. How much more do I care for you?”
But wait … there is more
Don’t worry … there is no more significant content to this blog post. But in just a short half hour walk (plus a coffee stop) on this spring afternoon, I enjoyed SO much beauty – too much to squeeze between the sections of this post. None of these photos are of flowers intentionally planted or cultivated. No, they all just happened to grow in empty spots by the roadside.
And so let me conclude with collages of beauty. Enjoy the pictures and sense the ‘gezellig’ (a cosy, comfortable and friendly feeling) that comes with being God’s dearly loved child.
If this is how he clothes the flowers on scraps of land besides the roads and footpaths of Melbourne, here today and beheaded by a lawnmower tomorrow, how much more will he care for us?
