Conspiracy theories are always popular. It is easy to believe that some inside group is holding information that gets in the way of the general public knowing the whole truth; and that secret information is giving that inside group an advantage. Well, this is by no means a conspiracy to withhold information by the church, but it is true that particularly difficult or troublesome passages in the Bible rarely make it into the readings assigned for a Sunday.
Most Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church follow what is called the Revised Common Lectionary for selecting Bible readings for worship. It’s a three-year cycle that repeats. We don’t follow it exactly. While we use the same gospel the lectionary highlights that year, we read that gospel entirely. We leave nothing out.
Well, the passage that we read today is never included in the Revised Common Lectionary. There is a parallel passage in Matthew’s gospel. It does indeed show up in the lectionary. However, it is positioned so that it's only read if Easter falls at its earliest or latest. Otherwise, it isn’t included. So, the year of Matthew has to coincide with Easter being at an extreme for this to show up in worship. Most likely it’ll only happen once or twice in your life. So, while no one is hiding this passage, and you can read it on your own at any time, if the only parts of the Bible you ever hear are the ones read in worship, you’ll almost never encounter it.
You may quite like the idea of never hearing this passage! We don’t like messages from Jesus that tell us to sell our possessions. We like our stuff! That’s probably why it almost never shows up in the lectionary. We’ll come back to that. There’s another serious problem. Jesus says not to worry about food or clothing or your body. He says that God knows our needs and that if we prioritize God’s kingdom then God will provide for our needs. Okay, fine. But does that really work?
What about the two million people of Gaza currently at serious risk of dying from starvation? What about the estimated 400,000 people in the world who have died in the last five months because of the elimination of US AID? (David Brooks in a June 2025 address to the Aspen Ideas Festival, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MMOJIiOm5I&t=747s ) They’ve done nothing wrong. They’re not in control of their life’s circumstances yet they are suffering severely for it. While we want to deeply trust God, I don’t think any of us would say that these people could suddenly get their bodily needs met if they were somehow more faithful; or that if they were more faithful these things wouldn’t have befallen them. The truth is, from our life’s experience God doesn’t provide the way we think God should. Random events, natural disasters, and global dynamics can cripple and destroy the lives of people. We feel powerless. Or, at the very least, the reality that we know from daily life is that you do have to worry about food and clothing and bodily needs.
For many many people across the world, and in our own community, and among us, …despite that we supposedly live in a nation of plenty… life’s need always seem to stretch our resources. Keeping ahead of inflation on basic goods, affording an automobile, covering the increasing cost of maintaining a house (or paying rent), increases in health insurance costs, costs of schooling, and more can cause us constant anxiety.
If you’re working you worry about your income keeping up with the cost of living. If you’re retired you’re on a limited income. You worry if your money will hold out. Even if you have an enormous amount of money available you still have worries: Something happens. You end up in the hospital. You can’t go back home. But nursing homes are almost all busy and have waiting lists. If the hospital decides to discharge you, and the nursing home you want isn’t available, you are sent to the one that has space whether you like it or not. You can bet the nursing home that has space isn’t a good one. That’s it. You might be stuck there with poor care for the rest of your life.
There’s good reason why we don’t like what Jesus said in our gospel reading. Perhaps in a fairy tale life if you put the kingdom of God first all your bodily needs will work out well, but it doesn’t work in reality. There are too many problems. There is too much unfairness. There is too much scarcity. We have every reason to be anxious! What is Jesus playing at saying, “Do not be afraid little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom”? Again, it sounds like a wishful thinking fairy tale.
Well, I admit that by focusing on just these verses I’ve backed Jesus into a corner. I think these verses need their attention but they are part of a much bigger series of teachings. If you’ve been here the last several weeks you know Jesus has warned his followers about hardships, persecutions, arrests, and even death because they follow him. He’s taught them the Lord’s Prayer, which is about the most basic and selfless prayer that can be said. He’s taught them about misplaced priorities and greed. So Jesus does not give these hard words with the idea that his followers will suddenly enjoy marvelous trouble-free lives because they follow him.
He gives these hard words because he knows full well that the world is a place of scarcity. He knows national and international dynamics will impact his followers and they will have no control over them. He knows that life isn’t fair. He knows that for his followers most of their time and physical energy are consumed by acquiring food, having homes, and caring for bodily needs. In other words, he knows they’re going to have a hard time believing him. He’s asking them to give up what little earthly security they have managed by their own efforts and wildly trust in a God they cannot easily see. That’s a big leap and it’s certainly going to cause anxiety!
Nevertheless, that is the perspective that is best. As we’ve looked at Jesus’ teachings from this section of Luke the last few weeks we’ve seen several times that the human perspective is flawed. What we think will be good for us isn’t. What we think will give us fulfillment doesn’t. What we think is trustworthy turns out not to be.
Jesus is going back to the basic challenge of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Can they trust that God has made them whole, or do they take matters into their own hands for wholeness? They, and it seems to be all people, take matters into their own hands.
This whole very difficult text is all about the basic question of trusting God. Do you believe that God is truly holding you and that nothing on earth can diminish or enhance that, or do you trust to your own abilities?
I will make no promises about having a good and easy life if you put total trust in God. But I will certainly promise you an indestructible sense of self and purpose for doing so.
If your life is driven by anxiety over earthly things those anxieties will rule your life. You’ll make decisions, you’ll try to earn and hoard resources, you’ll work and work and work; and worry and worry and worry all the while your life will trickle through your fingers.
Ever tried to cup your hands and hold water? It lasts for a few seconds but all too quickly it all drips away. Your hands end up empty. You have nothing.
Trusting God does not make you immune from life’s difficulties and limits. But trusting God and focusing on God’s kingdom gives you something solid that is outside yourself. It is unchanging. It is a focus that puts all the other needs and anxieties of life into proper perspective.
Ultimately it is true that God will give us the kingdom. We may get glimpses of it in this lifetime. The promise of its complete fulfillment in eternal life inspires us. We look forward to good things from God, and the time when anxieties and limits will truly be no more.
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