Do Not Worry 

Today's reading in the Sermon on the Mount shows us how much our Father in heaven cares for us.
Has it ever struck you what a basically happy person Jesus was?
Yes, according to the prophesies, we know that he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. We know the scene in Gethsemane where he is wrestling with his Father. We understand that the world's darkness and sadness descended upon him on the cross. We know he wept at the tomb of Lazarus.
But these are exceptions, the dark patches painted onto the bright background.
As we read a passage like this, we can see the brightness of Jesus shining through.
He had watched the birds wheeling around, high up on the currents of the air in the Galilean hills, simply enjoying being alive.
Jesus had figured out that the birds never really seemed to do the humans' work, yet mostly stayed alive and well.
He had seen the thousands of different kinds of flowers growing in the fertile Galilee soil and had held his breath at their fragile beauty. Jesus knew that these lilies would be better-taken care of than someone in the care of Solomon with all his resources.
Jesus had a robust and lively sense of his Father's goodness, the creator of the world.
His whole Spirituality is many a mile from those teachers who insisted that the present world is filled with shadows and gloom and vanity, and that true philosophy consists in escaping it.
His teaching grew out of his experience.
When he told his followers not to worry about tomorrow, we must assume he led by example.
Jesus wasn't looking ahead anxiously, even though he would be justified.
Jesus seemed to have the skill of living entirely in the present, giving attention to the needs and beauty that lay before him, celebrating the goodness of God here and now.
And he wanted his followers to do the same.
When Jesus tells us not to worry about what to eat, or drink, or wear, he doesn't mean that these things don't matter. He is not saying to wear the rattiest clothing and eat and drink as little as possible.
Far from it! Jesus likes to party as much as anyone.
The point of this is priorities.
Put the world first, and you'll find it gets moth-eaten in your hands. But put God first, and you'll get the world thrown in.
Living totally without worry sounds, to many people, as impossible as living totally without breathing. Some people are so hooked on worry that if they haven't got anything to worry about, they worry that they have forgotten something to worry about in the first place.
Here, at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, is an invitation that surprisingly few people try to take up—the invitation not to worry.

Ver todos los episodios