Don’t Worry! Be Happy!

The teaching of Jesus in Matthew 6: 25-34 (part of the Sermon on the Mount), at first glance looks like a fairly benign encouragement to “let go and let God”, as a means of dealing with a very anxious humanity. But as we look at the passage a little closer, we discover that what Jesus is calling us to “let go” of, is probably the most difficult teaching in his whole sermon.

We accept the spirituality of the beatitudes and Jesus teaching about prayer. We seem to feel reasonably comfortable with the rightness of his teaching about personal morality (lust and adultery, though not quite so comfortable with divorce). Jesus teaching about killing and anger find general acceptance, though we find his idea of loving enemies a bit uncomfortable. What is it that Jesus is telling us to stop worrying about, that seems to worry us more than any of these?

The first word in verse 25 is “Therefore”. This word lets us know that Jesus is concluding something he has already begun, so we must look back to what he is finishing. Jesus has been talking about materialism and finishes verse 24 with the words, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (money, wealth, materialism).

He seems to be saying that even in his time, materialism is a form of faith that conflicts directly with faith in God, and the values of God’s kingdom. In our society we might hear about the richest Australians and the salaries of the top CEOs and cry, “How many millions is enough?” But if we are honest, much of that cry comes from envy rather than righteousness.

Jesus is not talking about abundant wealth in this teaching, he is talking about our basic needs; what we eat, what we drink and the clothes we wear. Is Jesus saying we should stop providing for ourselves because God will provide? No! He is saying that we should stop worrying about it. Like the birds and the flowers God has provide us with the means of providing for ourselves; a body with the ability and the intelligence to work, and relational networks so we can work together for the good of all.

The worry factor drives us to move beyond provision to envy, greed and pride. The worry factor drives us to want, and then believe we need more, more, more. Then the more we have, leads us to believe we deserve more, and that somehow we are a cut above the others. The result of the worry factor is to move our love for God and others out of the centre, and ourselves into the place where God belongs. Now that is something we should worry about.

I want to say just one thing about worry in general. Worry itself is a natural response which gets our attention and drives us to resolve issues. The question we must ask of any worry is whether it is rational. There are many things we can change or improve, so that our worry is resolved, but there are many (even more) about which we can do nothing and yet we still worry pointlessly. Sometimes, as in the case of materialistic desires, worry is an endless, destructive force that may bring great success and great unhappiness.

What Jesus is saying is that God and his righteousness must remain front and centre. The goal of life is not personal wealth, status and power (the goals of materialism), but the Kingdom God. That Kingdom is about love and provision for all. If we need a measure for that, then Jesus gives the measure of what we want for ourselves. How many magazines do we need, to prove to us that happiness in life does not comes from materialism? When will we learn that happiness comes from right relationships, informed by a right relationship with God?