Don't Worry

May 25, 2008     Proper 3 A

Isaiah 49:8-16            Psalm 131

1 Corinthians 4:1-5         St. Matthew 6:24-34

Jesus says we ought not to worry. Listen to him again: "...do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" As usual, what he says makes sense. We DO worry too much, especially those of us in this affluent society who seem to have less to worry about than so many others in the world. And the result is a spate of problems that we constantly bring on ourselves.

The British born movie actor David Niven was a worrier and a habitual nail-biter. Once he received a postcard written by his friend, Noel Coward, who was traveling inItaly. The card showed a picture of the Venus de Milo and said, "YOU SEE WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU KEEP ON BITING YOUR NAILS."

A book came out some years ago called How to Win over Worry. It quoted some statistics that are probably just as valid today as when they were published in the mid-sixties. The book pointed out that more people die in America as a result of suicide (the consummation of stress, duress, anxiety and worry) than who die from the five most common contagious diseases combined. Twice as many people die by suicide as die by homicide. Fifty percent more people die because of ulcers than die because of murder. Another book by a noted physician called Stop Worrying and Get Well called attention to the fact that worry causes heart trouble, high blood pressure, some forms of asthma, rheumatism, ulcers, colds, thyroid malfunction, arthritis, migraine headaches, blindness, and a host of stomach disorders. Doctors today are quite candid in admitting that more than half of the patients in hospitals are there as much because of the accumulated effects of mental problems as anything else.

Some years ago, there was a song made popular by Bobby McFerrin, "Don't Worry, Be Happy." This was a catchy little song that had the instrumental accompaniment done without instruments. Bobby McFerrin did all the sounds using nothing but his voice. A more important touch point for our lessons today than the title is the author of the song. It was taken from a poem by Meher Baba, a 20^th century Iranian mystic. He tells us not to worry because the world and all of its problems are imaginary. Why worry about something that is not real? I think this is the opposite thought of what was foremost in the minds of the people of Jesus' day: the things of this world are all there is!

In our Gospel lesson today Jesus is addressing the issue of quality of life. He turns his attention to plant life, "And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you?" All of this in a pre-Nike world! Now, no one would ever deny that proper clothing is important to people. In first century Judea no less than twenty-first century America, that old adage "Clothes make the man" holds true. The clothes people wear reflect a certain position in society as well as offer protection and comfort. Some are terribly concerned about those clothes, so much so that they spend inordinate amounts of time and money making sure that they have nothing but the best - they WORRY about them...but Jesus says DON'T. To be sure, he is NOT saying that everyone will be provided with the latest designer fashions; what he IS saying is that they do not make any difference. As far as God is concerned, clothes do NOT make the man (or the woman), because if they did, the flowers and the grass would be higher up on the scale of things than WE are. But they are obviously not, and that should be apparent when one considers just how expendable flowers and grass really are.

The Greek word for "lilies" means wild flowers or weeds. Jesus is referring to any plant that is both lovely and will grow on its own without cultivation. Since wood was scarce in Palestine, these wild flowers were sometimes used for fire. Jesus is saying, "Look, God's care extends even to these wild flowers, which eventually end up in a furnace. How much more, then, will he care for you, ?O you of little faith?'"

The heart of the problem is our lack of faith? We really don't know how much God loves us. That's why we worry about the future. That's why we hold on to the mistakes of our past. I love the way Isaiah puts it in today's lesson from the Old Testament, "But Zion said, ?The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.'" Then Isaiah adds these wonderful words, "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!"

Isaiah is saying that even our own mother might forget us or forsake us, but God never will. Can you even imagine a greater love than a mother for her child? And yet the testimony of scripture is that God's love for each of us is greater than even that.

We don't have to worry because we have a God who cares for us. We don't have to worry about our lives because God worries for us. All we must do is live as if we believe that God cares for us. If God cared enough for us to give his only Son to die for us, why should we doubt that God would give us anything else?