Saturday, 11the week in ordinary time – 20^th June 2026 – Matthew 6:24-34

This text must be read as a composite unit. While it may seem to be two issues at hand verse 24 serves to state the issue while verses 25- 34 serve as the solution. Sadly, the titles to these scripture texts as they appear in our Bibles create an artificial and fallacious impression that these are two teaching; in reality they are one.

Society has changed a great deal since the time of Jesus. Definitions of poverty, wealth, and the good life are much different today than they were then. Yet even today, many of us may not fall in the category of affluence and wealth. Perhaps many of us have grown out of poverty into a growing middle class. The reality is often seen in our parents who lived through hard times and who continue to live in the ‘fear’ of an impending financial tragedy.

This fear is often seen in the poor. The poor who wander our streets, have no cupboards or refrigerators. The dirty hand bag they carry often serves as both. In it they store all kinds and all sorts out of fear of not getting another meal. Take this example to another level and apply it to ourselves. Most of us, like the poor on our streets, live in fear. The security we enjoy could disappear in a flash; a job loss, the death of a bread winner and so on. It is understandable why many of us would cling to our bank balances rather than to the word of God. Wealth competes with God for the human heart.

We often try to solve next year’s or next week’s problems with today’s energy. Jesus reminds us that God distributes grace daily. Jesus wants us to cling to him especially if our fear and insecurity of the future should turn into an obsession or even worse a crazed desire to hoard more, buy more and possess more. In doing that, we ‘despise’ the Lord, while being ‘devoted’ to our financial portfolios. It is in this light that verse 25 flows.

Of all Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, this is one of the more difficult sections to understand. Jesus’ words seem out of step with our society and on the surface, they lack coherence with the lives we are living. The Lord’s solution which seems simplistic is reflected in the ever-popular song of Bobby Mcferrin which dominated the 1980’s called “don’t worry be happy.”

 Five times in this text we are told to stop worrying about tomorrow as the troubles we have today are burdensome itself. It seems to suggest that one does not need to work or prepare for the future at all; we can simply relax knowing that God will take care of our needs.

Yet, ironically this is not just good practical advice but also sage spiritual advice. The attitude of dependence on the Lord must shine forth in our lives or else our needs become wants and our wants drive us to greed, driving our souls into the hands of satan. Materialism acts like an addiction; it promises that the next milestone of wealth will bring rest, but it only increases the fear of losing what you have. Remember, God doesn’t promise luxury; He promises sufficiency

Jesus does not condemn responsible planning; He condemns taking on the burdens of the future before they arrive. Anxiety exhausts tomorrow’s grace today. Jesus exposes worry not just as a bad habit, but as a spiritual identity crisis. When we obsess over security, we act like orphans rather than children of a loving Heavenly Father. Say to yourself today, ‘anxiety will not sit on my thoughts today; I am already approved, so I have nothing to prove.’

“Do not worry about what you will eat” in verse 6:25 does not mean that food is unimportant. Remember that the Lord himself asked that his followers to pray for “daily bread” (6:11). The issue is not what we eat or drink or wear but our trust in God to provide it. Jesus is addressing the basis for excessive worry and anxiety that can result from a life separated from God and this is the point being made.

In the text of today, Jesus treats money not as a neutral tool, but as a rival master or deity. In the ancient world, a slave could not divide their time between two owners; absolute allegiance was required. You either live for the accumulation of material things (seeking security in the temporal) or for God’s kingdom (seeking security in the eternal). Seek the King, and He will take care of the kingdom because the size of your bank account cannot buy the peace of your soul.

The life of discipleship is characterized by a life that is singular in its pursuit of God. It does not mean that we will not (or should not) acquire possessions, wealth, or need food, clothing and other necessities. Rather, once one is devoted to God, one adopts the values, behaviors and priorities that God affirms.