2nd before Lent 2026

(Matthew 6:25 to end)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not worry”.

We often tell people not to worry because we don’t want to watch those, we care about, worrying. We feel uncomfortable because we can’t do anything to help. They may have perfectly good reasons to worry. Things might not work out, and life may just be difficult and challenging.

Today’s Gospel reading then, might seem very inappropriate. Jesus says to his disciples, “Don’t worry”. Isn’t this just the same kind of roll of the tongue reassurance which irritates us so much in other contexts? There are a couple of things I’d like us to notice, which may make a difference to how we understand his words.

Firstly Jesus doesn’t say ”don’t worry” at all. It’s a rather misleading translation. What do you think of when you hear the word “worry”? Probably the emotion of anxiety – that knot in the pit of your stomach that won’t go away. The word Jesus uses isn’t really about emotion; it’s about what we do. It comes from a root which means “to be pulled apart, divided, distracted”. It is about where we put our attention, where we direct our focus. Jesus isn’t telling us how to feel, and he’s certainly not making light of our fears. We can’t stop the emotion of worry just by telling ourselves not to be anxious. What matters, though, is what we do about it, and that brings me to the second point I’d like us to notice.

Because Jesus doesn’t stop at the words “don’t worry” – however we translate it. He actually says, “Don’t worry about....your life, your food, your clothes.” He isn’t saying that worrying is wrong. He isn’t suggesting that we should drift through life saying “Whatever will be, will be.” Jesus wasn’t like that himself; he cared passionately, gave himself unstintingly to the things he felt were important – and he calls us to do the same. If we live lives that are worth living, we are bound to find ourselves caring, working and perhaps worrying sometimes too. The question is what should we be working at, caring, and worrying about? Should the focus be on own lives, our possessions? Is that what we should put our energy into?

The Bible has no problem with material things in themselves. In our first reading we heard the story of God creating the world. A world full of riches. And every time God looks at what he’s made he says – “it’s good!” God likes all the things he’s made, and he wants us to enjoy it too. Matter matters. But the Bible warns us again and again that we shouldn’t expect our possessions to do more than they are capable of. However hard we work, however much we accumulate, we can’t control everything that happens around us. Our possessions will never be able to protect us completely against the sorrows of life. The grandeur of the Creation story reminds us of where we really stand in the order of things; beloved creatures, but not gods, given power, but nowhere near all-powerful. If we expect our possessions to protect us and keep us safe – if we focus on these, worry about these – we are wasting our energy, because they will never be up to the task.

So if we can't focus on material possessions, what should we worry about? The kingdom of God and his righteousness, says Jesus. Justice, compassion, generosity, and above all love. The hallmarks of the kingdom are the things which draw us away from an anxious obsession with ourselves, and open our eyes to one another and to God. They are the things which tend to get pushed out first when we are under pressure. Yet they will bring us into right relationship with God and his creation.

When trouble strikes, it is the loving friendships we have that matter most. Money can’t buy us immortality, invulnerability or freedom from sorrow; but it is the loving networks we establish amongst ourselves which are our true protection and support in times of disaster, sorrow and in the many difficulties we face in life.

That is true of our human relationships, and it is even more true of our relationship with God. Our hands aren’t big enough to hold onto the things which life throws at us. We might be better at sowing and reaping and spinning than the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, but we are just as dependent on God as they are. In the end and it is only when we know that, when we can relax into hands which are infinite, and will never let us fall, that we can really feel safe. This does not mean that nothing bad will ever happen in our own lives. It does mean however that we know that whatever happens it cannot ultimately destroy us. When we have that sort of security, the loving hands of God, we can face anything.

The world is a precarious place, as well as a glorious one. We are very small, despite all our pretensions to be otherwise, and we are all faced with an almost infinite sea of possible troubles, the vast majority of which we can do nothing about at all. The resilience we need to cope with them can’t be found in possessions. It is found when we learn to trust in God’s promise that he will never fail or leave us. When we concentrate our energies not on ourselves, but on building a world where everyone can know what it is to be loved and accepted whoever they are and whatever their story.

Amen