Winning Over Worry
Stories
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit
Series VI, Cycle B
Object:
Of all the living things that God created, human beings are the only ones that worry. And we worry about everything -- gas prices, the stock market, taxes, jobs, marriages, parents worry about children, children worry about parents. You name it, somebody is worrying about it.
In our text, Jesus says we ought not to worry. 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 upon 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 in Italy. The card showed a picture of the Venus de Milo and said, "You see what will happen if you keep on biting your nails."1
A book came out some years ago titled How to Win over Worry.2 It quoted some statistics that are probably just as valid today as when they were published in the mid-'60s. 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 titled Stop Worrying and Get Well3 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.
The pressures of modern life, and the worries those pressures bring, have had a devastating effect on every one of us. Billions upon billions of dollars are tied up every year in the losses incurred and the cost of treatment for those driven to mental illness brought on by the anxiety and worry that so characterize our society. Thousands go into eternity every year because they, quite literally, "worried themselves into an early grave." Worry is a huge problem.
Obviously, it is a problem that is not unique to us. The crowd that sat listening to Jesus on that Judean hillside could identify with it. Otherwise, he never would have brought it up. But, as was typical of his teaching, Jesus put the problem into perspective by pointing out some things that all could understand. He pointed toward the sky and said, "Look at the birds of the air (those little insignificant sparrows); they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (v. 26).
That made sense. It has always been true that the God who has provided life also provides the necessities to keep that life going. The point, of course, is not that the birds and animals are taken care of without work; that is obviously not true -- it has been said that no one works harder than the average sparrow to make a living. The message is that they do not worry about that living. And if they, who are so much lower than we in God's scheme of creation, do not have to worry, why should we?
As a matter of fact, what good does worry do? Jesus asks, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (v. 27). No one, obviously. Had Jesus been speaking today, he might have pointed out that, indeed, excessive worry has precisely the opposite effect: not only will worry not add to your length of years, it will probably subtract from them considerably ... not to mention affect their quality.
As to that issue of quality of life, he addresses attention to plant life. "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (vv. 28-30). 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.
The necessities of life, the length of life, the quality of life -- are all things that tend to worry people a great deal. But Jesus' message is clear: None of them should particularly concern us because the God who gives us life in the first place will most assuredly be in control of all the rest. The Lord sums up the problem of worry in one little phrase: "you of little faith." You see, that is what he has been driving at all along. He has not been trying to tell us that we should not plan ahead; he has not been trying to say that we should not be careful; he has not been trying to say that we should be totally unconcerned about what kind of life we and our families have. He just does not want us to come to the place where we begin to think that we are in this all by ourselves.
There is a very practical side to this whole question of worry: If we spend too much time at it, we will not have time for anything else. And that is the thrust of what Jesus says about seeking "first [God's] kingdom and [God's] righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing, and so on) will be given to you as well" (v. 33).
Near the end of his life, Mark Twain said, "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."
Worry? Who needs it? Not God's people. That is why the apostle Paul could write to the Philippians, "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
____________
1. James C. Hume, More Podium Humor (New York: HarperPerennial, 1993).
2. John E. Haggai, How to Win over Worry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967).
3. Edward Podolsky, M.D., Stop Worrying and Get Well (New York: Bernard Ackerman Inc., 1944).
In our text, Jesus says we ought not to worry. 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 upon 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 in Italy. The card showed a picture of the Venus de Milo and said, "You see what will happen if you keep on biting your nails."1
A book came out some years ago titled How to Win over Worry.2 It quoted some statistics that are probably just as valid today as when they were published in the mid-'60s. 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 titled Stop Worrying and Get Well3 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.
The pressures of modern life, and the worries those pressures bring, have had a devastating effect on every one of us. Billions upon billions of dollars are tied up every year in the losses incurred and the cost of treatment for those driven to mental illness brought on by the anxiety and worry that so characterize our society. Thousands go into eternity every year because they, quite literally, "worried themselves into an early grave." Worry is a huge problem.
Obviously, it is a problem that is not unique to us. The crowd that sat listening to Jesus on that Judean hillside could identify with it. Otherwise, he never would have brought it up. But, as was typical of his teaching, Jesus put the problem into perspective by pointing out some things that all could understand. He pointed toward the sky and said, "Look at the birds of the air (those little insignificant sparrows); they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" (v. 26).
That made sense. It has always been true that the God who has provided life also provides the necessities to keep that life going. The point, of course, is not that the birds and animals are taken care of without work; that is obviously not true -- it has been said that no one works harder than the average sparrow to make a living. The message is that they do not worry about that living. And if they, who are so much lower than we in God's scheme of creation, do not have to worry, why should we?
As a matter of fact, what good does worry do? Jesus asks, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" (v. 27). No one, obviously. Had Jesus been speaking today, he might have pointed out that, indeed, excessive worry has precisely the opposite effect: not only will worry not add to your length of years, it will probably subtract from them considerably ... not to mention affect their quality.
As to that issue of quality of life, he addresses attention to plant life. "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" (vv. 28-30). 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.
The necessities of life, the length of life, the quality of life -- are all things that tend to worry people a great deal. But Jesus' message is clear: None of them should particularly concern us because the God who gives us life in the first place will most assuredly be in control of all the rest. The Lord sums up the problem of worry in one little phrase: "you of little faith." You see, that is what he has been driving at all along. He has not been trying to tell us that we should not plan ahead; he has not been trying to say that we should not be careful; he has not been trying to say that we should be totally unconcerned about what kind of life we and our families have. He just does not want us to come to the place where we begin to think that we are in this all by ourselves.
There is a very practical side to this whole question of worry: If we spend too much time at it, we will not have time for anything else. And that is the thrust of what Jesus says about seeking "first [God's] kingdom and [God's] righteousness, and all these things (food, clothing, and so on) will be given to you as well" (v. 33).
Near the end of his life, Mark Twain said, "I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened."
Worry? Who needs it? Not God's people. That is why the apostle Paul could write to the Philippians, "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7).
____________
1. James C. Hume, More Podium Humor (New York: HarperPerennial, 1993).
2. John E. Haggai, How to Win over Worry (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1967).
3. Edward Podolsky, M.D., Stop Worrying and Get Well (New York: Bernard Ackerman Inc., 1944).
