Wealth and Worry
Watch a short animated video that explains what Jesus means in Matthew 6:25-34 when he says not to worry, and discover the solution he offers.
Script
Introduction [0:00-0:21]
Jon: Jesus of Nazareth was a 1st century Jewish man, who claimed that he was uniting God’s domain above with our domain below. He called this the arrival of God’s Kingdom.1
Tim: Jesus invited people to follow him, so they could enter into that heavenly realm here on Earth in their day-to-day lives. And that’s what he’s talking about in the collection of teachings called the Sermon on the Mount.
Possessions as Obstacles to the Kingdom [00:22-00:58]
Jon: Now, if you really believed that God’s heavenly life was available here and now, that would change your perspective on just about everything.
Tim: Including your possessions. In fact, Jesus said the biggest obstacle to experiencing God’s heavenly life and presence is our stuff. The word Jesus uses literally means “the stored up things.” So our storage!
Jon: Okay. Yeah, some people do have a lot of stuff, but it’s natural to collect things. Stuff can make life easier. Stuff can give me security! Stuff gives me freedom!
Tim: Well, we think that it does. But Jesus says, not so much.
Storing Up Stuff [00:59-02:32]
Jon: “Don’t store up your stuff on the land, where moths and nibblers destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”2
Okay, but what if I just protect my stuff?
Tim: Alright, but now your attention is going to be on keeping your stuff safe. Jesus says the good life comes when our attention is directed elsewhere.
Jon: “Store up for yourselves the stuff of the sky.”3 Sky stuff? What’s this sky stuff?
Tim: Well, it’s the kind of stuff that is so secure that it can’t ever be threatened. And it’s different from our stuff here on Earth. It’s the stuff that God’s heavenly Kingdom is made of. And the more you collect it, the more you’ll experience that Kingdom here on Earth.
Jon: Alright, how do I get that kind of stuff?
Tim: Well, Jesus said that we can experience God’s heavenly Kingdom now when we love God and love our neighbor. It’s that rich experience of peace and fulfillment, those moments when Heaven and Earth unite when we follow the teachings of Jesus.
Jon: Like a kind word or an act of generosity, offering forgiveness and showing compassion?
Tim: Yes! Store up that kind of stuff because the loving relationships that we cultivate now will last into the renewed creation. And what we store up has a way of slowly shaping us in its image—for better or worse. Or as Jesus puts it:
Jon: “Where your stored-up-things are, there too will be your heart.”4
Okay, so I should focus my hopes and desires on what really matters.
Tim: Right! In fact, next, Jesus uses a vivid image to describe this focus.
The Lamp of the Body [02:33-03:14]
Jon: “The lamp of the body is the eye, so then if your eye is good, your whole body will be radiant.”5
Tim: This phrase, “good eye,” is a figure of speech in the Hebrew Bible for being really generous, while a “bad eye” is a metaphor for being stingy, hoarding your stuff. Jesus warns that a bad eye is the quickest way to ruin yourself.
Jon: “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be dark. If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”6 Yikes. So maybe I should give away all my stuff.
Tim: Maybe! Jesus once told a wealthy man to do just that.7 Ultimately, it’s about our priorities.8 Here, Jesus tells a parable.
No One Is Able to Serve Two Masters [03:15-03:56]
Jon: “No one is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and wealth.”9
Tim: Wealth is like a tyrant that demands our loyalty.
Jon: I might think I own my stuff, but before long, my stuff will own me.
Tim: And this danger is real, and so Jesus is pretty blunt. Our stuff can prevent us from experiencing the union of Heaven and Earth in our lives.
Jon: Okay, but let’s be real. I need things to survive. I need food. I need clothes.
Tim: Well, Jesus has one final teaching about our stuff that brings all these ideas together.
Consider the Birds and Flowers [03:57-05:48]
Tim: He invites us to consider how God has packed creation with abundance, each creature having just what it needs. Jesus says that if you trust God as a generous Father and prioritize loving God and loving others, you will find that your needs are met. And you’ll find the rich peace of Heaven and Earth uniting in your own life.
Jon: “I say to you all, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, not even about your body, what you’ll put on.
Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air, how they don’t sow seed, and they don’t harvest, and they don’t gather into barns, and yet your Father in the skies feeds them. Aren’t you much more valuable than they are?
And who among you is able to add an hour to your life by worrying?
And about clothing, why are you all so worried? Pay attention to the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t labor, and they don’t weave cloth. But I tell you all, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Now, if the grass of the field, which is there today and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, is clothed this way by God, won’t he make sure to clothe you all, who have so little trust?!
So then, don’t be worried, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’
For the nations constantly seek for all this stuff.
For your Father in the skies knows that you need all this.
Rather, first seek for the Kingdom of God and do right by God, and all these things will be added to you.
So then, don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow can worry about itself! Each day has enough trouble of its own.”10
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