[Jesus] said to His disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, 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, how much more will He clothe you, you of little faith! And do not keep seeking what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that seek all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Luke 12:22-31
“In the Gospel of Luke, the parable of Jesus in Luke 12:13-21 revolves around a warning against greed that is then expanded by the instruction Jesus gives to His disciples in the next paragraph (vv. 22–31). Jesus offers a contrast to the practice of scarcity for His disciples who are invited to God’s abundance. He witnesses to a trustworthy abundance that gives the lie to the scarcity imagined by the farmer in the parable. He summons His disciples out of the narrative of scarcity and into his alternative narrative of abundance. That abundance, Jesus attests, is grounded in the generative capacity of the creator God who supplies adequate food for birds, for lilies, and for those who “strive for God’s kingdom” (v. 31), that is, a realm of justice, righteousness, and mercy. Thus the work of mature materiality concerning food is to move our mindfulness away from an imagined scarcity that evokes excessive accumulation and satiation to a trustworthy abundance that permits us to be free of worry about what we shall eat (v. 22).”
Walter Brueggemann in Materiality As Resistance: Five Elements for Moral Action in the Real World (Louisville: WJKP, 2020), 31.
I traveled from India to Nepal yesterday. I am safely here for GTP program work to activate a an accountability and generosity movement with meetings in Kathmandu and Pokhara now through 10 September 2025 .
I just love that right after the rich fool narrative Jesus reminds us not to worry.
Our Father in heaven has the “generative capacity” to meet the needs of every bird, nourish every flower, and sustain every human on planet earth. We get to either place our trust Him or in ourselves.
In Him we can count on “a trustworthy abundance that permits us to be free of worry about what we shall eat.”
Just sit in that truth for a while. Marinate in the reality.
I got news whilst traveling that my dad has prostate cancer. I’d appreciate your prayers for him. I don’t know many details but with the news my mom urged me to keep my trip plans. Hang in there, dad. Keep looking up.
I give thanks for my mom and dad who taught me not to worry about anything but to pray about everything.