Running Commentary with Thought-flow Tracing [Includes logical labels, etc.]
Matthew 6:25-34 ESV
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?[g] 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
25a-b Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Therefore. Therefore is a signal of inference and introduces the inference or conclusion that follows from the preceding material. It thus connects it to what comes before it (surrounding context). The NLT starts this verse with, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life,” making the connection to the preceding context very clear. What precisely had Jesus said that made him draw this conclusion? Worry seems to arise from enslavement to money (Matt. 6:24 NLT) or trying to serve both God and money. Also, in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9-14), Jesus teaches his disciples to pray as follows:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
The prayer assumes a relationship with “our Father in heaven.” It asks for His kingdom to come, and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of God is where his will is done, and he reigns sovereign. Jesus also teaches them to ask God for their daily bread—and therefore rely on and expect God to provide it. God is to be the source. The kingdom of God is also the reason Jesus came to preach. Based on all that, he makes an inference/command.
I tell you. That phrase is preparation for what is to come. Jesus is not citing anyone else but himself here.
Do not be anxious about your life…nor about your body. That is a negative command. It asks people to stop doing something they were already doing. That unit is the main idea of the entire paragraph. Life and body here represent the whole scope of our lives. In essence, like Paul, Jesus was saying, “do not be anxious about anything” (Eph. 4:6 a). In verse 34, he summed up everything by saying, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow,” showing that he is referring to all anxiety.
What you will eat or what you will drink. That describes what aspects of their life are the focus of their anxieties.
What you will put on. That also describes what aspect of the body is the focus of their anxieties. The anxieties these people had about life were about what to eat or drink. Their anxieties concerning the body were about clothing (what to wear).
Question: People are anxious about what they consider important and consequential to them—whether that perception is right or not. Because Jesus’ teaching to them was situational, why would first-century Jewish people be worried about these things? That invites a consideration or study of the historical-cultural background of the passage. During application, we would have to ask, what are modern people in your setting worried about? And how does Jesus speak to their situation?
There are two categories of needs in view here. Eating and drinking explain life and putting on explains the body. Eat and drink sustain life internally. Clothes (what you put on) adorn life externally. Therefore, Jesus speaks here of both internal and external needs. That is ALL basic human needs of subsistence.
Verse 25a, as a whole, is a general statement that is expounded in the rest of the paragraph. That creates a general-to-specific pattern in this paragraph. Eating and drinking are expounded in verse 26 when Jesus shows how your heavenly Father feeds the birds. The feeding here likely carries the idea of what is needed to both eat and drink as well. The idea of what to put on (wear) is addressed in verses 28-30. So General-to-specific is an important MSR in this passage.
25c Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
The first reason (why) Jesus gives for neither being anxious about your life nor about your body is that God, the giver of life and the body (the greater things), will also provide food and clothing to sustain them. This rhetorical question can be reframed as the emphatic assertion: Life is more than food and the body more than clothing. The fact that God has given you life (the greater thing) is reason to believe that he will also give you food and clothing (which is the lesser) that is needed to sustain the life he has given you. God can take life away even with the presence of the things needed to sustain it. So the fact that he has given you life (intentionally, not by accident) is reason to believe he will take care of it till the end.
Jesus contrasts life with food by the degree of importance/value. He also contrasts the body with clothing by extent or degree of importance/value. So, there is a recurrence of contrast by the degree of importance/value in this rhetorical question.
26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
The first evidence Jesus gives to explain why he thinks God (their heavenly Father) will provide for them is that God, their Father, provides for less important creatures (birds). He provides for the birds, and they are more valuable than the birds.
Look at the birds of the air. This positive command with an implied subject, “you,” asks them to consider the birds. It tells them what to do.
They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. That qualifies the verb “look,” specifying for them what they are to look at. There is a lot one can consider about the birds. Jesus only has this bit in mind. The birds are given food even though they don’t cultivate farms, plant seeds, harvest, nor store in bards.
And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. “Yet” indicates a concession, a type of contrast. Everything that came before it was a concession meant to highlight the main statement of the sentence, which is, “your heavenly Father feeds them.”
YOUR heavenly Father feeds them, although they don’t do anything at all (like sowing, reaping, and gathering into barns) to support their feeding! Implied in it is the fact that you, on the other hand, do those activities (sowing, reaping, and gathering) to support your feeding. Note that it’s your father. “Your” highlights your relationship to the Father. That relationship implies care from the father to you (the child). So, He would much more feed you, his child, because you are infinitely more valuable to him. He is willing to die for you, not for the birds. He made you in his image, not them.
Are you not of more value than they? Here is another rhetorical question, which, when reframed, should read: You are more valuable than they! Your heavenly father will certainly provide for you if he provides for them! There is also a contrast of value between you (of more value) and the birds (of less value). The implied valuator, in this case, is God. God is the one who sees them as more valuable.
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Jesus gives a second reason they should neither be anxious about their life, nor about their body. That reason is that it is unhelpful. Verse 27 is another rhetorical question that can be reframed as: None of you can add a single hour to his span of life by being anxious! On the contrary, you can reduce years (not just hours) from your span of life by worrying. You can cause cancers, heart disease, get a weakened immune system, and much more. Both science and biblical wisdom of the proverbs show the ill effects of worrying and anxiety. Worry, like envy, rots the bones (Prov. 14:30). Prov. 12:25 says, “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word cheers it up.” Jesus seems to be saying that worrying is distressful and makes you miserable but adds no value, so it is futile to do it. It makes absolutely no sense to do something like that.
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
And why are you anxious about clothing? This is another rhetorical question that really means, don’t be anxious about clothing! However, for Jesus to ask tells us his audience was indeed anxious about clothing. The question is, why were they anxious about clothing? Here in verses 28-30, Jesus elaborates on the idea of clothing introduced in the general statement in verse 25a-b.
Consider the lilies of the field. Jesus gives a positive command—consider the lilies of the field. That command has an implied subject, “you.”
How they grow: they neither toil nor spin. This qualifies the verb “consider” by telling them what they are to consider. The lilies don’t do the work that produces clothing (toiling and spinning).
Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Even though they do nothing to provide for their clothing, God gives them the finest clothes—better than the clothes of the richest and wisest king who ever lived! They do nothing, and God extravagantly clothes them.
There may be an implication here that the lilies (as well as the birds) don’t worry about tomorrow.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
But if God so clothes the grass of the field. This is stated as a condition, even though he has established that God certainly does clothe the grass. The person previously called “your heavenly Father” is now called by another name. Perhaps, Jesus wants to remind them that their heavenly Father is the God of the universe.
Which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven. This qualifies grass in a concessive manner and highlights God’s extravagance in clothing such grass.
Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? This is another rhetorical question. It is really saying, he will certainly much more clothe you, O you of little faith!
Given the nature of anxiety, this seems to point to a connection between little faith and anxiety. Because of the certainty of God’s provision, as Jesus sees it, anxiety about life can only result from a lack of faith in God’s certain promise of provision.
By considering air creatures (birds) and land creatures (lilies) and showing that God provides for them, even extravagantly, the evidence seems to say that God provides for ALL his creation. And you, humans, are part of it. And not just part of it, He is also your Father.
The lilies also do nothing, are short-lived, and end up being burnt up, yet God clothes them extravagantly—more sumptuously than the wealthiest and wisest king who ever lived (King Solomon). The lilies serve you. God gave you control over his creation. You live a long-time on earth and eternally after death. Jesus is implying that if God is extravagant with clothing the grass, he will certainly clothe you.
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Therefore do not be anxious. This is another negative command to stop worrying. When God commands us to stop doing something, it is certain that we can stop doing so—even if that means we need help from Him and others. God cannot command something that he knows is impossible for those commanded to do. Jesus has repeated several times in this passage. They can stop worrying.
Saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ This is a picture of the internal dialogue that fans, flames, amplifies, and propagates anxiety. Jesus says, don’t do it.
It’s not an expectant prayer to God to provide for needs (as in the Lord’s prayer) but a rumination on the necessities of life associated with a sense of helplessness and fear towards the future.
For the Gentiles seek after all these things. This is the first part of the reason Jesus gives for obeying the negative commands of verse 31. The Gentiles here refers to those without God. They seek these things that cause anxiety. Considering the preceding surrounding context, the Gentiles are enslaved by money. Those who don’t have God seek after these things as their priority and focus. You don’t’ want to be like them.
And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. Most of all, you don’t have to worry because “your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” God is aware of their needs. Above we saw that he is willing and able to provide as he does to the birds and the lilies. He isn’t only willing and able to provide for them but is aware of their needs.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. “But” again signals contrast. In contrast to being anxious and propagating the internal dialogue that only worsens the anxiety, and in contrast to pursuing things like the Gentiles do (being motivated, driven, and enslaved by them), Jesus offers a solution: “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” That is the very thing Jesus came to earth to preach! Earlier in the book, we see Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom (Matt. 4:23). There is the use of the replacement principle. Jesus doesn’t tell them to stop worrying and do nothing. He asks them to seek something else first (the kingdom of God and his righteousness).
And all these things will be added to you. Seeking the kingdom of God is not only the solution to their worry, but it results in all these things being added to them. That is in addition to the kingdom and its righteousness.
Question: What does it mean to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness”? Notice Jesus says, seek first, not seek only. He perhaps means that you will need to seek to earn a living. However, when you do it within the context of seeking God first, working for a higher purpose (God), God will still give you the paycheck you need. However, no anxiety will come with it because you know God is responsible for providing, not the company or the economy.
Is this a condition? Is Jesus saying that the condition for God providing “all these things” is that one must “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?” Does that mean if one doesn’t do so, God doesn’t provide those basic needs?
There appears to be a cause-effect relationship between the first and last clauses of this sentence. Seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness causes all these things to be added to you.
34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The NLT translates this verse as, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow. That is another negative inferential command based on the reasons mentioned before (in the entire paragraph).
For tomorrow will be anxious for itself. That is, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Worrying today about tomorrow when we are not even there is a total waste of today. If we are right that tomorrow is as bad as we thought, our worry will change nothing but only rob us of today. Often we are wrong, and all we have done is lost today.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Focusing on living fully today (seeking God’s kingdom and its righteousness today) without worrying about tomorrow is a good antidote to worry.