Open Writing

We all have our own ideas of what Jesus was like, but I think we can all agree that he was a great storyteller who could talk to people on their level. A very gentle good humour comes through in many of his stories.

When we remember that Jesus was God, that storytelling ability becomes something that tells us about God's nature. God is mightier than we imagine, but in Jesus he communicates with us in a very gentle and humane way.

I've been suffering from a bit of theological confusion because Father Steve and I were talking about something in the words of one of the Eucharistic prayers and we never finished the conversation.

Father Steve told me that God understands us because he was in Jesus. I was a bit confused about that at first. I thought "God doesn't need to be in Jesus to understand us, that would mean he would need to be in an elephant to understand elephants or in a butterfly to understand butterflies. He created everything, so he understands everything."

I'm still confused about the elephants and the butterflies, but I think I can guess at what is meant by God understands us through Jesus. It's not like God the Father was sitting around on his own, not understanding us, and then 2,000 years ago he invented Jesus and suddenly understood us. Jesus has always been part of the Trinity that is God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So the advice that we hear in today's Gospel reading comes from someone who is timeless and eternal, and I think that's quite wonderful because he also sounds like my grandmother. That's how human God is in Jesus. In today's Gospel reading Jesus says:

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

What wonderful common sense. That's advice from the highest authority.

So what's this Gospel passage all about? When I first read it I thought I was going to have to give a sermon on how God provides for us. After all, in these words Jesus very plainly says that God will provide. He says God feeds the birds and clothes the grasses in the field, so believe that he will feed and clothe you too. When I saw those words I conjured up a picture in my head of everyone passively sitting around waiting for God to fix things up for them.

But you and I know the world doesn't work like that. We won't become mature souls if we just laze around waiting for God to sort everything out for us. He doesn't want us to be babies. He rejoices and glories in us as we progress into maturity and wisdom. (Why do we need to grow up? Probably because it makes us steadier and less inclined to make ourselves miserable worrying about stupid things.)

To become as Christ-like as we humans can possibly be with all our limitations, we have to learn how to think for ourselves and how to make tough decisions. The Gospels are not an instruction book that can be unthinkingly followed, they are a training ground for our minds. We have to be able to seize the spirit of Jesus's teachings and apply them to any number of modern situations that aren't mentioned in the four Gospels.

This Gospel passage is a recipe for God’s kingdom in a nutshell. Think about what Jesus is saying here:

"Therefore do not worry saying 'what will we eat' or 'what will we drink' or 'what will we wear' for it is the gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly father knows you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

This doesn't mean, be really kind to each other and food will fall on you from the sky, but it might as well do.

What it means is that if we focus on looking after each other and behaving selflessly, everyone will have enough to eat and drink and clothes to wear. The kingdom of God on Earth is NO MORE HUNGER, FAMINE OR WANT because we will all be looking after each other. What Jesus is saying is, put love before material needs, and you will have enough because the community will be full of people looking after each other.

In comparison, if you make material things your priority, and don't think about other people, the kingdom of God will not grow, and there will be hunger, famine and want on this Earth.

I think there's an additional message for us in this passage. It's perhaps not what Jesus intended to say, but we can read it, knowing what we do about the kingdom of God and about what humankind is doing to our planet.

The bit about the birds and the lilies isn't what I thought it was at first. It's not a message saying "laze around and God will give you stuff." It's a message about how abundantly God has provided for us through nature. The birds have enough, the grass has enough, and if we put God first instead of money, we won't greedily exploit nature and there will be enough for us too.

When Jesus says "You cannot serve God and wealth," he's keeping it really simple. If you focus on building up wealth for yourself you won't think about other people, other people will be affected, and perhaps when or if you lose your wealth, there will be nobody there to help you.

Thing is, it's easy for people to stand in the pulpit and say "don't think about money, think about God!"

But we all think about money because we're afraid of what will happen to us without it. We can't rely on the community to look after us because for many people in Britain there is no community. British people live isolated lives, often not even knowing the people who live in the house next door.

In a society like this, money gives us the power to keep ourselves safe. Run a car so that we don't have to use public transport late at night, have a house or flat in a reasonable location so that we don't have to worry about trouble from the neighbours, have a bit of money spare so that we can get dental problems fixed as soon as possible. If we lived in the kingdom of God the world would be so friendly you'd know all your neighbours, there'd be no need to be scared at night and the dentist would fix toothache immediately with no charge simply because he or she was so full of love for humankind.

So funnily enough it's a catch 22. If we lived in a society where everyone thought about each other, it'd be really easy not to put money first. But because we live in a society that can be very selfish, we cling onto money out of fear. And in a way that's reasonable, everybody has to look after themselves, pay their pensions and so forth.

I'm not suggesting that we stop looking after ourselves financially, that's not practical in a society where there are so few safety nets. Money gives us security.

But, as you know, there comes a point when money stops giving us power and actually has a power over us. You know the story, there are people who will steal, lie and even commit physical violence just so that they can have more money. They think money gives them power, but it's money that has power over them.

Money makes us lazy. When we're unhappy we buy things to cheer us up instead of dealing with the cause of the unhappiness. When we haven't got time to spend with our loved ones we buy them things instead of making time.

Money creates social inequality. It's great if you can afford to save to send your kids through university, but is that really fair to those who can't save?

Money is not a bad thing in itself. It's just paper and metal. When we give it to charity we can do wonderful things with it. But it's seldom life giving and positive in this world and it has no place in God's kingdom. In God's kingdom it would not be necessary at all because we would freely give each other everything that is needed.

Remember what Jesus says, you can't serve God and serve wealth. No one can have two Masters. Think about that next time you meet someone who's obsessed with money. In my experience they come across as quite unbalanced people who seem not to have enough love in their lives.

I'm not saying that rich people are loveless. I'm not saying you're a bad person if you become the next Alan Sugar or Richard Branson. If you dismiss a person simply because they have money you are denying their humanity and that is like committing murder in your heart.

But if you strive to be an Alan Sugar do it because being a businessperson is your calling in life, not because you think money will make you happy.