Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – August 10, 2025
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 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! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 
 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
- Luke 12:22-26, 31 –
In this parable Jesus is confronting the sin of chronic anxiety. However, to properly delineate Jesus’ point, we must first understand what he does not mean. First, Jesus is not saying that we should be lazy and not work. He is not saying that we should forego preparations to feed and clothe ourselves. Although Jesus compares us to ravens, he does not intend for us to wait around for God to drop a worm in our mouths. The comparison to ravens is hyperbolic, and its analogy inexact. Jesus knows that God created humanity to take dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28), and he therefore knows that such a task requires industry, planning, and thrift, not to mention God’s help. So, Jesus is not asking us to contradict God’s design for humanity in creation.
Second, Jesus is not talking about acute anxiety. Acute anxiety helps us gear up for a challenge and then passes away when the challenge is over. For instance, it is normal to feel anxiety before a test, a musical performance, a sermon, or an important business meeting. In these challenging situations, acute anxiety is a good thing because it keeps us on our toes and helps us perform. So, Jesus is not opposing acute anxiety.
What Jesus opposes is chronic anxiety. Chronic anxiety is an unhealthy preoccupation with fear, worry, and dread in regard to things that we cannot control or even influence. Therefore, chronic anxiety does not help us plan and prepare. It does not help us perform. Instead, it reduces us to helplessness and passivity because it is at bottom a lack of faith or else a weak faith. And without faith we have no kingdom orientation for action in our world.
So, the answer to anxiety is faith in God. The answer is to know God, to trust God, and to pray to God. The answer is to let God handle the things that we can affect and especially the things we can’t. So, if we struggle with chronic anxiety, we should first rejoice that we have enough faith to recognize our problem and struggle with it. Then, we should ask God to strengthen our faith. With our strengthened faith, we should next seek God’s kingdom in all areas of our life, including our family and business life. And in seeking God’s kingdom, we will act to feed and clothe our families and ourselves. 
Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – August 10, 2025
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 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! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 
 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
- Luke 12:22-26, 31 –
In this parable Jesus is confronting the sin of chronic anxiety. However, to properly delineate Jesus’ point, we must first understand what he does not mean. First, Jesus is not saying that we should be lazy and not work. He is not saying that we should forego preparations to feed and clothe ourselves. Although Jesus compares us to ravens, he does not intend for us to wait around for God to drop a worm in our mouths. The comparison to ravens is hyperbolic, and its analogy inexact. Jesus knows that God created humanity to take dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28), and he therefore knows that such a task requires industry, planning, and thrift, not to mention God’s help. So, Jesus is not asking us to contradict God’s design for humanity in creation.
Second, Jesus is not talking about acute anxiety. Acute anxiety helps us gear up for a challenge and then passes away when the challenge is over. For instance, it is normal to feel anxiety before a test, a musical performance, a sermon, or an important business meeting. In these challenging situations, acute anxiety is a good thing because it keeps us on our toes and helps us perform. So, Jesus is not opposing acute anxiety.
What Jesus opposes is chronic anxiety. Chronic anxiety is an unhealthy preoccupation with fear, worry, and dread in regard to things that we cannot control or even influence. Therefore, chronic anxiety does not help us plan and prepare. It does not help us perform. Instead, it reduces us to helplessness and passivity because it is at bottom a lack of faith or else a weak faith. And without faith we have no kingdom orientation for action in our world.
So, the answer to anxiety is faith in God. The answer is to know God, to trust God, and to pray to God. The answer is to let God handle the things that we can affect and especially the things we can’t. So, if we struggle with chronic anxiety, we should first rejoice that we have enough faith to recognize our problem and struggle with it. Then, we should ask God to strengthen our faith. With our strengthened faith, we should next seek God’s kingdom in all areas of our life, including our family and business life. And in seeking God’s kingdom, we will act to feed and clothe our families and ourselves.