Worry Not
Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?
- Jesus, as quoted by Matthew 6:27
Cast all your anxiety on God because he cares for you.
- St. Peter, as quoted in 1 Peter 5:7
In a New Testament theology class, we were told pay attention to when Jesus asks a question. In fact, our professor told us to underline Jesus’ questions in order to heed them. In the Rabbinic style of teaching, during the New Testament era, questions were often rhetorical. In today’s language, they have often been interpreted as a statement. My professor warned us not to fall into the trap of thinking it simply is a statement but rather to explore Jesus’ question in your heart.
My Christology (belief about Jesus) says that Jesus can read what is on someone’s heart and to read someone’s mind. The line used in the Gospels goes like this: He perceived what they [the people] were thinking. With that insight, Jesus asks probing questions; not for his benefit because he already knows the answer, but so that we can take a deeper look at ourselves. Here is his question: “Who among you by worrying can add a single moment to your life?” He is asking to see who will honestly evaluate themselves and to say inwardly, “Yep, that’s me; I think I can add time to my life by worrying.”
If Jesus asked for a show of hands to see who believes that worrying adds to life, would you raise your hand? I sure would. In the business world, it is a well-known fact that you grow what you track – sales, performance, customer service, product quality, new markets, etc. You grow what you track; too often, however, I confuse “track” with “worry”. In the realm of successful aging, worrying is actually shown to be an unsuccessful strategy to live a happy retired life. Should one track one’s investments, monthly spending, eating habits and exercise routines, of course. Should one worry about such things? Jesus would say “no”.
I think (Saint) Peter was a worrier. He always seemed to jump to conclusions, be the first to raise a concern or complaint, and to quickly dismiss anything that didn’t fit within his world view. There are times that Jesus would take Peter off by himself. We don’t know what they talked about but I imagine he was telling Peter to not worry. In the first letter attributed to Peter, he writes that we are to cast all our worries on to God. Why? Because God cares for us. Imagine that – in God’s kingdom, caring for humans is to carry their worries. I also appreciate that the retired fisherman is telling us to “cast” our worries on God. Like gripping the hard cords of a fishing net and throwing it off your boat, Peter is inviting us to do the same with our anxieties.
If you raised your hand earlier about being a worrier, and you’d like to try a different way of thinking, here’s a prayer that I pray:
Almighty God, I take my worries that have ahold of me like a fisherman’s net and I cast them into your deep sea. I give you every anxiety, every worry, fear, and concern and cast them to you because you love me and because I can’t carry them anymore.
Dear God, take them, they are yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
-Fr. Dave
