Looking to the Sermon on the Mount as a balm for an anxious world

COVID-19 may mostly be over, but we are in the midst of a global pandemic for which there is no vaccine, and from which masks and social distancing offer no protection. We are all anxious and insecure, consumed by worry about … seemingly everything!

Jesus tells us straight out, in the Sermon on the Mount, not to be anxious. In fact, He says it twice:

“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?” — Mt. 6:25

And shortly after,

"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." — Mt. 6:31-32

He tries to reassure us:

"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? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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?" — Mt. 6:26-30

But being, myself, “of little faith,” it seems to me that I have a lot more to worry about than the birds and the flowers do. It would help me to understand why I’m so worried, and what, if anything, I can do about it.

We are worried, Jesus tells us, because we try to serve two masters … and it just doesn’t work:

"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." — Mt. 6:24

Some translations read “mammon,” which is a Semitic word for money or possessions. And it seems that I trust mammon more than I trust God. And my worry comes from the fact that — deep down — I know mammon is not trustworthy!

Talk about taking things on faith: my paycheck, my bank balance and my retirement account — they’re all just numbers glowing on the screen of my iPhone. There are no bags of gold or suitcases full of cash I can point to!And mammon can go bad in an instant: just ask any investor in Silicon Valley Bank or Signature Bank or First Republic Bank.

Jesus warns us about putting our trust in mammon:

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Mt. 6:19-21

Moths, rust, thieves … stock market crashes and runs on the banks! We are sucked in by the fear of our treasures becoming corrupt, and this fear corrupts us. We become possessed by the things we think we possess, and like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings, slowly shriveling into something less than human, we are consumed with worry about how to hang onto them, how to keep our treasures intact.

But there is another way, a better way:

"Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" — Mt. 6:33

When we do this, when we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and trust Him to provide the things we need (which might not be everything we want, but will be the things we truly need), we will have laid up for ourselves “treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.” And we will see that the promises of God, and His faithfulness, are far more real and reliable than the numbers glowing on our iPhones.

And this is the real antidote to being consumed by anxiety and insecurity and worry.

The Rev. Seraphim Solof is assistant pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester. Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Keep the Faith: Looking to scripture in a time of great worries