Gluttony

Taylor Mertins

Matthew 6.25-34 It is to a people obsessed with themselves, with too much and too little, that Jesus speaks this powerful word: Why are you so worried about what you eat and drink? About what you wear and how you look? Look at the birds of the air. They are not terrified of these things. Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? Consider the lilies of the field! They neither toil nor spin and they are more gorgeous than anything you have in the closet. You need not worry about these things because your worry is eating you alive. Your heavenly Father knows what you need, and it is to you that the kingdom is given. The proclamation of the Gospel is that we need not worry, like the birds or the lilies, because God provides. But our desire to live lives without fear cannot but help create a world of fear because we are told, and often believe, there is never enough. Which is perhaps why, for millennia, the church has insisted on reminding people of these words from Jesus. The songs we sing and the sermons we receive and the sacraments we share all declare that we have worth and value. We say what we say in the church because the world is always trying to convince us of the contrary, both implicitly and explicitly. From our bosses, spouses, friends, and foes, from the advertisements, videos, movies, and shows. You’re too fat. You’re too skinny. You’re too stupid. You’re too slow. You’re too bold. You’re too shy. On and on we are bombarded with the words of the World. And then Jesus says, “You are enough. You are wonderfully made. You are beloved as you are.”