In the Gospel for the third Sunday of Creation Cares (Luke 12:22-31), Jesus used God’s creation as the source of his instruction. He drew on the wonders of the world as lessons for humanity. 

Nonetheless, his gospel presents us with several interpretive challenges. 

The gospel opens, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 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!

The first challenge is apparent inconsistency. Jesus had recognized the legitimacy of concern about what you will eat. He worked a miracle to feed five thousand; taking the five loaves and the two fish, he…blessed and broke them and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. All ate and were filled.(Luke 9:16-17)When he taught his disciples to pray, he included the petition, give us this day our daily bread.(Luke 11:13) At the last supper he sacramentalized bread as a symbol of himself.(Luke 22:19) So, he had known and responded to the need for food as physical and spiritual nutrition. 

But elsewhere he praised John the Baptist and used him as a model, saying he came eating no bread and drinking no wine.(Luke 7:33) When he sent out his disciples on a “training mission” he told them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money-not even an extra tunic.(Luke 9:3) 

One way of harmonizing these passages is to say that Jesus’ message was, ‘don’t obsess about food’. The five thousand whom he fed had followed him without planning to bring food. He rewarded them for coming to him, validating their spontaneity. John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey and Jesus’ own disciples would rely on the hospitality of others to eat. In the Lord’s Prayer, the petition is for daily bread… not an endless supply of lamb, fish, sauces and wine. Jesus emphasized the basics.  

A way of interpreting the message is that Jesus calls us to embrace the insecurity of the world. In doing so, we share with the majority of the globe’s population. 

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This focus on the essentials continues: And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? This is a rhetorical question. In the tens of thousands of hours of life, especially in Jesus’ day, one could not add even a small fraction of time. (We recognize, today, that life can be prolonged in many different ways, so the historical setting is important for interpretation.)

If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Jesus was speaking in a social and economic context where food was locally grown, ‘refrigeration” was a hole in the ground near a riverbank and abundance depended on a suitable balance of rain and sun. Food supply was much more tenuous than we experience. It was a ‘sensible’ preoccupation.  

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Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying

Jesus drew attention to the natural world of birds and plants for his lessons about God’s generosity. Jesus was clear that God will provide. The premise of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations makes this same point: there is enough food and wealth in the world to support us. The issue is how it is distributed or rather, the concentration of that wealth. Global structures enable people to take more than they need, to use it for their own luxury and to systematically deny others. 

We share this world with the fish, fowl, plants and animals. The first reading for this Sunday, from Job 39, describes God’s gifts of animals.
‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?...
Who has let the wild ass go free?  Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
to which I have given the steppe for its home, the salt land for its dwelling-place?...
‘Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings towards the south?
Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?

Perhaps more significantly for this season of creation, they share the world with humanity. Our destructive impacts on the oceans, air and land habitats have distorted the balance they need. Rather than ‘serving and protecting’ what we were given (Genesis 1:26) reflects the fact that humanity has not shared this abundance equally or with respect.

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The gospel concludes:. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

In Jesus’ day, Imperial Rome bled its conquered colonies and concentrated wealth in its temples, amphitheatres and palaces, such as Herod’s palace, Herodium. Perhaps this reference was a nod to these self-aggrandizing architectures. 

Today the average income of the world's 10 richest countries, in Gross Domestic Product per person, is close to $US100,000 while in the poorest countries the average per-capita purchasing power is less than $US1,000.  The issue is less whether there is sufficient wealth for basic living, instead it is a matter of distribution.  

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Jesus said your Father knows what you need (to eat and what you are to drink). God had given the world the resources to feed and cloth itself. Jesus’ words stressed sufficiency, not excess. Elsewhere, Jesus’ example and parables emphasized sharing with neighbours…including the plants and animals with whom we share this planet.

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The UN’s 2022 report on Biodiversity wrote, “when making policy decisions, there is too much focus on short-term profits and economic growth that undervalue nature. While economic and political decisions have prioritized market-based values of nature, such as intensive food production, they do not adequately reflect how these changes … affect people’s quality of life. Moreover, policymaking overlooks many non-market values associated … such as climate regulation and cultural identity.”

“Living from, with, in and as nature” means providing resources that sustain people’s livelihoods, needs and wants, including food and material goods. The report says, “non-human life, such as the intrinsic rights of fish in a river to 'thrive' independent of human needs”, and sees the natural world as a “physical, mental and spiritual part of oneself.” 

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  • Do you see the connection between Jesus’ words and concern for the environment? Jesus didn’t use the language of the 21st century, but his references to things like daily bread and not worrying about …what you will eat, … your body, what you will wear emphasizes sufficiency. (Not everyone makes the connection.)
  • Do you live a life beyond sufficiency? We live in a fortunate, wealthy ‘bubble’ in Toronto, where it is ‘normal’ within our context to do so. How can we live closer to what we need versus what we want?
  • How do you imagine the Kingdom of God? Is it a place of theatres, museums, restaurants…or a place of natural beauty, peace and community? 
    Peace
    Michael