The wood for the trees

Matt 6:31-33

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

If you have read the Seeing the Kingdom book, you will know I cover the beginning of the (so-called) Sermon on the Mount. You will also know that I don’t think we read this correctly – for a whole number of reasons. Here’s one more…

It is easy – and most commentators have seen this – to see this three chapter block as comprising a series of somewhat-connected but largely stand-alone statements, often one or two verses to a discrete “thought”.

To link the title of this post to what I have just suggested, I would say, “yes, you are seeing the trees; but you are missing the wood. And, by the way, I think you have mis-identified most of the trees too. So if you do glimpse the wood, you will probably be off on that, too.”

Let’s start with the “tree” of Matt 6:31-33.

Hands up if you think this means “don’t be ambitious for wealth; instead, serve in your local church and earn credit with God through that faithful service, and you will be taken care of (in some largely unspecified manner, time and place).”

I am hoping it sounds stupid when I put it that way; my only problem is that I feel like I have heard this at least implied or understood, if not overtly spoken out, and many times over the years. I have certainly heard people trying not to express disappointment with God when their faithful service ( = seeking His Kingdom) doesn’t seem to have been appreciated on earth or in heaven.

So what is it all about, then, if not what I said above?

Verse 31 and 32 pose no real problem; they are simply a statement of the problem. “Don’t worry, saying “what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear?” For all these things the nations seek after; for your Heavenly Father knows you have need of these things.”

What is verse 33 about then? First let us state the obvious. If you worry about and pursue these things like the nations, then your experience will be like the nations also; that most people find that if they earn 100,000 (dollars, roubles, pesos, whatever), then their expenses will turn out to be 105,000. Lack is what this world runs on, and this world’s ruler likes to keep it that way. The few who make it into the dollar stratosphere are curiously lacking in peace about it; most often they end up spending their pile on (unsuccessfully) attempting never to die.

So what does Jesus say we should do instead? Well, it is hidden in plain sight.

ζητεῖτε δὲ πρῶτον τὴν βασιλείαν καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα προστεθήσεται ὑμῖν.

Seek first the Kingdom and the legal justice of Him (i.e. His Kingdom and legal justice), and all these things will be given to you in addition (i.e. to His Kingdom and legal justice).

The small problem first: we are religious so we translate δικαιοσύνην as righteousness in a religious sense. I am not sure God bothers with that stuff. He looks upon a world in which His children gave legal authority to His enemy by their treason; all of what we call “salvation history” is about getting the legality back so that He can rescue those same children. Even as “righteousness”, δικαιοσύνην means legally justified, i.e. in the right, not guilty and so on, first and foremost.

So the big problem is the one I wrote the book about, namely that we seem to have no idea what the Kingdom actually is. But a Kingdom is a dominion within which a King rules; and “rules” implies a system of laws. Back to legal justice, in fact.

So Matthew 6:33 is telling us that until we actively seek out the Kingdom and its system of legality we will be like the nations; but once we understand how God’s Kingdom operates, and acquire that, we will find that we have – within that legal system – access to everything we need.

Let me say it again. Until you understand how God’s Kingdom operates, of course you will have to operate under the alternative, which is the kingdom of lack. You have an open invitation to enter God’s Kingdom; so why wouldn’t you? But yes, you will find you can’t just wander in, daydreaming; there are things you will need to understand in order to live and operate in that Kingdom.

So that is the tree. What is the wood?

Simply that most of what comes before Matt 6:33 in the “Sermon” is a statement of the problem we all face (the same one even Covenant Israel faced); and from there on, pretty much everything to the end of Chapter 7 is keys to that same Kingdom. The Kingdom is the answer.

But like so much of Jesus’ teaching to the crowds, things are deliberately veiled. If we are used to hearing “thou shalt not”, then that is how we hear all of this; for example in Matt 7:1 we hear “thou shalt not judge” instead of hearing the positive keys to managing how others are able to relate to us and how blessing is able to flow to us, in the Kingdom.

But perhaps that is another post…