How much more...

Read Matthew 6:28-30

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In the UK the fashion industry in 2017 had a value of £66 billion and a 7% share of the retail market. Which makes the simplicity of Jesus saying, “Why do you worry about clothes?” all the more poignant as it’s unlikely that we’re concerned about having nothing to wear. Yet clearly having an abundance of material possessions doesn’t save us from worrying (Lk.12:15).

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Both birds (26) and flowers (28) are illustrations from the lesser to the greater, to underline that we can rely on our Father to care for us. If even short-lived flowers are adorned by him, how much more will he surely provide for us his children. So even wild flowers implicitly rebuke our “little faith” (30; cf. Mt.8:26; 14:31; 16:8). “Faith is a very practical reliance on the care and power of the Father. Anxiety is therefore its opposite” (France).

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Bad things will still happen – birds fall to the ground (Mt.10:29) and grass gets burned. But (another how-much-more saying), “If God gave up his own Son for us, how will he not also graciously give us all things?” (Rom.8:32). There is no trouble that can ever separate us from God’s love, or from his outworking of it for good in our lives (Rom.8:28,35-39).