Matthew 6:19-34

[michelleds]

Among other things, I am a bit of a prepper. One of those people who has a year’s worth food in the basement because of the possible economic difficulties coming down the pike. But then I remember Mt 6:19-34 and I wonder if doing this is morally wrong. Padre Pio said “Pray, Hope, Don’t Worry.”

Thoughts?

 

[JRKH]

Among other things, I am a bit of a prepper. One of those people who has a year’s worth food in the basement because of the possible economic difficulties coming down the pike. But then I remember Mt 6:19-34 and I wonder if doing this is morally wrong. Padre Pio said “Pray, Hope, Don’t Worry.”

Thoughts?

Are you willing to share this with others if need be?

Peace
James

 

[michelleds]

yes.

and that’s the justification that I’ve been using, but I don’t see that exception in the Matthew verses. and when I consider the overall consumerism and greed of the US (I’m just using the US because that’s where I live), and Christ’s statement to the rich young man (mt 19 and mk 10), I wonder if I am a product of my society in this rather than a follower of Christ.

 

[JRKH]

yes.

and that’s the justification that I’ve been using, but I don’t see that exception in the Matthew verses. and when I consider the overall consumerism and greed of the US (I’m just using the US because that’s where I live), and Christ’s statement to the rich young man (mt 19 and mk 10), I wonder if I am a product of my society in this rather than a follower of Christ.

Consider this.

1. Your willingness to share indicates that this is not “your treasure” but rather it is goods to be placed that God’s use should the need arise.
2. If, in your shopping, you re seeking the best use of your financial resources, again for the benefit of your own family and others, then this too is not realy “greed”, it is good husbandry of the blessings God has given you.

The bottom line is that, “where your heart is, there too is your treasure”.

Peace
James

 

[valentino]

Christ was saying don’t be anxious about what to wear or eat He wasn’t saying not to be precautious.But after you take the precautions don’t worry about.Afterall who knows how much precautions to take?

 

[GratefulFred]

It is so easy to get wrapped in “making it” in this world that we forget that we are here to “make it” in Heaven.

When THIS world becomes more important to us than the NEXT world, we are in danger of loosing that eternal world.

Yet the vitures include Prudence and Foresight. Should we shop EVERY day and sleep at night with only breakfast waiting in the cupboard? Should we spend all we earn and not save for our old age? The Lord’s Prayer does say “give us THIS DAY our DAILY bread.”

It would be saintly to live a life with nothing saved for tommorw and completely depend on God to provide for us daily. But God gave us Prudence, Temperance, and Foresight and these are part of the ways HE provides for us.

The passage, I think, is better understood as a warning to not go to extremes and to not be so anxious for THIS world that we totally loose sight of our relationship with God. Do we act out of love or out of fear?

 

[puzzleannie]

Among other things, I am a bit of a prepper. One of those people who has a year’s worth food in the basement because of the possible economic difficulties coming down the pike. But then I remember Mt 6:19-34 and I wonder if doing this is morally wrong. Padre Pio said “Pray, Hope, Don’t Worry.”

Thoughts?

neither wrong or right, morally neutral. may be prudent in some cases, imprudent in others (for instance if your basement is prone to flooding, or your freezer prone to frequent electrical blackouts). Trying to predict the economy is the only thing less reliable than trying to predict the weather, so I don’t know how much stock I would take in actions taken on that basis.

 

[djeter]

http://payingattentiontothesky.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/300px-bloch-sermononthemount.jpg?

Jesus And The Parable Of The Lilies Of The Field
Here Christ was indeed human; but more human than a human being was then likely to be. Peter Pan does not belong to the world of Pan but the world of Peter. …Even in the matter of mere literary style, if we suppose ourselves thus sufficiently detached to look at it in that light, there is a curious quality to which no critic seems to have done justice. It had among other things a singular air of piling tower upon tower by the use of the a fortiori; making a pagoda of degrees like the seven heavens. I have already noted that almost inverted imaginative vision which pictured the impossible penance of the Cities of the Plain.

There is perhaps nothing so perfect in all language or literature as the use of these three degrees in the parable of the lilies of the field; in which he seems first to take one small flower in his hand and note its simplicity and even its impotence; then suddenly expands it in flamboyant colors into all the palaces and pavilions full of a great name in national legend and national glory; and then, by yet a third overturn, shrivels into nothing once more with a gesture as if flinging it away `and if God so clothes the grass that today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven– how much more’ It is like the building of a good Babel tower by white magic in a moment and in the movement of a hand; a tower heaved suddenly up to heaven on the top of which can be seen afar off, higher than we had fancied possible, the figure of man; lifted by three infinities above all other things, on a starry ladder of light logic and swift imagination.

Merely in a literary sense it would be more of a masterpiece than most of the masterpieces in the libraries; yet it seems to have been uttered almost at random while a man might pull a flower. But merely in a literary sense also, this use of the comparative in several degrees has about it a quality which seems to me to hint of much higher things than the modern suggestion of the simple teaching of pastoral or communal ethics. There is nothing that really indicates a subtle and in the true sense a superior mind so much as this power of comparing a lower thing with a higher and yet that higher with a higher still; of thinking on three planes at once. There is nothing that wants the rarest sort of wisdom so much as to see, let us say, that the citizen is higher than the slave and yet that the soul is infinitely higher than the citizen or the city…
G.K. Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

More reflections by Fr Barron, Fr. Romano Guardini here…

dj

 

[PLeeD]

Thoughts?

Two things come to mind.

1. It seems that passage is more about how we value earthly treasures, and set them higher than heavenly things. The point is not that we should never have earthly treasures, but that we should have our priorities straight.
2. God arranged for Joseph to store food during seven good years of crops so that Egypt would be able to survive seven years of drought. Seems like you’ve done a wise and proper thing, just like Joseph did.

 

[michelleds]

djeter, that is an awesome link! thank you.

and thank you to everyone for your replies. Since I’m a new convert I think it’s easy to fall off the edge and into either a lax conscience or a scrupulous one. I’m grateful for all of the folks who post here.

 

[fred_conty]

Two things come to mind.

1. It seems that passage is more about how we value earthly treasures, and set them higher than heavenly things. The point is not that we should never have earthly treasures, but that we should have our priorities straight.
2. God arranged for Joseph to store food during seven good years of crops so that Egypt would be able to survive seven years of drought. Seems like you’ve done a wise and proper thing, just like Joseph did.

Hi, That’s a good answer!

 

[PLeeD]

Hi, That’s a good answer!

Glad you liked it. Seemed to me that #2 directly applied to his question.

In interest of full disclosure, the reason it probably came to me is that I just finished watching that movie with Martin Landau as Jacob and Ben Kingsley as Potiphar . Highly recommended!