The Faith of Birds and Jesus--August 8, 2019
[Jesus said:] "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!" [Luke 12:24]
We talk a lot, we Christians, about having faith in Jesus. And we debate amongst one another about which are the necessary correct propositions to believe about Jesus. But we don't often think about how Jesus has faith, too. And yet he does. He gives us a model, in fact, for what real, living, daring faith looks like. He even gives us his own object lessons from the birds out in the field as a bonus for free.
The illustration Jesus offers here is pretty straightforward--birds (ravens, for example) don't punch a clock at work, don't make deposits in savings accounts, don't obsessively check their rate of return on their investment portfolio, and don't try to avoid paying taxes by keeping their money in off-shore accounts. And yet, what do you know, but God provides plenty for the ravens to eat. Jesus dares his listeners to trust in the same way--if God takes care of birds, why do we act like there will not be enough for us, and in fact, for a whole world full of creatures God loves?
Now, it would be one thing if Jesus taught this and then kept stockpiling gold coins while no one was looking. It would be one thing if Jesus merely talked about trusting God but then kept a fortune hidden away to rely on in case God turned out to be unreliable. But everything we are given in the Gospels shows us a lifestyle that was completely dependent on the faithfulness of God to provide. Jesus put his money (or lack thereof) where his mouth was, and actually lived a life that trusted in God's provision of enough, rather than putting his faith in money, power, connections, or influence.
How do we know it? Well, for starters, Jesus makes a point of telling would-be disciples that he is a homeless itinerant preacher and that following him will lead to the same conclusion for his followers. Jesus was never one for building equity or using a house as an investment. He stayed somewhere for the night, but never treated the places he resided as permanent possessions. Second, the Gospels all record that Jesus was largely dependent on the generosity of a community of supporters, many of them women, who were convinced that what Jesus was doing was worth investing in. But Jesus never worked a day job to save up a nest egg for his golden years. (Let this once and for all put to rest the silly game-playing we do where we judge the value of a person by how much their salary is, rather than valuing the work done for low wages, done by volunteers, and done in households that gets no compensation at all.) And then third of all, Jesus sends his own disciples out from time to time to the towns and villages around, and when he does, he sends them out without extra luggage or clothes, money or weapons. They go, in a very real sense, like ravens--trusting that God will provide for their needs. And Jesus chooses this approach because he actually believes the God who sends them out on their mission is worthy of their trust.
All of that is to say that Jesus doesn't, like the stereotypical televangelist, just ask YOU to give until it hurts while HE lives in luxury himself with a private jet and a McMansion. Jesus practices what he preaches, and he walks the talk. Jesus trusts that the living God will provide for him, as well as providing for all of humanity and all of creation. Jesus actually believes the story of abundance that shaped the story of Israel from the Exodus onward, and Jesus rejects the narrative of scarcity that every autocrat and empire from Egypt to Babylon to Rome and to the present day still recites. Jesus actually believes that we can trust God to give us what we need, such that we ask God for "daily bread," not a one-time lump sum for us to invest in stocks and bonds. It is a truth Jesus sees hard-wired into creation itself, from human lives to the ravens out in the field.
And part of what that means is that Jesus himself has faith. He is not only the one in whom we are taught to place our trust, but he teaches us what it looks like to place trust in the God he has come to represent. He shows us in creation how the other animals, plants, and life-forms all around us all trust that they will be given what they need, and then Jesus takes his own object lesson to heart and lives it.
I wonder what would happen if we dared to take Jesus as seriously as he takes the ravens? I wonder how much we would complain about taxes rather than being glad that our needs are met and someone else is going to have decent roads, food for their kids, and an after-school program somewhere where it is needed. I wonder how much we would obsess over the state of the stock market if we really lived believing that once our needs are covered, our abundance is meant to be shared. I wonder how much more free we would feel, if we didn't have to constantly worry about extra levels of protection for our stuff, and the costs that come with that protection: the security system and the safe, the extra insurance premiums and the guns we think will keep us safe from robbers, and all the other levels of motions we go through trying to secure our possessions. We spend so much of our lives securing our stuff that we end up feeling caged ourselves. And Jesus offers a very simple solution: don't give into the temptation to hoard your stuff.
Notice here that we haven't even gotten to any discussion of giving our stuff to the poor yet. That's also a big deal for Jesus, but notice that as Jesus uses his raven illustration, he really seems to think that the life that is freed from storing up "stuff" is a genuinely better life. He isn't asking us to settle, in other words. Jesus' message isn't, "Having more stuff is going to make you happier, but I still want you to suffer by giving away your possessions away to the poor because I want you to be miserable." Jesus actually believes that the life freed from hoarding, the life freed from obsessive worry about accumulating more and more, is really and truly the better way to live. And once you realize it, you'll be looking for ways to better use your excess stuff, and what do you know, there are probably some really hungry people who could eat or have a place to live from the proceeds of whatever excess stuff we could let go of.
It makes a difference to know that Jesus wasn't just some ivory tower think-tank philosopher speculating about how other people should live without doing it himself. Jesus actually lives with such confident trust in God to provide that he isn't always lugging around extra boxes of stuff, extra suitcases of clothes, or extra sacks full of cash. He just trusts, and in that regard, he is freer than any of us who are possessed by our possessions.
What if we took Jesus' advice today and considered the ravens... they really seem to have all they need. Maybe we do, too.
Lord Jesus, help us to trust as you taught us, so that we no longer need to rely on our possessions for security, but can find freedom in faith.
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