CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 12:22. Take no thought.—Rather, “be not anxious” (R.V.). The meaning of the word “thought” has changed since 1611. Then it meant “anxiety” (see 1 Samuel 9:5).
Luke 12:23. Is more.—I.e., is a greater gift. He who gave the greater may be relied upon to provide the less.
Luke 12:24. Consider.—The word is a strong one: “observe carefully,” “study.” Ravens.—Cf. Psalms 147:9; Job 38:41. Sow … reap … storehouse … barn.—In reference to the parable of the Rich Man: he perished in spite of all his labour and anxiety; they live without labour or anxiety.
Luke 12:25. Thought.—As in Luke 12:22. Stature.—Rather “age.” The word means either the one or the other; but prolongation of life is the idea of the passage here. It would be a great thing to add a cubit to one’s stature, while this is spoken of as a slight and insignificant trifle.
Luke 12:26. The application of measures of space to time is not uncommon. See Psalms 39:5; 2 Timothy 4:7. A cubit is a foot and a half.
Luke 12:27. Lilies.—Supposed by some to be the crown imperial lily, which grows wild in Palestine, by others the amaryllis lutea, by others the Huleh lily. Of the last Thomson says: “It is very large, and the three inner petals meet above, and form a gorgeous canopy, such as art never approached, and king never sat under, even in his utmost glory. And when I met this incomparable flower, in all its loveliness, among the oak woods around the northern base of Tabor, and on the hills of Nazareth, where our Lord spent His youth, I felt assured that it was this to which He referred” (“The Land and the Book”). Solomon in all his glory.—Cf. Song of Solomon 3:6-11.
Luke 12:28. The grass.—The flowers mown down along with the grass. Oven.—“A covered earthen vessel; a pan wider at the bottom than at the top, wherein bread was baked by putting hot embers round it, which produced a more equable heat than in the regular oven” (Alford).
Luke 12:29. Doubtful mind.—Tossed about between hope and fear. The figure is that of a ship raised aloft, at one moment on the top of the wave and then sinking down into the depths—an apt metaphor for anxiety.
Luke 12:30. Your Father knoweth.—An additional reason for banishing undue anxiety about worldly things.
Luke 12:32. Little flock.—The word for “flock” is itself a diminutive: the double diminutive is an indication of the deep feeling with which the words were spoken. Christ here presents Himself as the Shepherd (John 10:1 ff). The kingdom.—If the higher and spiritual blessings are given, anxiety concerning food and raiment may well be banished. Preparation for this kingdom is commended in the verses that follow.
Luke 12:33. Sell that ye have, etc.—Addressed to officers of the kingdom who were to be altogether free from earthly ties; though in a certain sense all should provide for themselves a “treasure in the heavens.” That faileth not.—I.e., that is inexhaustible.
Luke 12:34. Where your treasure is.—The affection of the heart is not to be divided, but is to be concentrated on one object (cf. Matthew 6:24).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 12:22-34
Anxious about Earth, or Earnest about the Kingdom.—The warnings against anxiety are another application of the prohibition of laying up treasures for self. Torturing care is the poor man’s form of worldliness, as luxurious self-indulgence is the rich man’s.
I. The prohibition against anxious care (Luke 12:22-23).—The disciples who were poor men might think that they were in no danger of the folly branded in the foregoing parable. They had no barns bursting with plenty, and their concern was how to find food and clothing, not what to do with superfluities. Christ would have them see that the same temper may be in them, though it takes a different shape. The temper here condemned is “self-consuming care,” the opposite of trust—a frame of mind that is incompatible with prudent forethought and strenuous work, since it both hinders from seeing what to do to provide daily bread, and from doing it. Reasons against this anxious care:
1. It is superficial. It forgets how we come to have lives to be fed and bodies to be clothed. We have received the greater, life and body, without our anxiety. The rich fool, in the preceding parable, could keep his goods, but not his “soul” or “life.” How superficial, then, after all, our anxieties are, when God may end life at any moment! Further, since the greater is given, the less which it needs will also be given. The thought of God as “a faithful Creator” is implied. We may trust Him for the “more”: we may trust Him for the “less.”
2. Examples of unanxious lives abundantly fed. The ravens have “neither storehouse nor barn.” In these particulars the birds are inferior to us, and, so to speak, the harder to care for. If they, who neither work nor store, still get their living, shall not we, who can do both? Our superior value is in part expressed by the capacity to sow and reap; and these are more wholesome occupations for a man than worrying.
3. The impotence of anxiety (Luke 12:25). The supposed addition, if possible, would be of the very smallest importance as regards ensuring food or clothing, and, measured by the Divine power required to effect it, is less than the continual providing which God does. That smaller work of His, no anxiety will enable us to do. How much less can we effect the complicated and wide-reaching arrangements needed to feed and clothe ourselves! Anxiety is impotent. It only works on our minds, racking them in vain, but has no effect on the natural world, not even on our own bodies, still less on the universe.
4. Examples of unanxious existence clothed with beauty. Christ here teaches the highest use of nature, and the noblest way of looking at it. It is a visible manifestation of God, and His ways there shadow His ways with us, and are lessons in trust. Christ appeals to Creation as witnessing to a loving care in heaven. That appeal teaches us that we miss the best and plainest lesson of nature, unless we see God present and working in it all, and are thereby heartened to trust quietly in His care for us, who are better than the ravens, because we have to sow and reap, and than the lilies, because we must toil and spin. Luke 12:29 adds to the reference to clothing a repeated prohibition as to the other half of our anxieties, and thus rounds off the whole with the same double warning as in Luke 12:22. It paints the wretchedness of anxiety as ever tossed about between hopes and fears, sometimes up on the crest of a vain dream of good, sometimes down in the trough of an imaginary evil. We are sure to be thus the sport of our own fancies, unless we have our minds fixed on God in quiet trust, and therefore stable and restful.
5. Such undue anxiety is pure heathenism (Luke 12:30). The nations of the world who know not God make these their chief good, and securing them the aim of their lives. If we do the like we drop to their level. What is the difference between a heathen and a Christian, if the Christian has the same objects and treasures as the heathen? That is a question which a good many so-called Christians at present would find it hard to answer.
6. Faith in God as our Father should dispel anxious care.—This is the crowning reason. What has preceded it might be spoken by a man who had but the coldest belief in Providence. But how should we be anxious if we know that we have a Father in heaven, and that He knows our needs? He recognises our claims on Him. He made the needs and will send the supply. Our wants are prophecies of God’s gifts. He has made them as doors by which He will come in and bless us. How, then, can anxious care fret the heart which feels the Father’s presence and knows that its emptiness is the occasion for the gift of a Divine fulness? Trust is the only reasonable temper for the child of such a Father. Anxious care is a denial of His love, or knowledge, or power.
II. An exhortation to set the affections on the true treasure (Luke 12:31-34).—This points out the true direction of effort and affection, and the true way of using outward good so as to secure the higher riches. Life must have some aim, and the mind must turn to something as supremely good. The only way to drive out heathenish seeking after perishable good is to fill the heart with love and longing for eternal and spiritual good. To seek “the kingdom”; to count it our highest good to have our wills and our whole being bowed in submission to the loving will of God; to labour after entire conformity to it; to postpone all earthly delights to that, and to count them all but loss if we may win it;—this is the true way to conquer worldly anxieties, and is the only course of life which will not at last earn the stern judgment, “Thou fool!” This direction of our aims is to be accompanied with joyous, brave confidence. How should they fear whose desires and efforts run parallel with the “Father’s good pleasure”? They are seeking, as their chief good, what He desires, as His chief delight, to give them. Then they may be sure that if He gives that, He will not withhold less gifts than may be needed. If they can trust Him to give them the kingdom, they may surely trust Him for bread and clothes. Mark, too, the tenderness of that “little flock.” They might fear when they contrasted their numbers with the crowds of worldly men; but, being a flock, they have a Shepherd, and that is enough to quiet anxiety. Seeking and courage are to be crowned by surrender of outward good, and the use of earthly wealth in such manner as that it will secure an unfailing treasure in heaven. The manner of obeying the command varies with circumstances. For some the literal fulfilment is best; but sometimes the surrender is rather to be effected by the conscientious consecration and prayerful use of wealth. That is for each man to settle for himself. But what is not variable is the obligation to set the kingdom high above all else, and to use all outward wealth, as Christ’s servants—not for luxury and self-gratification, but as in His right and for His glory.—Maclaren.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENT ON Luke 12:22-34
Luke 12:22-31. The Cure for Covetousness.—Jesus well knew that over-anxiety about worldly things would always be a great snare, even to those who know and love their Lord. Hence He puts before them full and sufficient reasons why His followers should not be overanxious about their bodily needs.
I. See what God has already given.—Will He, who has given life, withhold what life needs?
II. See God’s care for birds and flowers.—Evidences of God’s thoughtful, loving providence abound on every side. If the ravens are fed, and the lilies clothed, will He neglect His immortal, redeemed servants?
III. How useless is fretful anxiety!—It does no good. You can neither add to stature, nor length of days.
IV. How unworthy it is.—The heathen who do not know God may well give themselves up to a life of mere worldly care and pleasure. But is this conduct befitting the children of the kingdom?
V. There is God’s unfailing promise.—“Seek … and all these things shall be added.” Care for His interests, and He will care for yours.—W. Taylor.
Luke 12:22-40. Against being Pre-occupied by Things of the World.
I. The believer may renounce the pursuit of worldly riches because of a strong confidence in the goodness of his heavenly Father in matters pertaining to this life (Luke 12:22-34).
II. Because of the superior blessings which he anticipates obtaining at the coming of his Lord (Luke 12:35-40).
Anxious, Restless Solicitude about Earthly Things Forbidden.
I. The Giver of life and the Creator of the body may well be trusted to give the food that sustains the life and the raiment the body needs.
II. God’s care for animals and plants.
III. The uselessness of such solicitude on our part.
IV. Anxiety about earthly things unchristian and heathenish.
V. God adds everything to those who first seek His kingdom.
Luke 12:22-24. A Precept, an Argument, and an Illustration.
I. The precept: “Take no thought,” etc. (Luke 12:22).
II. The argument in support of it (Luke 12:23). He who gave the greater will give the less.
III. The illustration from nature, (Luke 12:24).
Luke 12:22. “Therefore I say unto you.”—It cannot be said too often that the avaricious are not to be found exclusively among the rich. Augustine says, “God judges men to be rich or poor, not by the amount of their possessions, but by their dispositions.” Our Lord turns at once to the disciples, who had neither fields nor barns, and exhorts them to beware of avarice, anxieties, and worldly cares.
As the believer is not
(1) to aspire after the possession of superfluous wealth, so is he not
(2) to be unduly anxious even about the necessaries of life. He is the servant of a kindly Master, who will provide him with food and clothing.
Luke 12:23. “Meat;” “raiment.”—The illustrations that follow are drawn from
(1) the animal,
(2) the vegetable world—the ravens are fed by God, the lilies clothed by Him.
“The life is more than food.”—You turn it exactly round: food is meant to serve life, but life forsooth serves food; clothes are to serve the body, but the body forsooth must serve the clothing. And so blind is the world that it sees not this!—Luther.
Luke 12:24. “Sow;” “reap;” “storehouse;” “barn.”—All refer to the preceding parable of the Rich Fool. From the “storehouse” seed is brought out for sowing; in the “barn” the wheat is deposited to be used for food.
Luke 12:24; Luke 12:27. Birds and Flowers.—The birds of heaven, the flowers of the field: how simple, how beautiful, this contemplation of nature, as Adam before the fall beheld it in Paradise!—Stier
Luke 12:27. “The lilies.”—As the beauty of the flower is unfolded by the Divine Creator Spirit from within, from the laws and capacities of its own individual life, so must all true adornment of man be unfolded from within by the same Almighty Spirit (cf. 1 Peter 3:3-4). As nothing from without can defile a man (Matthew 15:11), so neither can anything from without adorn him.—Alford.
“They toil not, they spin not.”—Neither “toil”—as men, for the materials of clothing; nor “spin”—as women, whose office it is to give shape to those materials, and make them fit for use. Consolation is intended for either sex.—Burgon.
“Solomon.”—“The lily belongs to the paradise of God, Solomon’s glory to the hot-house of art.”—Stier.
Luke 12:28. “Clothe you.”—This may also be applied as an assurance of a glorious resurrection. If in each successive spring, after the winter’s frost and death, God clothes the flowers of the field with the apparel of such fresh verdure and beautiful colours, will He not much more clothe you with the bright raiment of a glorious body, like to that of the angels (chap. Luke 20:36), and of Christ (Philippians 3:21)?—Wordsworth.
Luke 12:29-32. Cares.
I. The cares which consume men of the world (Luke 12:29-30).
II. The only care that should engross the believer (Luke 12:31-32).
Luke 12:29. “Of doubtful mind.”—The phrase really means and implies “tossing about on the open sea”; so that we might paraphrase it, “Do not toss about in the windy offing, when you may ride safely in the sheltered haven.”—Cox.
Luke 12:31. “Added unto you.”—So to Solomon were given, not only the wisdom which he had asked, but also the temporal benefits for which he had not asked.
“The way to obtain spiritual bessings is to be importunate for them; but the way to obtain temporal blessings is to be indifferent about them. Solomon had wisdom given him, because he asked it; and wealth, because he did not ask it” (Henry).
Luke 12:32 “Fear not.”—1 They have no reason to fear want.
2. Or the various other afflictions and calamities of life.
3. Or spiritual enemies.
4. Or death.
“Little flock.”—The phrase suggests
(1) cause of fear, and also
(2) the more special care on the part of God which is needed and is exercised.
Christ’s Flock.—How Christ’s people come to be His flock.
I. By the express appointment of God.
II. By the purchase of His atoning death.
III. By His actually bringing His people into His fold.
Luke 12:33. “Sell what ye have and give alms.”—Our Lord’s words are diametrically opposed to modern socialism. The latter would make laws to take away wealth; the former inculcates love that gives away.
Luke 12:34. Detachment and Attachment. In proportion as the faithful thus creates for himself a treasure above, detachment from earth is transformed into attachment to heaven. For it is a law that the heart follows the treasure. From this results the new attitude of the faithful which is described in the words that follow. The heart, disengaged from the burden of earthly possessions, like a balloon after its fastenings have been severed, springs up to meet the Master, who is on His return, and for whom every faithful one is waiting unceasingly.—Godet.
“For where your treasure is.”—The human heart, little by little, appropriates to itself the style and nature of the treasure to which its whole thought is directed. Whoever constitutes his god of gold, his heart becomes as cold and hard as metal; whoever takes flesh for his idol becomes more and more sensual, and takes on the properties of that which he loves above everything; but whoever has invisible treasures keeps eye and heart directed upon the invisible world, and whoever has no higher good than God accords to Him the first place in his love. This is the key to the precious saying of one of the Fathers, “O Lord, since thou hast made us for thyself, our heart is uneasy within us, until it rests in Thee”—Van Oosterzee.