Jesus, Worry, and Naps

You know something Jesus and I apparently have in common? The ability to go to sleep nearly anywhere, and sleep through nearly anything.

Jesus manifested this ability on a boat in the middle of a storm, a storm in which his disciples, several of whom were professional fishermen, thought they were going to die.


"You guys woke me up for this?"

That sounds like me. A person I am very close to, but who will remain anonymous, but who is my wife, has in the past been a little upset with me as I have attempted to sleep through a tornado, people being arrested outside our bedroom window, and probably some other disastrous stuff I can’t remember because I was asleep.

There are several ways to interpret this. One is that I tend to be generally pretty even keel (a little boat humor, there). For things like tornados, I figure there isn’t a whole lot I can do, so I may as well stay comfortable.

Another way is to go super-spiritual, and assume I have achieved a Christ-like level of enlightenment and faith. That is, after all, what Jesus asks the disciples upon being roused. “Why are you afraid? (Answer: We are all going to die!!!) How is it that you have no faith?”

Another way to interpret my ability to rest in extreme circumstances is that I am lazy. I prefer to think of it as resting before I get tired, but why quibble?

So, as with many virtues, there seems to be a balance, and a basic lesson at the heart of it all. First of all, there is the balance between worrying and being lazy, or between resting peacefully and planning ahead.

Jesus specifically tells us not to worry in the Sermon on the Mount. Even more specifically, he says not to worry about what we will eat or what will wear.

Let’s take the latter one first. Who worries about what to wear? Not just thinks about it, but worries about it? Two kinds of people: 1) people who are very, very concerned about how they look, to the degree that they look at a closet full of clothes and say, “I don’t have anything to wear,” and 2) people who literally don’t have anything to wear.

I think we can safely assume that the Galilean peasants Jesus addressed on the mountain were in the second category. And Jesus tells them not to worry about it.

Similarly, who worries about what they are going to eat? Not worry in the “Should I eat Chinese or Italian?” or “Is this fattening?” kind of way, but genuinely worries about where their next meal is coming from? The desperately poor. And Jesus tells them not to worry. His comforting word to them is that God feeds the birds. The irony here is that birds (with the exception of pigeons, thanks, youth group) are not known for being fat. “Eating like a bird” is not a euphemism for eating heartily.

So Jesus tells desperately poor people, “Don’t worry about it.” But Jesus also tells many parables whose lesson is “Be ready!” and “Plan ahead!” - most notably the Parable of the Talents.

The key here, I think, is Matthew 6:33. “Seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

The difference between worry and planning ahead is that one factors God into the equation and one does not. The difference between being relaxed in the midst of a crisis and being lazy is that one factors God into the equation, and the other does not. Both worry and laziness are thinking and living in a circle. One is consumed with anxiety about everything, and one is careful of nothing. Both are going nowhere fast. When God gets factored in, both circles straighten out into a line. Worry turns into a plan placed in God’s hands, and laziness turns into rest at the right time, and work at the right time. And whether working or resting, when God is factored in, our lives are meeting a Purpose.

I am very grateful to the anonymous person, who is also my wife, that she plans ahead. It has saved us time, embarrassment, and a lot of money. I think we make a good team, and can remind each other at various times to remember to factor God into our dealings in the circumstances of our lives.

So, there’s Jesus’ negative command: “Don’t worry!”
And, there’s Jesus’ positive commands: “Seek first His kingdom” and “Be ready!”
And then there’s this truth at the heart of both of them: “For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.”