Jesus seldom preaches inside. He spends most of his days teaching outside, sitting on rocks and soil, surrounded by flowers, plants and animals. Jesus is outdoors when he gives the Sermon on the Mount, compassionately addressing very human things: our worry, our preoccupation, our self-absorption, our tendency to be stuck.
I like to imagine that as Jesus looks out at the worried folks he loves, he also sees a bird soaring gracefully overhead, because he says to these preoccupied people, “Look at the birds…Consider the lilies” (Matthew 6:26, 28).
Birds do not live a life of ease. To migrate, they fly thousands of miles. To build a nest, they carry twigs bigger than their bodies. Most don’t live beyond their first year. This is not about sitting back or relaxing. It’s about not fretting. Birds do not hoard or consume beyond their needs.
Yet this is about more than seeing birds as examples of living free from anxiety. I believe Jesus is also being literal here. As in: Stop. Go outside. Watch the sparrows. Notice the cardinal. Listen for the loon. Live in awe at this world God has made.
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “Jesus and nature: Teachers of faith” by Sara Olson-Smith in the November/December 2022 Gather magazine.
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