NOTES for Luk 12:13-31

The key phrase in today’s Gospel reading is, of course, the passage’s closing words: “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you.” Christ’s preceding words, which lead to this conclusion, concern chiefly human nature. Speaking to his disciples about what should concern them, the Lord asks them a question: “Which of you, by worrying, can add even a cubit to his stature?” The self-evident answer—“no one”—implies that we cannot change the way a human being is constituted. It also follows that what matters in our lives is not our outward circumstances but our inward disposition, and that this is precisely what we ought to care about.

At the beginning of today’s passage, the Lord also says: “A person’s life does not depend on the abundance of his possessions.” The Synodal translation offers a paraphrase here; the Greek original can be translated literally as follows: “A person’s life [is] not in the abundance of possessions.” If life does not consist in outward circumstances or material security, what does it consist in? This is the central question Christ answers. A person’s life consists in the Kingdom of God; abiding in it is essential to being alive. The Lord calls us to entrust everything else to the care of the heavenly Father, who knows our needs.