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Donna Hawthorne
Understanding Biblical Literature| Dr. James C. Gee
Interpretation Paper | Matthew 6:25-34
February 22, 2019
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Matthew 6.25-34 is in the setting of Jesus delivering his word to His disciples and a
crowd. This gathering is generally identified as the Sermon on the Mount. Some scholars
suggest that Matthew was written in Phoenicia or Syria as early as A.D. 60 to Jews.1 Matthew
is the Gospel of the King tracing the family of Jesus back to David. The author Matthew, of this
Gospel presents this book as Jesus Christ the son of God.
In chapter 6, Jesus calls for simple piety and secrecy in giving (6:1-4), prayer (6:5-15),
and fasting (6:16-18).2 The purpose of these spiritual endeavors is to do God’s will.2 He
challenges people to take a position on wealth, a potential threat to God.3 This reading forces
us to go beyond “Thanks, God, for all my stuff!” or “Help me to get more stuff!” in our
prayers.4 It emphasizes that the Father, who has demonstrated his generosity throughout all
creation knows our needs.4 These verses starts out with three general bans against worrying
about life.5 “For this reason,” or “therefore,” connects this paragraph to the preceding because
it is impossible to be a slave to both God and mammon.5
1 Oscar Brooks, “Gospel of Matthew,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, eds. Chad Brand,
Charles Draper, and Archie England (Nashville, TN: Holman 1998), 1091-1093
2 Donovan , Richard Niell. “Matthew 6:24–34 Commentary, Bible Study.” Sermon Writer, 2015,
www.sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/matthew-624-34/.
3 Powery, Emerson. “Commentary on Matthew 6:24–34 by Emerson Powery.” 2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-
14 Commentary by Karla Suomala – Working Preacher – Preaching This Week (RCL),
www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=841.
4 Donovan, Matthew, The Context
5 Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992),
157
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Mamona is the Greek word for property, money and possessions. Jesus says that we
cannot steer both by Mammon’s star and God’s star. Those stars reside in two separate
parts of the heavens.6 The one calls us to be humble and the other to be proud, the one
to set our minds on things above and the other to set them on things below. We can
better understand the relationship between a kingdom servant and the King by paying
attention to this connection. In Matthew 6:19-24 the King expounded on His demand
for unreserved devotion followed by an elaboration saying, “Now when you enter into
this kind of total commitment to Me, I am going to take care of you. Do not worry.”7
“I tell you” is a way of God establishing his authority. It is a strong declaration, you can
see the same declaration in Matthew 4:9, but with an additional note from the echo of the
frequent occurrences of “[Amen, truly] I (ἐγώ) say to you” earlier in the Sermon on the
Mount.8 Jesus gives a command to “do not worry.” Do not worry about what you will eat in
6:25 does not mean that food is unimportant; followers of Jesus should pray for “daily bread”
(6:11), but then trust God to provide it.9 “Do not worry” Greek word for worry would be
merimna.10 They show their lack of trust in God as their heavenly Father and in His loving
desire to give His children all they need.11
6 Donovan, Matthew, The Context
7 Stu Weber, Matthew, HNTC (Nashville, TN: Holman, 2000), 86-87.
8 John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew, NIGTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005), 308.
9 Powery, Matthew, 3rd paragraph
10 “Do not be anxious” occurs six times in these verses and the only other occurrence in
Matthew is in 10.19. Ibid., 162.
11 Parkhurst, L. G. “International Bible Lesson Commentary.” 2011,
www.ouosu.com/IBLC/2011/11/Commentary-on-Matthew-6_25-34.pdf.
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The issue that Jesus is speaking on pertains to this earthy or worldly life. To reference
clothing, the body, birds, and fields gives warrant to ςπρέ meaning this earthy life. There are
three questions that lets you know that worrying is prohibited in the bible. The first one is in
verse 25, it says “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” This questions
whether life is more than food and clothing. It simply means, do not worry about what you
will eat in 6:25 does not mean that food is unimportant; followers of Jesus should pray for
“daily bread” (6:11), but then trust God to provide it.12 By this declaration, Jesus explains that
that life is more than food and clothing. You must not over indulge in neither of the two. The
question presents a ranked model of importance. The issue isn’t our clothing but our hearts.
The problem isn’t that we enjoy looking good, but that we give material possessions the
throne-room in our hearts the place that is intended for God.13 The way that God worded his
