Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

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Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:22–34)

But perhaps you will reply to this, ‘Who then will give us the necessities of life?’ And to this be our answer as follows; The Lord is worthy to be trusted; and He clearly promises it to you, and by little things gives you full assurance that He will be true also in that which is great. For consider, He says, the ravens that they sow not, nor reap. They have neither closet nor store, and God feeds them. For just as, when He was strengthening us unto spiritual fortitude, He taught us to despise even death itself by saying, “Fear not those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul;” and in the same way to make His providence plain to you, used for His proof utterly valueless things saying; “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground without your Father. And the individual hairs of your head are all counted. Fear not, therefore, for you are of more value than many sparrows.” So also here, from the birds and the flowers of the field, he produces in you a firm and unwavering faith. Nor does He permit us at all to doubt, but that most certainly He will grant us His mercy, and stretch out His comforting hand, to bestow upon us in all things a sufficiency. It is moreover a very wicked thing, that while those who are placed under the yoke of bodily slavery depend upon their masters, as sufficient to supply them with food and clothing, we will not consent to put our trust in Almighty God, when He promises us the necessities of life.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Luke 90, 91