And he said unto his disciples,
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what you shall put on.
All Commentaries on Luke 12:22 Go To Luke 12
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
It is pleasing to note that lilies spring not from the barrenness of mountains and the wildness of forests but from the loveliness of gardens. These are the fruitbearing gardens of diverse virtues, as it is written, “A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed.” Where there is integrity, chastity, piety, faithful silence of secrets, the radiance of angels, there are the violets of confessors, the lilies of virgins, the roses of martyrs. And let no one think it is inappropriate to compare lilies with angels, when Christ called himself a lily, saying, “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.” Christ is fittingly a lily, because where there is the blood of martyrs, there is the Christ, who is a flower exalted, undefiled and blameless, in which the roughness of thorns does not offend but enveloping grace begins to shine. Roses have thorns which are the torments of the martyrs. The indivisible Godhead, which did not feel torments, has no thorns. Therefore, if lilies, like angels, are clothed beyond the glory of men, we should not despair of the mercy of God toward us—we to whom through the grace of the resurrection the Lord promises the likeness of angels. In this passage, Jesus also seems to touch on the question which the apostle did not overlook, either—the question that the nations of this world would ask, namely, how will the dead rise and with what manner of body will they come? By saying, “Seek the kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well,” Jesus indicates that grace will not be lacking for the faithful in the present or in the future, if only those who desire the heavenly do not seek the earthly. It is unseemly for the soldiers of the kingdom to worry about food. The King knows how to feed, cherish and clothe his household, and therefore he said, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.” –.
