Therefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
All Commentaries on Matthew 6:30 Go To Matthew 6
John Chrysostom
AD 407
Now when, as you see, He had demonstrated the greatness of God's providential care, and they were in what follows to be rebuked also, even in this He was sparing, laying to their charge not want, but poverty, of faith. Thus, if God, says He, so clothe the grass of the field, much more you, O you of little faith. Matthew 6:30
And yet surely all these things He Himself works. For all things were made by Him, and without Him was not so much as one thing made. John 1:3 But yet He nowhere as yet makes mention of Himself: it being sufficient for the time, to indicate His full power, that He said at each of the commandments, You have heard that it has been said to them of old time, but I say unto you.
Marvel not then, when in subsequent instances also He conceals Himself, or speaks something lowly of Himself: since for the present He had but one object, that His word might prove such as they would readily receive, and might in every way demonstrate that He was not a sort of adversary of God, but of one mind, and in agreement with the Father.
Which accordingly He does here also; for through so many words as He has spent He ceases not to set Him before us, admiring His wisdom, His providence, His tender care extending through all things, both great and small. Thus, both when He was speaking of Jerusalem, He called it the city of the Great King; Matthew 5:35 and when He mentioned Heaven, He spoke of it again as God's throne; Matthew 5:34 and when He was discoursing of His economy in the world, to Him again He attributes it all, saying, He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Matthew 5:45 And in the prayer too He taught us to say, His is the kingdom and the power and the glory. And here in discoursing of His providence, and signifying how even in little things He is the most excellent of artists, He says, that He clothes the grass of the field. And nowhere does He call Him His own Father, but theirs; in order that by the very honor He might reprove them, and that when He should call Him His Father, they might no more be displeased.
Now if for bare necessaries one is not to take thought, what pardon can we deserve, who take thought for things expensive? Or rather, what pardon can they deserve, who do even without sleep, that they may take the things of others?
