And seek you not what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be of anxious mind.
All Commentaries on Luke 12:29 Go To Luke 12
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Neither be ye of doubtful mind. (The Greek and the Vulgate say, "Be ye not lifted up on high.") Cornelius comments on this reading, this passage is explained in many different ways. S. Clement of Alexandria (Pæd. lib. ii10) says, "Be not led away from the truth to wish for a higher wisdom than faith teaches."
Secondly, S. Augustine (Lib. ii. Qust29 , Evang. Qust.): "Be not puffed up with pride because you have much food and clothing. For to be proud of having abundance of provision, is like a wounded man boasting that he has many plasters at hand, when it would have been well for him not to have needed any."
Euthymius: "Be not dragged down from lofty and heavenly concerns to earthly ones, so as to study and pursue not the former but the latter." Theophylact: "Be not unstable, always imagining what is above you, as they do who are not content with the present but are always looking on to something greater."
Fifthly and best: Be not anxious about the heavenly bodies over your head—the constellations of the stars and their courses—the shifting of the clouds—the breath of the winds, so as to judge from them of the future abundance or deficiency of your crops; as in Jer. x2 , "Be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them;" and Ecclesiastes 11:4, "He that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap." So Toletus, Vatablus, &c. Vatablus says, "Be not uneasy, as one who turns his face askance to the heavens from anxiety." Be not wavering in your minds as a pendulum in the air, looking to human assistance in different directions, and not anchoring on the providence of God." The Arabic version says, "Be ye not anxious." For all things point in this direction, that Christ will remove from us too great anxiety as to our support and clothing, and will impress on us a sure confidence in God by which to look with certainty to His Fatherly providence for all these things. The Greek word μετÎωζος conveys the idea of one whose mind is in doubt and suspense and is unfixed, who will judge by the result, and Isaiah , as Gaza calls it, "wavering" (pensilis). Others render it, "Do not look out from afar off," or as we commonly say, Do not make a long discursus, as though you would have no room for a Divine Providence, or as if you doubted of it. And F. Lucas: Be not over-anxious, as looking out with anxiety for what may happen in the far distant future, and taking thought long before for your future bodily needs, and looking forward in the distant times to come with solicitude about your food and clothing, as S. Matthew clearly explains it, "Be not therefore anxious for the morrow,"" , Matthew 6:34. All these words tend to the same point, forbidding us to show too great anxiety for the future, and directing us to resign it into the hands of Providence; to trust in it and securely rest upon it. Following this precept of Christ, S. Thomas wished and ordered all his brotherhood to live for the day and reserve nothing for the morrow, but to give what was over and above their day"s need to the poor; as being confident that God would provide for the morrow, as He did to Elijah and Paul the first hermit, sending them food daily by a raven; and as the children of Israel, who were certainly three millions, were fed daily in the desert with manna sufficient for their support, which was rained down upon them from heaven for forty years, while their clothes remained undamaged and perfect and even grew with the growing children.
