I want to start with a confession.
There have been moments in my life when the phrase “God cares” felt hollow – almost like a bad joke. Maybe you’ve been there.
Someone says, “God cares about you,” and instead of comfort something in you tightens. Because if we’re honest, sometimes that glib statement doesn’t land as good news. Sometimes it lands as - thin. Especially when you’ve painfully experienced enough of the world. When you’ve walked through a neonatal unit or seen a child hungry. When you’ve watched someone you love not get better or walk away. When you’ve read the headlines or, worse, lived them.
And in those moments, the image of God can shrink into something distant—a ruler far away saying, “I care.” And we’re left wondering: What does that actually mean? Because if “care” just means God has warm feelings, it’s not enough. We don’t need a God who merely feels care. We need a God who does care—and we need to know how.
Jesus doesn’t avoid that tension. He steps right into it. He says, “Don’t worry about your life… your Father knows what you need.” He says, “Look at the birds of the air . . . See how the flowers of the field grow” and playfully asks, “Are you not more valuable than they?” Jesus refuses, in other words, to cancel God’s care.
It’s a strong claim. But it raises an honest question: How is that true? Because sparrows still fall. People still suffer. Hunger, sickness, and loss are real. So whatever Jesus means to say about God and us, it has to be big enough to hold that reality. Otherwise, it’s not truth—it’s denial. It’s not theology – it’s fantasy. So what does Jesus mean?
Jesus can’t be saying, “Nothing bad will happen.” He’s not offering a shallow optimism or a promise that life will be easy. Instead, he gives a command rooted in a communal vision and corporate ethic: “Y’all seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given.” (Proper Texas Version) And even though it’s at the end of our passage, that’s where the real meaning begins.
The “kingdom of God” is not an abstract place. It’s a way of organizing life around God’s principles—principles of generosity, justice, prayer, trust, and love. It’s a world where:
- people don’t hoard while others starve
- people serve God’s ways rather than money’s commands
- people don’t look away from suffering they lean in
- people trust there is enough—if we live like family
Jesus is not saying, “Food doesn’t matter.” He’s saying, “God intends a world where no one faces hunger alone.” So “do not worry” is not denial—it’s an invitation: He’s saying: “God invites us to live as a community where no one is left alone to worry about food.” That’s a very different thing.
So Matthew 6:33 is a call to action to be God’s ambassadors in order to enact God’s goodness: to seek God’s justice and build a world where people are clothed and fed.
This is how the promise of care in Matthew 6 makes sense. It only works inside a life shaped by kingdom principles—where needs are met together, not carried alone. So there’s a darkside -it doesn’t work if we do nothing.
And that leads to the second truth:
God’s care is expressed through partnership.
We see this from the very beginning – the origin story of human beings who are created not for worship but for the shamar [in Hebrew: the keeping, the caring] of all creation. That’s what it means to bear God’s image – to care like God and for God.
So if we’re waiting for God to care by overriding reality—suspending natural laws, instantly fixing everything—that’s mostly not how Jesus describes God at work.
Look at the birds and the flowers, he says. They are cared for—but through a God-created, God-sustained system of soil, rain, seed, and sun. In the same way, God’s kingdom runs on relational systems—on people living out God’s principles: loving enemies, giving to those in need, forgiving others, sharing possessions, refusing to hoard.
This is God’s way of caring. Desmond Tutu said it this way: “God does nothing in this world without a willing human partner.” Wrestle with that. It reminded me of Matthew 14, where the disciples saw a hungry crowd and brought it to Jesus’ attention, he didn’t say, “Wait for God to act.” He said, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” And in another version of the story (Mark 6) he asks, “How many loaves do you have?” And even though a multiplying miracle occurs, partnership and participation were essential. So part of the answer to “Where is God’s care?” is this: Where are God’s partners?
And once you start looking for it, you begin to see God’s care everywhere both in Scripture and in day-to-day life. Not in dramatic moments, but in quiet ones. A meal shared. A beautiful flower. A hand held. A burden carried. A bird singing. People who show up, who listen, who refuse to look away. People who are the care of God. People who become mundane miracles of attention and presence. Don’t underestimate that. Partnership is how God cares.
Let me offer another illustration. In the book of Acts we encounter a tremendous inward change of grace in believers who experience a radically different attitude toward possessions. Luke was so amazed by it that he describes it twice in Acts chapters 2 and 4 (Acts 2:44-45; 4:32-35). In one account, he said:
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. (Acts 4:32-35)
Why was there “no needy person among them”? Not because resources fell from heaven—but because people who encountered God’s grace became participants in God’s care. God’s principles reshaped their lives from greed to need, and they became God’s agents. That’s the pattern.
So when we ask, “Who is God, according to Jesus?” we have to let go of lesser images: God is cold and distant. God is passive. God is a celestial vending machine responding to requests, especially if you’re good or cute.
No. According to Jesus, God is an actively caring, transforming presence who works through principles and partnership—through people graciously transformed by love in a world made for love. And that’s both comforting and confronting. Because it means we don’t just ask, “Why doesn’t God do something?” We must learn to ask:
- What has God placed in my hands?
- Where is God inviting me to show up?
- Who near me needs care right now?
It may feel small—like five loaves and two fish. But in willing hands, that’s enough to begin. But it also means learning to receive care. Because if God works through people, then sometimes the answer to our prayer is already present—in the hands of someone nearby. Maybe what Jesus is doing in Matthew 6 is not denying the darkness or scolding our worry, but retraining our vision (Matt. 6:22-23).
Yes, the world is full of suffering. But it is also full of care, wonder, and beauty —quiet, persistent, often unnoticed. And once you see it, you can’t unsee it. So the question we leave with is not just, “Does God care?” But: Where is that care showing up right now? And how might God be working through me?
Because according to Jesus, God’s care is not far away. It is here— waiting to be noticed, waiting to be received, and waiting to be shared by us, through us, in us, and for us. To be a system of care that acknowledges our God-given pricelessness. And when we say “God cares.” When we pray for God’s provision. Always remember that God lovingly responds, “I am pouring out my goodness upon you. Look at the birds. Revel in the flowers. You are so valuable! And now, you give each other something to eat." Amen.
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