In one of the most celebrated allegorical stories of the Bible, Jesus tells the disciples that they must not be concerned about how they will live because God sees to all things - even to the beauty of the lilies in the field.
Lilies in the field… Jesus didn’t say lilies cut, placed in a vase, and set on a table, but lilies of the field. More than a flower, with stems, leaves, roots, growing in rich soil, gathering in the sunlight, the dew and the breezes. A celebration as part of all in the field…
Must we be less? Are we part of that which is the field or have we cut ourselves, arranged ourselves in the vase, and sit on the table only to slowly wither and die? When we remove ourselves from the field, what have we become? Is life to be found on the table or in the field?
the question is what does “lilies in the field” mean? should we take it allegorically that way? I think it could mean “being among the field of humanity” When you set yourself seperate from the field of humanity, you lose your connection with humanity, you stop caring about the fate of others.
different take on it…
The “lilies in the field” means just that, that god takes care of the lilies in the field.
God takes care of everything, even the beauty of the lilies of the field, how can one ever feel that one is not taken care of with the same care, the same concern?
“no protection, no shelter, helpless - used by the beasts of the field…” I would ask, is this not the same any place? Were the lilies in the London tubes protected from the beasts? What were the protections afforded the victims of Katrina? Life offers no guarantees of safety or longevity. It simply is what it will be. I would offer that the illusion of ‘escaping’ the viccitudes of life is death itself. The ‘medicine’ as it were, is to live life fully as we find it, and not cut ourselves off from all that sustains us.
Perhaps another metaphor… The lily of and in the field is life itself. The cut flower is death pretending to be life…
So here’s a perspective question. In the region Jesus was speaking, how common were lillies? Were they considered to be this rare, awesome beautiful thing like most of us probably think of, or were they more like the dandelions on my lawn?
Well, I suppose it is as we choose to see it. For me, the world is very much alive. So much so, there are times that it overwhelms my senses.
So the evidence of God is everywhere for me.
But I do understand what you are saying. The idols set up by man are truly dead. They were never of life in the first place.
It is sad that something as powerful as religion is literally a cult of death…
I really don’t know whether Jesus referred to a rare and beautiful flower, or the most common of weeds. I’m not sure that it changes the import of his message. As a teacher, I’m sure he would have chosen a flower that most would see as beautiful to heighten the impact of his statement, but that is just guessing on my part.
No matter, Jesus simply asked that we see ourselves as cared for as the least of life. Our anxieties of how shall we live are our creation, not that of God.
“Lilium candidum is sometimes pointed out as the ‘Lily of the Field,’ but this more probably was L. chalcedonicum, the brilliantly scarlet Martagon Lily, which is specially abundant about the Lake of Gennesaret on the plains of Galilee.â€
I’m not sure that it changes the import of his message. As a teacher, I’m sure he would have chosen a flower that most would see as beautiful to heighten the impact of his statement, but that is just guessing on my part.
I agree with your general take on the message, but the striking beauty of the lily seems to be central to this part of the verse, as it is compared to the kinds of raiments that King Solomon had. There is a sense that all the decorative efforts of men cannot even match that of a lily, which is natural to it, and effortlessly achieved.
OK, that’s the main thing I was wondering- was Jesus using a beauty His audience had appreciated, or was He pointing out a beauty that his audience may have overlooked.
Yes, a message inside a message. For all our preoccupations of pride and arrogance, even a simple field plant outshines all our constructions by simply being what it is… A most wonderful and humbling message if we listen…
I agree with this. What we may not agree on, is if there is a way out, and what it might be. It seems to me that the fact that we have to ponder and reason how to live to avoid folly is not a problem shared by animals or certainly flowers. We can lament what a bummer that is…but isn’t it still the case regardless? What I mean is, can we acknowledge that all this “How shall we live” talk is a problem unique to humans, and somewhat created by humans, and also acknowledge that nevertheless, working through that problem is the best we can do?
Well of course, I’m always talking to myself. You didn’t think I was speaking of anyone else did you? hmmm, if I were actually humble I wouldn’t have said anything… (makes note to self)
Inward…Outward…it’s all strange to me. I think you’d find, though, that all ‘looking’ must necessarily be outward. Whatever it is that ultimately does the seeing, can never truly see itself.
Hey, cool. That sounded all Eastern. I’m hip!
Of course another way to understand this is that yes, lilies actually do stress and strain for their lives, they suffer in drought, they redirect their resources in emergencies, they die in droves when conditions are not conducive; that they are no more “natural†and “beautiful†than we. Their beauty is unknown to themselves, as it is only a function of procreative strategies for pollination. So if the Lord takes care of us, and our beauty is our own, like is the case with them, really nothing is actually being said. We certainly can idealize these forms, ignore their suffering, their continual imperfections, the absolute functionality of their ‘glory’, and create parables and imaginings about things we imagine to be ‘not like us’, or ‘like us in a certain spiritual state’. But then again if we don’t do this, we wouldn’t be playing the spiritual ‘game’. Of course one could say that Jesus is not talking about the actual ‘lilies of the field’, but then one would be forced to ask, is he talking about ‘actual’ people as well.
