O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

Secondly, Henry’s argument that our physical height falls under the realm of God’ssustaining providence, fits the context. There is a middle ground worth noting. Lioy(2004:170) notes that whichever translation of pechus one prefers the point remainsthe same, “worry does not change things (Lioy 2004:170).”One could say that implications attached to this reason are as follows:a) As one has no control over one’s height, Jesus is saying that a reason thatone should not worry, is that it is useless (Lioy 2004:170). There is no point inworrying about things that are clearly outside of the disciple’s control.b) Worrying about areas of life where God is sovereign is an attempt tooverthrow God’s authority rather than trust God (Carter 2000:177).The fourth reason related to the prohibition is found in verse 28-30 (Talbert2006:126). This is where Jesus encouraged His disciples not to be anxious forclothing. He told them to examine the lilies of the filed which do not toil nor spin, andyet Solomon was not arrayed as one of these.This vegetation metaphor is used by Jesus to prohibit a disciple’s anxiety overclothing (France 1985:141). Jesus again argues from the lesser to the greater, i.e. ifGod cares for lilies and grass He will clearly also care for His own (p. 140). Considercomes from katamanthano (Hill 1977:144). The implication is that one pays closeattention with the aim to learn.Lily is translated from krinon (Unger and White 1985:372). Lilies could include thegladiolus species which are found in wheat fields in Galilee. While the modern dayreader cannot be sure if Jesus is referring to a specific species these plants would fitJesus illustration well as when in bloom they bring fantastic colour to theirenvironment, but also have a stem that when dried would be used well in ovens.The oven is in fact their final destination (Matt. 6:30).Ryken, Wilhoit and Longman III (1998:294) say that it is common to use “lilies of thefield,” in a generic sense to refer to any good looking flowers. If flowers areconsidered in the generic sense, and thus not a specific type, the saying “flowers of58