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Pentecost 9 2025 (Proper 14)
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Hamilton, Ohio
Pastor Kevin Jud
August 10, 2025
Genesis 15:1-6, Hebrews 11:1-16, Luke 12:22-34

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Text:                           pastorjud.org  
Audio:                         pastorjud.podbean.com 
itunes:                         bit.ly/pastorjud
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            Last week Jesus gave us the example of the rich fool. A bad example to teach us how not to live.  The rich fool is very concerned about things of this life, but not thinking at all about eternal things.  The man has a good harvest and believes he is set for life, but then he dies unprepared for eternity.  The rich fool is given as an example of what not to do.  Do not measure yourself by what you have – measure yourself by who you are in Christ.

            In our Gospel reading today, the crowds are gone and Jesus is teaching His disciples about anxiety.  The disciples are like everyone else…they worry.  Folks worry, they are anxious about life.  They worry about what to eat…about what to drink…about clothing.  Life can be filled with anxiety.  Will I have enough to get through the month?  What about the future?  What about my health?  What if I make a mistake?  And life can get so busy.  You can get so caught up in all the activities of life that everyday living becomes a rat race; a competitive struggle for ultimately pointless rewards. It is easy to get caught up in a routine where you feel like a rat on a hamster wheel running and running and running and not getting anywhere.  It makes you wonder, is this what life is all about?

            Today, Jesus gives us a good example of how to live life, and it involves bird watching.  Luke 12:24 (ESV) 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 

            Jesus teaches you to observe and ponder ravens to learn about anxiety.  Unfortunately, for observing and pondering purposes, ravens are not found in Ohio, but further north and out west.  Ravens are related to crows, but are much larger, have a superior vocal range and are found more in the wild rather than the urban areas that crows prefer.  Crows travel in groups, called a murder. Ravens tend to travel in pairs.  Both are highly intelligent. 

Ravens are highly intelligent, but are not highly regarded.  When you think of beautiful, admirable birds you may think of eagles or hawks or cranes or herons, but not ravens.  They are not highly thought of.  A group of ravens is often called an unkindness or a conspiracy. 

            A raven’s diet is quite varied.  They eat carrion, a nice term for dead animals.  They also eat insects, rodents, eggs, berries, and even garbage.  They are omnivorous scavengers.  Ravens are not birds we would think of as being particularly beautiful.  But I think that if you were to ask the ravens, they might claim that they are misunderstood. 

Biblically, ravens are seen in different ways.  Noah released a raven first after the flood and it went to and fro around the ark, but did not return.  In Leviticus, the Lord declares ravens unclean and detestable.  The raven is detestable and unclean, and yet God sends ravens to bring bread and meat to the Prophet Elijah during a time of drought. 

            In literature, the raven is often a symbol of death, bad omens or the supernatural.  In Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, the raven is a symbol of grief and despair over the lost Lenore.  Even though Poe is from Baltimore it still seems a strange choice to name a football team after a symbol of grief and despair, except, I guess, they were renaming the Cleveland Browns. 

            Jesus tells us in the gospel reading today to consider the ravens.  Observe them and learn from them.  Last week he told us about the rich fool as a negative example.  Now we get ravens as a positive example of God’s provision.  God provides for ravens and that shows God’s power and control.  In Job, the Lord asks,  Job 38:41 (ESV) 41           Who provides for the raven its prey, 

when its young ones cry to God for help, 

and wander about for lack of food? 

And in the psalms, 

Psalm 147:9 (ESV) 9He gives to the beasts their food, 

and to the young ravens that cry.” 

            God provides for ravens and ravens trust that God will provide.  As opposed to the rich fool busy planning to tear down his existing barns and build bigger ones to store all that he has, the ravens soars high above trusting that God will give them what they need.  Ravens can glide for long periods while searching for food and can soar incredibly high on thermal air currents.  Ravens appear to be flying lazily, but they move deceptively fast and yet with slow wingbeats.  As ravens search for God’s provision they have fun.  Ravens are acrobatic flyers and often will playfully perform rolls, dives and other maneuvers.  In courtship ravens will fly with wingtips touching and will repeatedly dive and tumble together. 

            The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports, “Ravens are among the most intelligent of all birds and can learn by watching, solve problems using logic, and recognize different individuals, human and raven. They are playful and carry sticks and feathers aloft, trade them back and forth in flight and drop and retrieve them in air; they will repeatedly slide single file down snow fields. They also interact in a playful fashion with other animals, including wolves and bears. This likely helps them when their scavenging puts them in close proximity to these predators.[1]” 

            Ravens fly around looking for food but their quest for food appears effortless and elegant and playful.  The raven is not flapping his wings nonstop constantly flitting and flying here and there, but instead calmly soars high above looking for the food God will provide. 

            Ravens live out last week’s reading from Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes 2:24–25 (ESV)  24 There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, 25 for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”  

            Now, a raven’s life is not glamourous or easy.  Not many would consider eating roadkill to be fine dining.  But ravens are flexible.  They do not insist on just one particular food, but can eat many different things. They find joy in their daily tasks. Ravens trust God and soar and play and enjoy their toil.  Ravens do not sit on their nests with their mouths open waiting for God to drop in food; instead they joyfully and playfully go out and get what God provides. 

            Today’s reading is a hard lesson.  It is a hard lesson because anxiety and worry come so naturally. Life is hard.  Trust is hard.  Faith can be difficult.  This is convicting because you know you are not faithful enough, you do not trust enough, you still have anxiety, you still worry.  You still need Jesus and Jesus is still there for you.

People often will tell you, “Don’t worry about it.” But they do not have skin the in the game.  It is easy for them to say not to worry because the issues are not happening to them.  Jesus does have skin in the game.  Jesus teaches you not to worry while on His way to Jerusalem to give Himself as the blood sacrifice for your sins.  Jesus is the Good Shepherd and you are a sheep in His flock.  Luke 12:32 (ESV) 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” 

You are in the Kingdom of Heaven right now.  When you are anxious and find yourself worrying, consider the ravens soaring above and confess your anxiety and renew your trust in God’s provision.  When you see any bird, remember God feeds them, and you are far more important than a bird.

            Learn from the raven.  God will provide.  Use what God has given you to get what God provides for you.  Embrace your toil.  Are you a student, a parent, a worker, a boss, a volunteer, a grandparent…find enjoyment in what you do.  Soar through life knowing that you are child of God in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Keep life in perspective.  Take you work seriously, but not yourself.  Find fun in your work.  Make work a game.  Do what you have been given to do and do it well -- with joy.  Work hard when it is time to work.  Play when it is time to play.  Rest when it is time to rest.  Make plans, but know God is in control.  Give anxiety and worry to God knowing he is in charge and He will not fail you. 

You likely will find that living life with joy and finding enjoyment in your toil may make you misunderstood because that is not the way of the world.  The world may see you as strange, but you do not belong to the world.  In baptism God has marked you as His beloved child with water and the word and set you apart from the world in the joy of salvation.  You belong to the Father, so consider the ravens, and know you are so much more valuable than a raven.  The one who feeds the ravens will certainly feed you and clothe you. 

            And not only does He feed you with earthly food, but He feeds you with His very body and blood.  He forgives you all your sins and gives you eternal life.  You are one with God in Christ for eternity. 

Consider the ravens as they soar with playful joy and use them as an example of how to live.  Trust God, and, knowing who you are in Him, live in the joy of Jesus.  Amen. 

[1] https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commonraven.main