Ancient Wisdom for This Anxious Age: Luke 12:22–34’s Imperatives in Anxious Perspective

Abstract

In this article, I argue that the command of Jesus in Luke 12:22–34 not to be anxious and afraid are supported by exegetical clues from the text and findings in anxiety recovery research. I will argue that the imperatives of Luke 12:22–34 are not intended to be alienating but instructive with regard to where we put our attention and how we handle fear. Moreover, I will demonstrate that these words are not the fruit of a detached theologian or an abstract, impractical encouragement but instead the wisdom of someone familiar with the struggles of life, particularly that of first-century Jewish Palestine. Such is a wisdom that can be drawn upon today, especially for those who struggle with anxiety. The research methodology in this article is interdisciplinary, employing theology, exegesis, and psychology.

1. An Introduction and a Command

According to a recent poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association, Americans are feeling increasingly anxious. The issues that are contributing to this increase in anxiety are the economy, the current political climate, gun violence, and a host of related issues, such as family safety and the impact of emerging technology on everyday life. What likely doesn’t help is that we are constantly exposed to what is happening throughout the world via the mass media apparatus, which no longer simply includes television news or print media, but also social media, making it ever more pervasive and ubiquitous (American Psychiatric Association 2024). Sadly, as Rolf Dobelli notes, in an effort to be well-informed, we are doing ourselves an injustice, as these platforms tend to wreak havoc on our peace of mind and exploit our negativity bias (Dobelli 2019, p. 120). Thus, we only make ourselves more anxious, not less.

Not surprisingly, though still unfortunate, there has also been a rise in anxiety disorders across the global population in the last thirty years (Wu et al. 2025, p. 167). According to one study, one in fourteen individuals meets the criteria for an anxiety disorder (Craske and Stein 2016, p. 3048). Such disorders include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, as well as a host of other disorders. In fact, the rise of such anxiety disorders has become so prevalent among American youth that scholar Jonathan Haidt’s books on this very topic have become New York Times Bestsellers from 2018’s The Coddling of the American Mind (Haidt and Lukianoff 2018) to 2024’s The Anxious Generation (Haidt 2024). In The Anxious Generation, Haidt articulates well the way anxiety affects all of us, and those with disorders. He writes, “Anxiety affects the mind and body in multiple ways. For many anxiety is felt in the body as tension or tightness or discomfort in the abdomen and chest cavity. Emotionally, anxiety is experienced as dread, worry, and, after a while, exhaustion. Cognitively, it often becomes difficult to think clearly, pulling people into states of unproductive rumination and provoking cognitive distortions that are the focus of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), such as catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, and black-and-white thinking. For those with anxiety disorders, these thinking patterns often elicit uncomfortable physical symptoms, which then induce feelings of fear and worry, which then trigger more anxious thinking, perpetuating a vicious cycle (Haidt 2024, p. 28).”

Speaking from firsthand experience as someone who has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder in the form of obsessive-compulsive disorder, having struggled with it for over two decades, I can personally attest to the accuracy of Jonathan Haidt’s words above. However, over the past year, I have embarked on the rocky road of recovery from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which has involved learning and pushing towards deeper self-awareness, learning new approaches to my anxiety, openly facing my fears, and failing only to try again, and forming new beliefs. What has occurred is a slow but steady process of recovery for which I am deeply grateful. Through this process, I have made connections to the words of Jesus found in Luke 12:22–34, which advise against being anxious and fearful. I have come to discover that the words, “do not be anxious,” which can easily be misconstrued by the anxious-minded, such as myself, as being unrealistic, alienating, and frustrating, are likely the fruit of deep wisdom and knowledge on the part of the Lukan Jesus. However, the clues are not just in the words themselves but in the context surrounding them.

In both Luke 12:22 and Matthew 6:25, Jesus tells his disciples not to be anxious. In both accounts, the same verb is used, which is merimnate. This verb is in the present, active, imperative, second person plural, meaning it is a simple command to his disciples, not a suggestion. In other words, Jesus is not simply providing words that should be slowly pondered and contemplated (as if an idyllic image that should be contemplated on the path to union with God); rather, he is giving a clear instruction.

Nonetheless, Jesus’ words concerning anxiety are direct and to the point. Depending on one’s current state, they may even find them to be aggressive, producing not comfort but further alienation. As someone with an anxiety disorder, I only wish it were as simple as believing those four words. After all, those with pathological anxiety can’t simply turn off their anxiety, which is often why medication is needed, as well as a long duration of cognitive behavioral therapy.

In what follows, I will offer an interpretation of the words of Jesus found in Luke 12 concerning anxiety and fear, which is the fruit of my recovery from an anxiety disorder (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). This is a reader’s response to the Lukan text from the vantage point of someone who has undergone the process of OCD recovery, applying various strategies, including Attention Training, Exposure Response Prevention, and the forming of new beliefs. By drawing upon recent Lukan scholarship, I will demonstrate that Jesus’ commands not to be anxious and afraid are not intended to be alienating but rather instructive regarding where we direct our attention, how we confront fear, and what we believe about these very things. This article is intended for all people who struggle with anxiety in this modern age. Moreover, these words are not the fruit of a detached theologian or an abstract, impractical encouragement but instead the wisdom of someone familiar with the struggles of life, particularly that of first-century Jewish Palestine. Such is a wisdom that can be drawn upon today.

2. Luke 12:22–34 in Context—A Rich Fool as the Backdrop

When it comes to understanding the words of Jesus, context is always key. The Lukan Jesus’ words to “not be anxious” are located in the middle teaching section of the Gospel. This section accounts for the majority of the Gospel, with its beginning being marked by Jesus setting his face towards Jerusalem in 9:51 and ending at 19:44 with Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem. Thus, as Jesus travels towards Jerusalem, he teaches about “the Way.” Paul Borgman helpfully explains this section, “Luke arranges this teaching as principles concerning the Way. Each principle—a theme cluster—is repeated for emphasis and expansion or even qualification of thought. The geographic itinerary from 9:51–19:44 is minimally signified, but the metaphorical sense of journeying God’s Way is strong, achieved through Luke’s method of ordering the various interconnecting insights” (Borgman 2006, pp. 77–78).

Thus, one such section is Luke 12:13–34 (with its parallel section being 16:1–31), which, according to Borgman, centers on the theme of relinquishing possessions and not worrying (Borgman 2006, p. 156). This is important because the words “do not be anxious (worry)” are found in the middle of this section in verse 22. They are preceded by the parable of the rich fool, a cartoonish portrayal of a first-century landowner (Myers 2025, p. 125). To fully understand the force and meaning of Jesus’ words in verses 22–34, we must also pay attention to this preceding parable.

I noted in the introduction that it is tempting to think that Jesus’ words not to be anxious can easily be understood as flippant or even childish. However, the immediate context of Luke 12:13–34 reveals a depth of understanding concerning such words. Jesus’ telling of the parable of the rich fool reveals that he was deeply embedded and connected to the culture and people of his day. Having just warned those gathered to be on guard against avarice, Jesus proceeds to tell this parable. The main character, a wealthy landowner, would have been an archetype with which they would have been quite familiar.

During this period, particularly with the advent of the Roman Empire, large landowners increased their ownership by foreclosing on indebted small farmers (Myers 2025, p. 125). In Palestine, Emperor Pompey had reorganized the territory after Roman annexation in 63 BCE, leading to large swaths of the local population being dispossessed and impoverished. Added to this was the constant taxation from Rome, King Herod, and the Temple apparatus, which left the local population destitute (Myers 2025, p. 125). The rich landowner character would have resonated deeply with Jesus’ audience. He represented the very injustice they and those they knew suffered under. The very system that enabled him to become a large landowner was also the system that made their lives harder, more anxious, and more destitute. However, in his cartoonish portrayal of the landowner, Jesus shows a man disconnected from what Ched Myers refers to as “God’s cosmology of grace” (Myers 2025, p. 126) and is deeply self-consumed. In other words, this man’s attention goes to himself and his wealth (Myers 2025, p. 127). Consider how many references he makes to himself (italicized) in his self-dialogue found in verses 17b–19:

‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’

Though the very crops were produced by the land without this man doing anything, he assumes ownership. Instead of sharing these crops as they land had shared them with him (cosmology of grace), he builds storehouses for them, and his self-dialogue reveals why. He is only attentive to himself; he is self-consumed and unaware of the world around him or even the grace that has been given to him. “It suggests a solipsistic existence; even the second-person pronoun in the last two lines is the man addressing himself!” writes Myers (2025, p. 127). Thus, it is not accidental that, on the heels of the ending of this story, in which God demands his life of him and Jesus condemns such behavior, Jesus then turns to his disciples and begins teaching them not to be anxious.

3. The Lukan Jesus’ Imperative

In verse 22, we have a pivot of sorts, where Jesus shifts from addressing the crowd to addressing his disciples with the parable of the rich fool as a contextual backdrop. Yet the contrast goes further; rather than telling another parable, Jesus directly teaches his disciples beginning with the imperative, “Do not be anxious!” (me merimnate) about their lives (psuche), what they will eat, wear, or about their bodies. What is noteworthy is where Jesus tells them to put their attention next. In order to demonstrate the wisdom and truthfulness of his words, he tells them to pay attention to the crows/ravens and then the lilies/flowers. In other words, unlike the rich man whose attention is self-oriented, Jesus tells them to look outside of themselves, to the outside world. Verses 24 and 25 begin with the verb (katanoesate), which is also in the imperative, so the oft-translated “consider” is not entirely helpful. Ched Myers helpfully notes, “‘Turn your mind instead to this’ (katanoeo, used fourteen times in the New Testament, here is aorist imperative) commands action, lost in the NRSV’s “consider” is better rendered “Pay attention!” (Myers 2025, p. 129). Thus, it should read as “Pay attention to the ravens/crows…” and “Pay attention to the lilies/flowers” and not “consider.” What this indicates is that Jesus is using the immediate surroundings, what is actually in front of the disciples. In a sense, he is taking them outside of themselves to their immediate surroundings to make a salient point. He is commanding them to do the opposite of what the rich fool does so that they would not be anxious. Notice, too, the point made by the Lukan Jesus concerning the traits and actions of these animals and plants. The ravens do not work; they do not have storehouses or barns like the rich fool, yet God feeds them. The lilies grow without toiling or spinning, yet they are more beautiful than Solomon, a wealthy man, in all his glory. They are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow. To these things, Jesus commands his disciples’ attention.

Just as interesting is that after these words, not to be anxious, Jesus provides another contrast to his point: the nations of the world that strongly desire/seek after (epizetousin) these things, such as food, clothing, and security. In effect, what Jesus is doing here is highlighting the fruit of such anxiety. For example, like the foolish rich man, both Pharaoh (Egypt) and King Solomon (Israel) built storehouses for their grain and weapons, and they did so using slave labor (see: Exodus 2:8–14 and 1 Kings 9:15–22). In part, these could not satisfy their need for security. Such anxiety led not to peace and justice but destruction and injustice. These are but two examples of the “nations.”

Another, more immediate example would be the Roman Empire, which certainly succeeded in its endeavor to secure food and clothing, but at the cost of killing and ravaging many in its efforts to do so. Jesus’ audience would have been quite familiar with Roman mistreatment. Writing on the Gospel of Mark, Richard Horsley explains, “The Roman conquest of Palestine was particularly hard on the Galileans. Whenever the Roman armies conquered and reconquered the area they started in Galilee, with devastating effects. For example, Magdala—hometown of Mary Magdalene, one of three women who witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion and empty tomb (Mark 15:40; 16:1–8)—the Romans enslaved thousands of people roughly fifty years before Jesus was born (Josephus, Ant. 14.120; War 1.180). This would have been a disastrous experience for people in villages around the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee that would have been remembered vividly at the time of Jesus’ ministry, which was centered there (according to the Gospel of Mark)” (Horsley 2001, pp. 33–34).

We might say that Jesus is pointing to the fruits of the nations and their leaders who operate not according to a “cosmology of grace” but a “cosmology of scarcity.” In their effort to assuage such insecurity, they become more anxious and create more injustice, fear, and anxiety. However, in contrast to this, we have Jesus commanding his disciples to pay attention to their immediate surroundings and take note of how birds and grass are taken care of, having what they need. It is seemingly counterintuitive, but the point stands. Jesus is contrasting his kingdom or empire (v. 31) with the kingdoms/empires of the world (Romans). One relies on the grace of God and his creation, and is informed by attention to these things. Whereas the other takes by force, driven by an insatiable desire for food, clothing, and security. Moreover, we might also consider what happens to a person when they focus their attention on both examples. A focus on a “cosmology of grace” will likely make one less anxious, whereas a focus on the actions of the likes of the Roman Empire will likely make one more anxious with a deepening sense of despair.

4. It Matters Where We Put Our Attention

The Lukan Jesus’ command not to be anxious and to focus one’s attention on specific living beings and things may seem simple enough, but it is seemingly vindicated by findings in the field of psychology. For example, it is understood that anxiety disorders are “maintained by distorted danger-related appraisals” (Wells et al. 1997, p. 226) and heightened “self-focused attention” (Wells 1998, p. 357). Thus, rather than resulting in less anxiety, which is usually the impetus for such self-focus, doing so creates more anxiety and discomfort. Wells, White, and Carter explain, “heightened self-focused attention is involved in the elicitation of anxiety and that such self-focusing tendencies can become habitual, and automatically produce anxiety” (Wells et al. 1997, p. 229). As noted above, a key aspect of the foolish rich landowner’s behavior was his self-focus, as evident in his solipsistic communication. While it would be a stretch to conclude that this means this landowner had an anxiety disorder, it should not be lost on readers that just after this story, Jesus commands his disciples not to be anxious. Here, Wells, White, and Carter are helpful, noting that “an effective strategy for overcoming anxiety is therefore the reduction in of excessive self-focused attention, and this can be achieved by a practice called Attention Training” (Wells et al. 1997, p. 229). It is as if we could conclude that Jesus was ahead of the curve by two thousand years, going from a self-focused landowner to commanding his disciples to not only be anxious but to find encouragement for doing so by focusing their attention on “God’s cosmology of grace.” According to the aforementioned study, doing so helps to reduce anxiety. However, readers should be careful to understand that such a strategy is not universally applicable to all anxiety disorders.

Thus, in their 1997 study involving three patients with anxiety disorders such as moderate agoraphobic avoidance and social phobia (Wells et al. 1997, p. 227), Wells, White, and Carter tested the effectiveness of attention training on such persons. They wanted to see if such a cognitive training technique could, over the course of a specific period of time, reduce the anxiety levels of the tested patients. What their study found was that anxiety can be reduced through cognitive techniques such as attention training (Wells et al. 1997, p. 226). The reduction in these symptoms occurred over several weeks and months.

Initially, the authors elicited the patients’ worst fears by identifying their most anxious episodes. Patients were asked to rate their anxiety levels as part of an initial assessment, along with the institution of a baseline. A rationale was then explained to patients for attention training, along with a technique for implementing it. What the authors explained was that self-focus intensified their anxiety, making it worse, and that an effective strategy for reducing anxiety was through practicing a technique called Attention Training. This technique involved patients focusing on specific sounds nearby or far away over the course of ten minutes. In another phase, patients were asked to switch their attention to another sound or many sounds. Variations increased from session to session. Nonetheless, after doing so with the authors for a few sessions, patients were instructed to do so on their own at home, 10–15 min twice a day when not in a state of anxiety (Wells et al. 1997, p. 229). The results of the study found that “attention training can produce clinically significant and relatively stable decrements in self-reported anxiety, and panic attack frequency, and can reduce belief in catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations in panic disorder patients” (Wells et al. 1997, p. 230). What is interesting is that, as simple and counterintuitive as it seems, the problem is not solved through engagement with the anxiety, but the opposite, by drawing one’s attention away from it. The authors explain, “In conclusion, attention training appears to cause more than transient improvement in anxiety by periodically altering the focus of attention, rather than by explicitly modifying appraisals and beliefs or by advocating use of distraction during anxiety episodes” (Wells et al. 1997, p. 230). Is this what the Lukan Jesus was doing through his command not to be anxious? Rather than focusing on one’s lack or insecurity, as the nations of the world do, they are to shift their attention to things such as birds and grass.

5. Is the Imperative All There Is? Kryptonite or Gold for the Anxious?

As noted above, the words of Jesus can be both comforting and alienating or both, depending upon the hearer or reader and their circumstances. Jesus’ imperative not to be anxious can easily turn into a self-condemning obsession in which the anxious person makes themselves feel worse for being anxious and then tries not to be anxious, only making it worse. Attention training can also be turned into an anxious compulsion, whereby the said person uses such a strategy to find relief from their anxiety in the immediate moment. However, this is where I believe that the context of Luke 12 is most especially important.

The antithesis to Jesus’ command not to be anxious is the foolish landowner. Embedded within his behavior are certain beliefs and values. Moreover, it can be said that similar beliefs and values are what drive the nations to strive for security. These beliefs and values drive their behavior to hoard, to battle, to conquer, to enslave, to claim for themselves what arguably belongs to no one or everyone.

One of the oft-overlooked parts of the story of the foolish landowner is verse 16, where Jesus says, “The land of a rich man produced abundantly…” At first glance, this detail may seem inconsequential, but what it reveals is that it is the land, and not the rich man, that produces abundantly. It is the land that brings forth the crop, not the rich landowner. This bespeaks the cosmology of grace that Jesus will highlight a few verses later when he commands his disciples not to be anxious. In other words, there is a hint of the “cosmology of grace” within the story of the rich landowner. It is not something that needs to be acquired; instead, it is simply there or given (Myers 2025, p. 126). Thus, Jesus will then point to the ravens and the lilies.

Therefore, it should be noted that the command not to be anxious comes from a place of grace and certainty in the goodness of God. Such is to be our starting point. Sadly, what those with anxiety disorders have often forgotten is this basic truth and givenness of creation. In a sense, not being anxious is our original state or intended state of being. All human beings will grapple with fear and anxiety. However, it is what we do with those things that counts. As Dr. Claire Weeks wrote some years ago, “Your illness is very much an illness of how you think. It is very much an illness of your attitude to fear, panic. You may think it is an illness of how you feel (it most certainly seems like this), but how you feel depends on how you think, on what you think. Because it is an illness of what you think, you can recover. Thoughts that are keeping you ill can be changed” (Weekes 2020, p. 3). In many ways, such change, while challenging, comes not by resolving and figuring out the anxiety but by accepting it and looking elsewhere. Strangely enough, it comes in part by not challenging the anxiety but simply looking at the birds and the grass. This is how one becomes desensitized to their fears and anxieties (Weekes 2020, p. 15). Interestingly, Jesus says something that proves this point: “And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” (Luke 12:25). The imperative not to be anxious is a call to be ourselves again. Again, Weekes is helpful: “The relief of loosening your tense hold on yourself, of giving up the struggle and recognizing that there is no battle to fight—except of your own making—may bring a calmness that may have existed within you” (Weekes 2020, p. 50).

6. An Ongoing Process—Exposure Response Prevention

Towards the end of Luke’s section on not being anxious, Jesus commands his disciples not to be afraid (Luke 12:32). Like Jesus’ command not to be anxious, this word is also in the imperative. However, unlike merimnate, the verb phobou is in the middle voice rather than the active voice. This is significant because what that means is that Jesus’ command not to be afraid is not to be taken as an immediate command like merimnate but should be understood as an ongoing process. In other words, these disciples are being commanded not to be afraid or fearful, with the understanding that doing so will take time. Thus, within this teaching section, we have an immediate command not to be anxious, but then an ongoing command not to be afraid or fearful. Just as the command not to be anxious is intended to bring attention to God’s cosmology of grace, the command not to be fearful is intended to bring attention to God’s provision over the course of a period of time; that is one’s life striving for the kingdom (Luke 12:31). Developing the habitus of not being afraid takes time as anyone who has recovered from anxiety disorder can attest. In a sense, it is as if Jesus recognizes that both strategies are needed: immediate action, as well as long-term patience in the process. Was Jesus able to see and understand what the field of psychology has made great strides in over the past few decades? That is, how to properly reckon with feelings of anxiety and fear.

Here again, another strategy for anxiety recovery can be connected to the very words of Jesus. Within this teaching section, it is compelling to me that Jesus connects anxiety to fear, given their interrelation. Anxiety is often the fruit of a specific fear. In order to effectively recover from an anxiety disorder such as OCD and others, such as GAD (general anxiety disorder), it is important that one identify their core fears while engaging in exposure response therapy, which is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy. ERP is the process by which an individual practices confronting the thoughts, images, objects, and situations that make them anxious and provoke their obsessions without doing compulsions (International OCD Foundation 2025). At the core of these obsessions is a fear of some sort that the obsessive/anxious behavior aims at preventing, feeling, or experiencing (Greenberg 2025). In order to recover, the person must begin to acknowledge, confront, and accept the fear rather than ignore, deny, or reject its existence. Doing the latter only makes the anxiety worse, whereas doing the former makes it better. Nonetheless, ERP has been shown to be an effective treatment for reducing anxiety for many suffering from anxiety disorders, with a success rate between sixty and eighty percent (Farooq). However, this process is ongoing and takes time.

It should not be lost on us that Jesus’ command not to be afraid is premised upon the cosmology of grace discussed above. For Jesus follows this command by saying that it is the Father’s delight “to give” (dounai) the disciples the kingdom. The giving of the kingdom contrasts with the aforementioned kingdoms that strive after food, clothing, and security. And they strive after these things because of their fear and anxiety. Again, we might consider those from Luke 12, such as King Solomon (v. 27) and the foolish landowner (v. 16). Both were beneficiaries of the cosmology of grace. However, their fear drove them to hoard resources and a solipsistic existence as if doing so would allay their anxieties. Instead, we might even say that this was because they never confronted their core fears and simply took cues from their anxiety as if those actions of hoarding, building, and self-focus would somehow make it all better. Lest we forget, King Solomon’s later life would be filled with much dissension and turmoil, with adversaries rising up against him and his kingdom torn apart (1 Kings 11). Again, I am not intending to suggest that these figures suffered from an anxiety disorder. However, what I am providing is an interpretive lens through which we can better understand these stories and their characters’ actions, particularly through the categories and strategies developed to enable recovery from an anxiety disorder.

7. Conclusions

I recognize that in many respects I am projecting aspects of my own discovery and recovery. However, just like the Lukan text, I am a text as well, just as are all human subjects. Jesus’ intended audience was a community of believers who not only received such teachings individually but also communally. Moreover, it was intended for those believers striving for the kingdom of God in their midst. However, this does not mean that those outside of this community throughout all times and places cannot learn something from such a treasure of wisdom as Jesus of Nazareth. This is in part why I wrote this piece. What I attempt to offer with this article is ways in which those struggling with anxiety, whether ordinary or pathological, can begin to understand and recover from their anxieties, with Luke 12 serving as an anchor and source for creating new beliefs. Rather than operating from a “cosmology of scarcity/fear”, those in recovery can begin to operate from “a cosmology of grace.” Developing such a belief doesn’t happen overnight but over time.

We live in a time in which information is plenteous, yet wisdom is in short supply. However, our access to such wisdom is not. As demonstrated, the Lukan Jesus offers us guidance in navigating the anxious age in which we live. He commands our attention away from self to our immediate natural surroundings—the birds and the grass. Even in today’s modern world, most humans have access to such things if they look out their window or spend time in their local park. Of course, it is also free, a reminder of “God’s cosmology of grace.” However, disengaging from our own anxiety and this anxious age so that we might live life with less and less fear takes time and the development of a habitus that regularly recognizes God’s provision but also acknowledges and sits with the fear. Such is not easy, especially in a culture that profits so much from fear and instant gratification (see Dobelli 2019). Such is why we cannot do this alone, why we need community to bolster us in the development of such habits. That much the Lukan Jesus certainly understood.