God provides the basics  This theme is important to the passage (vv. 25-26, 28-30). Jesus twice uses a standard type of Jewish argument traditionally called qal wahomer – “how much more?” (vv. 26, 30). If God cares for birds and for perishable flowers, how much more for his own beloved children?

The objects of our anxiety, food and drink, are to be seen as less important than the life and the body which they supply, and subsequent verses will draw out the moral that, since God provides the latter, he can be trusted for the former. If God sustains life and protects the bodies of those who serve him, they should not complain if he provides for those things without giving a nod to the symbols of status that the culture ordains. If God provides for the birds and flowers, how much more will he provide for his children? Continue reading →