This particular verse picks up on the theme of food. The earlier teaching said that we should not lay up food treasures that could be “eaten” by the eating-thing/worm. Here this lesson is emphasized by an appeal to nature. Birds do not “treasure up” food in a barn, but yet they eat. Nevertheless, there is no implication that birds have an idle life. Indeed, people of the earth would be well aware of the amount of labor that the birds put into gathering foodstuffs. The difference is not in the food for sustenance, but rather in the “gather[ing] into barns.” The people to whom Jesus spoke in the Old World would certainly be worried about their next meal. To them Jesus promises that they should not be anxiously concerned. God will “give them their daily bread.” They may not be able to have riches of food, nor great stored “treasures” of food, but their temporal fears could be allayed. Their crops would be sufficient. Their labor would be sufficient.
Textual: There is no change from the Matthean text.