“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?”
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? The birds argument: the birds are not economically productive (they do not sow, reap, or store), yet the Father feeds them. The a fortiori conclusion — you are of more value than birds — grounds the disciples' confidence in the Father's provision. Luke 12:24 has ravens rather than birds, recalling 1 Kings 17:4 where God commanded ravens to feed Elijah. The birds do not worry about food; their non-anxious existence is not carelessness but trust in the provision that comes from outside themselves. The disciples are invited into the same non-anxious trust, grounded in a relationship with the Father that the birds do not have.
Church Fathers on Matthew 6:26
Having confirmed our hope by this arguing from the greater to the less, He next confirms it by an argument from less to greater, 'Behold the fowls of the air, they sow not, neither do they reap.'
Some argue that they ought not to labour, because the fowls of the air neither sow nor reap. Why then do they not attend to that which follows, 'neither gather into barns? Why do they seek to have their hands idle, and their storehouses full? Why indeed do they grind corn, and dress it? For this do not the birds.
There be some who, seeking to go beyond the limits of their fathers, and to soar into the air, sink into the deep and are drowned. These will have the birds of the air to mean the Angels, and the other powers in the ministry of God, who without any care of their own are fed by God’s providence.