Big Idea: Jesus calls his disciples to undivided and primary allegiance to God and the kingdom, which will lead to trust in God for their needs.

Understanding the Text

This section of the Sermon on the Mount focuses on human allegiances and trusting God for daily needs. The Lord’s Prayer in the previous section has already highlighted these themes: allegiance to God and God’s kingdom (6:9–10) and requests for daily needs (6:11). Matthew 6:16–24 then deals with issues of allegiance, followed by attention to daily needs such as food and clothing (6:25–34). This passage includes the first reference to “little faith” (6:30), occurring five times in Matthew, each time being Jesus’ description of the disciples (8:26; 14:31; 16:8; 17:20). The passage also brings together clearly the two motifs …