Jesus' argument not only appeals to what would have worked in his economy - risking (trusting) that local resources will suffice for survival. He also addresses worry and fear, which frequently drive greed. Greed becomes an obsession which paradoxically impoverishes our spirit. As in last week's reading, we find another sleight against Gentiles - Christians later made it worse by assuming a reference to the "heathen". Its justification is that Matthew (or Jesus?) was sufficiently aware of what drove the wider world to name it, even if grossly stereotyping the "other". The truth is that all human beings know the anxiety about not having enough love and being abandoned and all know that one strategy for filling the void is to accumulate wealth if not also power - we often accumulate the comforting layers of body of fat to our detriment for the same reason. Out of neediness we not only diminish ourselves - we rob others of justice and a fair share. The gospel deals with this gross injustice not primarily by telling us off, but by offering a new centre to our lives, a new centre of seeking, as 6:33 suggests.
http://wwwstaff.murdoch.edu.au/~loader/MtEpiphany8.htm
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