The extensive verbatim agreement between Matthew and Luke, as in the passages below, has convinced many scholars that both Gospels drew on a common source of Jesus’ sayings. This hypothetical source is called Q. Scholars believe that Q was in fact a document shared by Matthew and Luke, not simply an oral collection.
Matthew 6:25–27
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 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? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?”
Luke 12:22–25
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them, Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life?”
