Skip to main content

A Worthless Sparrow [Matthew 10:24-39] (pub 6.22.26)

 "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground
 apart from your Father. 
And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 
So do not be afraid; 
you are of more value than many sparrows."

Consider the tiny Sparrow!

Sparrows live in grasslands, forests, and cities.

They reproduce quickly, raising up to five groups of chicks each season.

Aggressive competitors, they nest early and remain for life in colonies of about forty.

A male Sparrow’s black breast patch signals rank, giving higher-status males better feeding, territory, mates, and scarce food access.

In Jesus’ day there were abundant sparrows which were caught, sold for a penny each, used for food by the poor, sold as food, or as temple sacrifices.

So, buying two for a penny meant one was worthless.

Yet in Jesus’ day, these tiny, common, cheap, birds were cared for by God.

But as Jesus points out, not one falls to the ground without God’s care.

Consider Jesus’ mission for the disciples.

Jesus’ disciples were to Go into all nations; Make disciples of all; Baptize in Jesus’ name; Teach new disciples to obey Jesus’ commandments.

When encountering resistance, Jesus reminds them, as God’s eye is on the sparrow, so God’s eye is on you.

It works like this.

Clarence Jordan founded the racially integrated Koinonia Farm in Americus, Georgia in 1942.

Being racially integrated, it met with severe resistance, with attempts made to drive them out using bullets, bombs, intimidation, and boycott.

In God’s time when all of this ended, a housing initiative began; Habitat for Humanity.

With the tiniest farmland under God’s eye came Habitat for Humanity.

God’s eye as on the sparrow, so in your life journey, God’s eye in on you.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Grantchester's Warning

"But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, the owner would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (from Luke 12:32-40 ) I regularly watch Grantchester; a murder mystery set in 1950s England. The main characters are a local detective and an Anglican priest who, as a team, solve mysteries set in the town. Two aspects of Grantchester impress me. First, the simplicity of the 1950’s police communications done by a landline phone and not cell phone. Second, the simplicity of daily life with little television and fewer possessions allowing the characters to focus on their vocation of detective and priest. This simplicity is more than a nostalgic return to the “good old days”. Instead, it’s a Shaker type of simplicity where austerity allows freedom from distractions to focus on worship and community. Today’s distraction-filled world has seemingly countless activ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jesus’ Rules of Hospitality

“Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you.” (from Luke 10:1-11 ) There’s a true story of a seminary professor who asked a class to imagine the most challenging part of accompanying the 70 on their mission journey. Most of the responses were predictable: no money, no change of clothes, no food, depending on strangers. One student said, “Eat what is set before you.” The student explained that his father was a pastor in a very rural, poor part of South Dakota and often invited to dinner mostly by farmers. On remote farms people often relied on whatever they could kill or catch, such as squirrels , rabbits, and other wild creatures, even for guests so the father instructed the family to eat what was set before them. He added, “We just never knew what we would have to eat.” If you search Luke, you’ll find that Jesus often attends a meal, but never gives a dinner party. In Jesus’ rules of hospitality, being a respectful recipient by grac...
Post a Comment
Read more

Walking with God

Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. (from Ps.103:1-8 ) Thomas Merton, American Trappist monk, writer and theologian, once asked himself a question he immediately answered:   How does an apple ripen? The apple, by simply being in the sun, fulfills its purpose of ripening, The apple doesn't try to ripen faster, it simply allows the sun to do its work.   There is nothing it can do to ripen itself. It can’t do workouts, tighten its muscles and then suddenly be a red, ripened, juicy apple in the morning. The apple just hangs on the branch in the sun, naturally ripening, where it receives its daily nourishment. This is the basic plan for how Christians ripen in their relationship to God. The difference is that Christians don’t naturally ripen in their relationship to God, we have to place themselves where we can be nourished. The beginning place of nourishment I find most helpful is the Guide to Prayer For All Who Walk With God. The daily walk in the...
Post a Comment
Read more