“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” – Luke 12:6-7 (NIV)
When did you feel forgotten by God? How did it make you feel? Were you really forgotten? Since sparrows are important to God, how important are people? What does that mean about how we treat people?
In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus mentions that two sparrows are sold for a penny. Here he talks about five sparrows being sold for two pennies. Sparrows were the animals poor people could afford to buy for sacrifices. The rich people bought doves, and lambs, and other things that cost more, but the rich would never buy a sparrow. Sparrows were so insignificant that if four sparrows were bought a fifth was thrown in for free.
Jesus is saying that the sparrow that is thrown in, the left over sparrow, the sparrow not even worth half a penny matters to God. Then Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
This worth did not come from what we have made of ourselves. It did not arrive because we worked hard for it. Our worth comes from God because God loves us! Perhaps it is too simple to believe. We still try to come up with reasons why we can be considered important, or at least more important than others. We still take others for granted and fail to see the worth in them that God sees. We still dwell on our faults far more than our strengths.
Yes perhaps it is easier to believe in a God who requires us to make ourselves worthy, after all that is the way the world sees us. What would the church look like if it were a place where people rejoiced in others because God’s love makes them worthy? I do not know, but I am going to pray that I find out.
With hope and joy,
Garrett
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