Two Sparrows for a Penny

Sparrows are birds who have beautiful voices.  If you are a bird lover, you can hear their chirping and singing from all over.  But compared to other birds, a sparrow is very small.  In the ancient world, sparrows were caught and sold.  Earlier in the passage Matthew quotes Jesus as saying, “Are not two sparrows sold for a cent?” (Matt. 10:29a) Luke documents in his gospel that five sparrows were sold for two cents. (Luke 12:6).  This is not a contradiction and should be familiar to us.  We look for buy one get one free deals all of the time.  You could buy two sparrows for a penny, but just for a second penny, you could get a fifth one free.  Therefore, you could get five sparrows for two coins.  What a deal!  But the point is that a sparrow was not very costly.  They were sold very cheaply and held little value.  But God, the Designer of all species of sparrow, did not feel that way.  Listen to this four-verse comment made by Jesus Himself, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.” (Matt. 10:28-31) The sparrow is so important to God the Father, that not one sparrow in the history of the world, ever dropped dead without God knowing and ordaining that to happen.  He knows when every single one of them perishes. And here is the amazing part, Jesus confirms that we are much more important to the divine plan than sparrows.

What can we take from this passage as you celebrate your Halloween birthday? Isn’t it amazing that nothing escapes the attention of your Heavenly Father.  Jesus was very intentional when He stated, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (v.30) Why mention the hairs of your head?  Well, it is such a minute detail and physically unable to be done by man, and yet God deemed this detail worthy.  We are important to our Father.  Sometimes lost in the story of sin and redemption is the fact that God created us to fellowship with Him.  Like a gardener who goes to great lengths to make sure the plants and flowers are well watered and fed, our Heavenly Father goes to great lengths to care for His children.  We were made to walk with Him.  And we are His children and part of His royal family when we accepted Jesus as our Savior.  Because our souls are eternally secure at the point of salvation, evil men can kill our bodies.  God, at times, will allow this to happen to His children.  This does not diminish our importance to Him. We have nothing to fear because it is our souls that God protects, and which will last forever.  The body will eventually be destroyed by man, or it may die in time, but the salvation of our souls through Jesus Christ can never be reversed.  So let them do whatever it is they would like to do to this temporal shell, our souls will live on in eternal fellowship with our God!!!

Dave F. 

    ‘69 / ‘76 / Egg Harbor Twp   NJ

Doris Jean H

’44 / ’55 Manheim PA