I have never given sparrows much thought. The ubiquitous little birds have always just been, well…around. But this spring I have paid more attention because a pair of them have taken up housekeeping in the bird house on our patio. They have been nest building and having bird sex right before my eyes. The female has subsequently laid eggs. Just a day or so ago I started to hear hatchlings from within the bird house making hungry noises. In response, their very busy parents are flying in delivering all manner appropriate foodstuffs.
All this sparrow watching has led me to think that these 4-to-6-inch little birds are industrious creatures. They are. But in spite of all the effort, it is the case that the world over for thousands of years sparrows – in all their varieties – have been considered industrious, little pests.
Sparrows, at least by “our” standards, are not good family planners. Sparrows often have overrun and over flown cities and all places of human habitation in great numbers. So much so that even in ancient times a bounty has been placed on their chirping heads. Their numbers have grown so large that various efforts have been made to encourage the general human population to harvest them and even prepare them as a finger food upon which to snack. McSparrows.
While all this sounds pretty unappealing to me – not to mention the enormous effort to catch enough of the little birds and prepare them for a snack – this may well be some of the context behind Jesus talking about sparrow prices 2,000 years ago. Mathew records Jesus asking, “are not two sparrows worth a penny?” (Matthew 10:29) and Luke changing the market price, but having Jesus make the same point by asking “are not five sparrows worth two pennies?” (Luke 12:6)
The point is that in both cases the buyer gets one sparrow free. They are cheap. But astonishingly God cares for them. Since this is so, Jesus asks, is it not conceivable to you that a human life – a human life which encapsulates something of the divine image – is preciously purposeful and valued in the Creator’s sight?
In Jesus’ time, human life – in general – was so very often thought cheap and groups of people a nuisance. It is why there was all manner of slavery and caste systems based on the ‘value’ given, assigned, or enforced against groups of human beings. It is why religion thrived by exploiting the people defined as “other” or all manner of OUT caste. It is why there were leper colonies religiously regulated and why there was always a public shunning of someone or a social toleration of poverty among people whose lives were thought worth LESS than the enfranchised group.
So here comes Jesus saying that there is value in every life. If a sparrow is noticed and purposeful, is this not also the case for a human being? The point was not to assign value, but to encourage people to see value in themselves in a world where it has always been too easy to feel of no value or of less value based on everything from race, origin, skin color, physical appearance, income level and on and on.
It has always been difficult for many people to believe that they are a “somebody” rather than a “nobody.” It has been difficult for many reasons, but not the least of those reasons is that an inner sense of a divine self has been beaten out of people, ignored, undervalued, or not encouraged.
Human trafficking, all manner of slavery, pogrom, genocide, social caste systems are always possible – in part – because individuals come to think themselves as less or are convinced by others that they are less in value, (the free sparrow) rather than loved by a Creator. This is not blaming the victim or excusing the perpetrator. It is recognizing the terrible consequence that atheism, unbridled secularism and all manner of spiritual indifference makes possible.
Freedom starts in our spirit. It starts in the belief that you and I are somebodies because God made us on purpose. Don’t ever tell someone otherwise. Don’t ever participate with those who excel by telling people otherwise. Don’t ever stop believing that the God whose eye is on the sparrow also watches – and loves – you.