Reflection by The Ven Dr Deborah Broome

More than sparrows

[Jesus said] “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master;  it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!  “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 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.  “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.         Matthew 10:24-39

“Do not be afraid.”  That’s what stands out for me in this.  Not the message about proclaiming from the roof what’s currently covered up, nor the warnings about family opposition (in much of which Jesus is drawing on a passage in Micah 7), but the counsel not to be afraid.  It is, indeed, the most common command in the Bible, and a word Jesus speaks repeatedly to his friends: “Have no fear of them … do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul … do not be afraid.”  “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”

One of the reasons the disciples needn’t be afraid is that – as Jesus tells them – they’re not insignificant: they matter to God. The disciples are all loved and valued by God. This above all else is good news. It’s the good news that lies behind the Old Testament covenants, in which God says “I will be your God and you will be my people.” It’s the good news Jesus came to speak to everyone, us included: the good news that we are loved and valued by God. That we are more to God than many sparrows. That we are precious.

We need to hear this: we’re not sparrows, not birds sold cheaply in the market for food, not some two-a-penny creatures that don’t matter to anyone else, who might fall unnoticed to the ground. Jesus affirms that we are precious, watched over, loved. And it goes without saying, but let’s say it anyway: sparrows themselves, and all the other members of the nonhuman world, are valued and precious to God.

We need to hear the good news that God loves us. Our children need to hear this too, but it’s hard for us to pass this lesson onto them if we haven’t learnt it ourselves, if we as adults are still plagued with insecurity. We need to hear that we are precious to God, loved and valued, that we are more to God than the sparrows. That when bad things happen to us God notices, God cares, God is there.

For in this Gospel reading Jesus is also clear about something else. God won’t protect disciples – and that includes us – from all harm, but God will be with them and will bring them through it. Following Jesus isn’t a guarantee that nothing bad will happen to us – after all, bad things happened to Jesus himself, and we are called to be like him – but God’s presence and care will be with us to sustain us. Therefore, do not be afraid! 

Being called to be like Jesus is going to affect our priorities. It’s going to mean that if we ever face a choice about what to do or who to imitate, then we go with Jesus, even over those others that we love. Because the risk is that those who give their highest priority to protecting themselves will find in the end that there’s nothing left to protect.

But God is with us and we are loved, so do not be afraid. Knowing that can stop ourselves tuning in to those other voices that try to tell us the opposite, that God doesn’t care about us.  We don’t need to live thinking we don’t matter, seeing ourselves only as sparrows. Today, let us remind ourselves that we as individuals matter to God. That we are more to God than the sparrows. That we are precious, watched over, loved. And then, knowing ourselves loved by God, we can begin to love one another, and those around us, as God loves us.

 Image credit: Joshua J. Cotton, Unsplash