You are worth many sparrows.



Friday, 10/14/16

In the Gospel, Jesus said an amazing thing: “Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.”

Isn’t it amazing that God, who reads the hearts of all men and who holds each of the  planets to its proper orbit and speed, should have an attention span so wide that it has concern for the pain felt by each falling sparrow?

I once had an experience that clothed the five sparrows in reality for me.

One day fifty years ago I was on a day-long bus trip across Korea, We were packed so tightly in the aisles that, with no way or need to hang on, I moved back and forth like the proverbial leaf na tide.

My attention was fixed on one man who had secured a seat. Out in front of him he held up a thin strip of bamboo that he had threaded through the nostrils of the beeks of five sparrows. 

Asians who yearly laid out a banquet for dead ancestors would pay more than two small coins for this treat that would be quite appealing to the dead.


With God’s attention extending to the five sparrows, one wonders how much he cared for the man holding them and about his ancestors.

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