Why should I feel discouraged,
Why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely,
And long for heaven, heaven and home,
When, when Jesus is my portion,
My constant Friend is He;
Oh, oh-oh, his eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watched, watched it over me.
His eye is on the sparrow. Such a comforting truth, isn’t it?
The song finds it inspiration from both Psalm 32:8 and Matthew 6:26. (There is likely a bit of Matthew 10:29-31 thrown in there as well). Sparrows aren’t worth much to us but they aren’t forgotten by God. And his eye is upon us just as it is upon the sparrow. That’s comforting…but let’s think a little more about these sparrows.
Five sparrows. Two pennies. That’s not very valuable. And sparrows aren’t very valuable to humans, especially in the first century. They bought them. Ate them. Sacrificed them.
Five sparrows. Two pennies. Bought, crushed, ground into stew, discarded, their life snuffed out just like that. Not forgotten by God. If God “remembered the sparrow”…if his eye was on the sparrow wouldn’t they not be bought and sold like this?
His Eye On the Crushed Sparrow
I was confronted with this question while preaching through Luke recently. What is Jesus doing here? It’s in the context of the Pharisees plotting murder and a trampling crowd. That is the background to these words in Luke 12.
So place yourself as an observer in the marketplace. You’ve been told that these sparrows have a powerful protector. And you see them sold at a going rate of five for a couple pennies. Then they are crushed, discarded, treated as worthless. What do you think of their powerful protector?
I sure hope he isn’t “watching over me”.
Five sparrows. Two pennies. Not forgotten by God. Discarded into the calloused earth.
Now, what if I told you that God sent His very own Son to this same calloused earth. And he made it obvious that He was His Son…and told people all about Him…and spoke of the truth…and attested to who He was…and through him did miracles, wonders, and signs..
But then…
“this man was handed over to you…” (Acts 2:23a)
This sparrow was put on the marketplace. Put into the hands of men, mocked, scorned, tossed aside as nothing. And in the hands of wicked men he was “put to death by being nailed to a cross”.
What do you say of His protector? What do you say of His Father?
A casual observer might say, ”where is this man’s father? Where is the one who is supposed to care for him? Where is the one who is supposed to be watching out for him? He’s discarded…he’s tossed aside like a filthy rag…he’s barely recognized as human. What value is this Nazarene?”
Five sparrows. Two pennies. Not forgotten by God.
And what do we make of those who follow this Nazarene? Those who are trampled by the crowds, pursued by religious leaders. Those who are often truth-tellers who get unplugged for trying to shine the light upon the callousness of earth in the hopes of somehow unraveling its now forgotten beauty. People of integrity. Discarded. Persecuted. Slandered. Beaten. Mocked.
The Message From the Discarded Sparrow
This is the message that Jesus is imparting to his disciples with crowds approaching and Pharisees threatening. They will be put into the hands of wickedness. They will fall to the ground. But not apart from God’s care. Not apart from God’s plan.
When you feel discarded by humanity (or you are discarded by humanity) you can easily adopt their assessment. When their eyes are measuring you up and you can see their sum—and they’ve concluded you are worthless, it’s easy to feel less than a penny. But Jesus’ statement of not being forgotten by God is incredibly comforting. Because if His eye is upon you then you have His delight.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. –Luke 12:32
Five sparrows. Two pennies. Not Forgotten by God. Eternal joy.
So don’t fear those who can only kill your body. That is Jesus’ conclusion. They don’t understand discarded sparrows. They don’t view the world rightly. But the Father does. And He has not forgotten you. You will not fall to the ground apart from His care. He is making all things right. You may be discarded by people but you will never be forgotten by God. He will not overlook you.
If you don’t believe me ask that God who was once on that middle cross—mocked, scorned, discarded, of less value than a sparrow in the marketplace. But not forgotten by God. And now sitting at the right hand of the Father and bidding us to come. He’ll tell you a sparrow’s real worth.
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