Thoughts for the Day

Jesus said to his disciples, 'Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him 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 unperceived by 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.

(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

I looked down to see hairs on my navy sweater. Some were cat's hairs. We have two cats and one is a beautiful long-haired, fluffy, ginger cat. So I could see the ginger hair, but as well as that there were white hairs everywhere. Not the cat though! These were the natural loss from my own head, when I brushed my hair that morning after getting dressed. I reflected how this must always have happened, but when my hair was dark-brown, almost black, they had been less easy to see. Just imagine the millions and millions of hair that had been shed over my life-time!

Jesus gives a wonderful image of the hair on our head - that God knows each single hair - not just mine, but from everyone in the world. The other image, of the sparrow, we tend to think of as a dead sparrow, but one theologian points out that the the word 'fall' comes from an original Aramaic word meaning to 'light'. We should remember that Aramaic is the language Jesus commonly used. So if this is correct, the Gospel writer means that God sees the sparrow everytime he lights, that is, lands on the ground.

Jesus argues that if God knows each movement of a sparrow, how much more does he care for us. Whatever happens to us this day or this year, nothing is unnoticed by our Heavenly Father; nothing is beyond His love.

Heavenly Father,
Your Son our Saviour, Jesus Christ,
taught us that You know each
hair on our head
as well as each movement of a sparrow,
and that everything that we do,
and all that we are
is of concern to You.
We offer to You the day ahead,
and ask You to guide us going forward,
so that we may reflect Your love for us
in all that we think and do.
Amen.