This week, I was asked to write and record the sermon for the video my church puts out in place of a Sunday morning service at the moment. The set reading was Matthew 10: 24-39. Give it a read if you fancy. I found it a difficult passage to craft a sermon that both encourages and challenges. (I also found it a personal challenge to craft a sermon without really knowing who I was crafting it for, and then recording it to a camera without there being people in front of me to gauge the reaction). But I did find myself focusing on sparrows never being outside of the Father’s care, and how we are worth many sparrows. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never thought of my worth in sparrows before. It reminds me of Taskmaster where Alex Horne is comparing how well the contestants did to dogs or mice… It’s not a typical unit of measurement!
But if one sparrow is never outside of the Father’s care, and I am worth many sparrows (and so are you!) then, in simple mathematics, I am (and you are) also never outside of the Father’s care. Which then led me onto another example of Jesus’ care for people. If you read Mark 5 from verse 21 there is a story you may be familiar with. It’s the time the Jairus approaches Jesus because his daughter is dying. He falls at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to heal his daughter. And Jesus listens to him, and follows him to his home. Jesus always seems to attract a crowd, so they have to push through a lot of people to get to Jairus’ house. That day, there is someone else who is also desperate for Jesus’ help. A nameless woman has spent all she had on doctors who had failed to heal her. She had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. That would have been 12 years of being ritually unclean and being shunned. She would have got used to being invisible, and had a lot of practice at moving through a crowd unseen. She manages to reach Jesus and touch the hem of his cloak, and she is healed. But Jesus notices and stops while on his way to heal Jairus’ dying daughter. He singles out the woman and speaks to her.
While he is stopped, a messenger comes from Jairus’ house to tell them his daughter has died. Jesus overhears and says “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” He goes to the house, send everyone away except three disciples and the child’s parents, takes the girl by her hand and tells her to get up. The girl gets up and walks around.
There are so many layers to this story. You can use it to talk about the importance of our identity as children of God (which I may explore in a future post). You could use it to talk about not letting anything stop you getting to God.
But I would like to take a different angle. Jesus is on a mission to heal someone who is dying. It is a time critical mission. But on the way, a different situation presents itself. There is an immediate need right in front of Jesus. Instead of saying, “Please excuse me, I’m a little busy. You see someone is dying and I need to go. But I’ll come back once I’ve done that,” Jesus takes the time to see the woman. He doesn’t see what society sees, he doesn’t even see what the woman herself sees. He sees into her heart and he claims her as part of his family. No sparrow is outside of the Father’s care, and neither is this woman. There is an immediate need right and he responds.
But now look through Jairus’ eyes. Jesus has agreed to come and heal his daughter, but is instead stopping in the middle of a crowd to talk to a nameless beggar, all the while his daughter is getting worse! And then he hears the news he has been dreading – his daughter has died. But strangely Jesus isn’t bothered. Jairus is faced with a choice. Will he trust Jesus? He believed in Jesus enough to ask him to heal his daughter. How far will that trust go?
Jairus obviously chooses to trust Jesus further because he leads Jesus back to his house where Jesus does something else impossible. Jesus brings Jairus’ daughter back from the dead. No sparrow is outside of the Father’s care.
In responding to one emergency, Jesus doesn’t choose the invisible member of society over the daughter of the important official. In what looks like a time critical situation, Jesus is able to respond to the needs of both daughters.
I wonder if there are some of us today who are feeling like the woman in this story, invisible and unheard. I wonder if that makes you hesitate to reach out and ask God for help because there is a bigger crisis and maybe society has told you that you are less important. You are not. You are worth many sparrows.
I wonder if there are some of us today that are tempted to be like Jairus in this story, maybe a little impatient because there is a time sensitive issue that needs to be rushed towards and handled. Maybe in your situation it feels like Jesus isn’t walking quickly enough or keeps getting distracted. But when bad news comes, will you still have the faith of Jairus? Or do you feel like you have wasted your time and that God has let you down. “Do not be afraid, just believe”. You, too are worth many sparrows.
So whether your situation is like Jairus and his daughter, or like the bleeding woman, keep hope because God can and does handle both. And if you start to despair and lose your hope and faith, just look for a sparrow* and remember. God cares a great deal for the sparrows, and you are worth many of them.
*If you are like me and not sure what a sparrow looks like, any bird will do
The Reason for my Hope Blog 