Lent 3 | COINS
“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” Matthew 10:29
We talk about compassion fatigue and burn out, of reaching the end of our rope. And don’t we project our own human limitations on the triune God? When it comes to our concerns, we imagine that God has far bigger problems to tackle: others’ health crises, family conflicts, money stresses, job woes. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells us otherwise. God cares deeply for each of us, he says; God knows the hairs on our heads, each word before we speak it. God’s involvement in our lives knows no limits.
Jesus so desires that we grasp God’s providence, omnipotence and loving-kindness that he points to the sparrows, beings of little worth from a human perspective. These sparrows are bought and sold for next to nothing yet God notes the death of each and every one. How much more, then, does God regard you and me?
Might we begin to look again at ourselves, at the people around us and across the globe, at the animals and all creation — and newly consider God’s point of view? No single child, no centimeter of earth, no creeping centipede, is unseen by our God. All are knit together and known by our Creator.
Questions for Reflection
Think of something that you consider worth little more than “two pennies” yet is deeply valued by God? How might this knowledge shape your relationship to those two-penny creatures and things?
Do you believe that God loves you in particular, that nothing about you unknown by God? Take time to reflect on your concerns, holding them as God’s concerns, too.
God, we give thanks for the sparrows sold for two pennies, for the creatures so plentiful we often fail to notice them, for all the priceless people we encounter this day. We thank you, too, for your unfailing love for us. We give to you our deepest concerns and our greatest hopes, knowing that you will take them, honor them, and mold them into something beautiful for you and for us. Amen.
Thank you for journeying through Lent with us…
Thanks to Jill J. Duffield for allowing us to adapt from her book, Lent in Plain Sight: A Devotion Through Ten Objects.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash