Matthew 10:29-31

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.  One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, the next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.  His problem started when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum cleaner.  She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers in the bottom of the cage.  Then the phone rang.  Instinctively, she turned to pick it up.  She had barely said hello, when – swoosh!  Chippie got sucked in.  She let the phone drop and turned off the vacuum.  With her heart in her throat, she unzipped the vacuum bag.  There was Chippie – alive, but stunned – and covered with black dust.  She grabbed him and rushed into the kitchen, where she turned the faucet on full-blast and held Chippie under a torrent of ice cold water, power washing him clean.  When she got done, she did what any compassionate pet owner would do:  she snatched up her hair dryer and blasted the poor, wet, shivering bird with hot air.  Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore.

There are days when we know exactly how Chippie felt.  Days when there is more work to do than there are hours in the day.  Days when gas prices went up twice between the time you left the house in the morning and the time you got home at night.  Days when your grocery bill has gone up again, and you’re not buying anything different than you usually do.  Days when you couldn’t bear to watch the bad news at 6:00 or 11:00.  Days when your patience was taxed to the limit.  Days when you’re so tired, you just want to shut yourself in your bedroom and stay there for about a month.  Days when the dog knocked over the kitchen garbage can and helped himself to spaghetti, coffee grounds, and leftover Chinese, and then shredded paper towels all over the floor.  Days when there were more bills to pay than there was money to pay them.  Oh, yes.  You know how Chippie feels.  There are days when you just didn’t feel like singing.

But those are the days that remind us of the words of Jesus in Matthew 10.  Jesus told his disciples, “Two sparrows are sold for just a penny.  But not one of them falls to the ground without God knowing about it.  And even the hairs on your heads have all been counted by God.  You are worth more to God than many sparrows.”

One of the constant and consistent messages that Jesus delivered was that God cares for – loves deeply – every person.  Every person has worth to God.  And Jesus demonstrated that love and compassion every day of his life.  He welcomed anyone who came to him, including those that would have been rejected by just about anyone else.  Among his followers there were tax collectors, Zealots, women, Gentiles, Roman soldiers, synagogue leaders, Pharisees, and lepers.  Jesus never told anyone to go away or that he didn’t care about them.  Instead, Jesus exhibited love for people of all ages and from all backgrounds. 

Jesus showed compassion in so many ways.  He healed those who were sick.  He made it possible for those who had been paralyzed to walk again.  He removed the wounds of the lepers.  He cast out demons from those who had been possessed and tormented.  He gave people hope, self-respect, and a purpose in life.  He never made anyone feel less than or of no value.  Jesus would have done anything for anyone who came to him in need and with faith.

A great story goes like this.  A man fell into a ditch.  A realist said, “That’s a ditch.”  An optimist said, “Things will get better.”  A pessimist said, “Things will get worse.”  A newspaper reporter said, “I’ll pay you for your exclusive story about life in the ditch.”  A town selectman said, “Did you get a permit for your ditch?”  A mathematician said, “I’ll calculate the length and width and depth of your ditch.”  An IRS agent asked, “Have you paid taxes on that ditch?”  But Jesus said, “Give me your hand and let me help you out of that ditch.” 

Guess what?  We are not the only ones who have been in the ditch, unable to sing anymore.  There are others who are in the ditch now, or who are in danger of falling into the ditch.  And we know how they can get out, or rather, we know who can get them out of that ditch.  It’s Jesus.  God cares for each person; just as God cares for you and me, he cares for those others who are out there waiting for help.  They may not know that it is God who can help them.  Do we dare tell them?  Or are we too afraid?

It doesn’t take any special training or skills to tell someone else about God, or to show someone what God is like.  There was once a little boy who wanted to meet God.  He knew it must be a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started on his journey.  When he had gone about three blocks, he came to a park.  Walking through the park, the little boy saw an old woman sitting on a bench.  She was watching the pigeons. 

The little boy sat down next to the old woman and opened his suitcase.  He offered her a Twinkie, and she smiled and took it.  Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer, too.  Again, she smiled at him and accepted the drink.  The boy was absolutely delighted!  They ended up sitting there on the bench all afternoon, eating Twinkies and drinking root beer and smiling, but they never even said a word.

When it started to get dark, the little boy realized how tired he was.  He got up to leave, but before he had gone a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the old woman and gave her a hug.  She gave him the biggest smile ever.  When the boy opened the door to his own house a few minutes later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.  She asked, “What did you do today that made you so happy?”  He answered, “I had lunch with God.”  Before she could ask him what he was talking about, he went on, “You know what?  She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

Meanwhile, the old woman, who was also rather radiant, returned to her home, which she shared with her son and his family.  Her son saw how peaceful and happy she looked, and asked, “Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?”  She answered, “I ate Twinkies in the park with God.  And you know, he’s much younger than I thought he would be.”

God watches over the sparrows and God watches over us, too.  And sometimes the way that God watches over us is to send other people into our lives to care for us.  And sometimes the way that God watches over other people is to send us into their lives to care for them.  When life works like that, the way that God intends it to work, we all feel like singing!  Singing praise to God, singing our thanks for the way that God provides for us, singing out of our joy and peace and happiness.

In spite of all that Chippie went through, he surely must have started singing again.  And no matter what we might be going through now that keeps us from singing, sooner or later we will feel the care of God and we will heal and we will be restored and we will be renewed, and we will sing again.  If life is for the birds, we can say, “Thank God.”  Because God takes care of the sparrows.