Take Another Look At The Birds: Matthew 10:29

When I was younger and was still able to run, I remember being out on long runs along country roads and I would often have birds swoop down at my head. What I found interesting about this is that each time I would run along that same stretch of road in the summer, at least for a period, the bird would swoop down at my head repeatedly until I passed a certain point. I still experience the same thing when I walk. Though birds do this to protect territory around nests, it can be irritating, especially if you want to enjoy some peace and quiet. At such times, it is easy to think that those birds are less than worthless!  But recently, as I was meditating on Matthew 10:29, the Spirit encouraged me to take another look at the birds.

That verse reads: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.” In this passage we discover that as Jesus is sending out disciples on mission and instructing them not to fear those who only can harm them physically, he highlights the importance the Father places upon them. He does this in three ways: (1) He mentions that sparrows, a cheap commodity to men, do not fall to the ground apart from the Father (29). (2) He assures them the hairs of their head are numbered—God knows all about you and greatly cares for you (30)! (3) He calls them to fear not, for they are of more value than sparrows (31).

On this verse and its context New Testament scholar, Craig S. Keener (Matthew, in the IVP Commentary Series), writes:

Jesus assures his disciples that they can trust God's sovereignty in their protection or their death. Sparrows were the cheapest commodity sold in the markets (as food for the poor); an assarion [penny] was a small coin (one-sixteenth of a denarius, thus equivalent to less than an hour's wage….). Yet as worthless as sparrows were to people, God watched over them. Jewish teachers agreed that God was sovereign over each bird's fate…. “How much more” (following a standard line of Jewish reasoning) may we therefore be assured that nothing happens to us when God is "not looking"…. This teaching fits the biblical perspective of a God sovereign over history, who knows every hair on our heads (compare Acts 27:34; 1 Sam 14:45; 2 Sam 14:11; 1 Kings 1:52).

Don Carson, Matthew (in the Expositor’s Commentary series) adds: “If God’s providence is so all embracing that not even a sparrow drops from the sky apart from the will of God, cannot that same God be trusted to extend his providence over Jesus’ disciples? …God’s sovereignty is not limited only to life-and-death issues; even the hairs of our heads are counted…. Jesus says that God’s sovereignty over the tiniest detail should give us confidence that he also superintends the larger matters.”

Our great God watches over even little “cheap” (and even sometimes irritating!) birds. How much more can we trust him to watch over us in every detail of life—we who are created in his image and who are being redeemed into the image of his Son?

So, take another look at the birds and then, take another look at the amazing, powerful oversight of our heavenly Father—even in the smallest of details.