Does Jesus Really Care?

I just listened to Larnell Harris sing His Eye is on the Sparrow. The backdrop was not modern, neither is the song. However, the message is poignant at this time when so many persons are in fear. 

I’ll allow Civilla Martin who wrote the song, to tell her own story. “Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were holidaying in Elmira, New York. We developed a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for almost 20 years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheelchair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.

One day, while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s reply was simple: ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know he watches me.’ The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped our hearts and fired our imagination. The song ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’ was the outcome of that experience.”

In other words, Mrs Doolittle knew her vulnerability and acknowledged God’s care for her in her bedridden condition. She and her crippled husband were susceptible to depression. For decades they lived against insurmountable odds. However, they were confident that as the Lord cared for the sparrow, he cared for them even more.

Song writer Civilla Martin knew the context from which Mrs Doolittle referred to God’s care for vulnerable sparrows. She was quoting Jesus, “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they” (Matthew 6:26)?

Later in Matthew, the writer again quotes Jesus: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father…you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).

In both passages, Jesus is not attempting to give a lecture in Ornithology (study of birds). As the context would suggest, Jesus was commenting on how we respond in the most vulnerable of circumstances. Jesus was commenting on the fears we develop when our circumstances appear to be overwhelming.

To illustrate his point, Jesus chose the sparrow. Sparrows are small birds. They are found in great numbers. They are tame, intrusive, and nestle everywhere. Sparrows are rarely referred to in the singular. Each one is of such little value, sparrows are often referred to in the plural. The Greek word used to describe the value of two sparrows is equal to one tenth of an average day’s pay in the first century.

I don’t know about you, these days I feel like a sparrow. The global pillars of stability are shaking. Leaders who touted globalism, now want to secure their borders. Political leaders who are revered as the most powerful on earth, are succumbing to tests to ensure that they are not victims to coronavirus (COVID-19). Suddenly, persons in houses of safety are as vulnerable as the homeless.

To whom do we turn when Wall Street totters? To whom do we listen to when the voices of socialism and capitalism are silenced? Like the Apostle Paul, I ask, “Where are the wise men? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world” (1 Corinthians 1:20)?

Like the sparrow, let us acknowledge our vulnerability. Let us affirm the caring eye of the Lord. His eyes are eyes of compassion. Eyes of assurance that confirm, He never loses control when crises rage around us. Each of us should at least peruse the song, and like me, listen to Larnell Harris’ rendition of it.

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; (repeat line)

I sing because I’m happy, I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; (repeat line)

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me; (repeat line)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTkfpOjoi8