Isaiah 2: More than Sparrows
Thursday, October 23, 2025
The futility of believing in silver and gold is a theme that has popped up over the past few weeks in the several study/reflection groups to which I belong. When using a concordance, we can find many references to one or both of these precious metals; the attraction of valuable gems and ores is a universal lure to humans. They sparkle. They appear to be timeless and everlasting. In today’s Noontime, Isaiah’s words take me to the Gospel reading for the day: Luke 12:1-7. Jesus explains to us that we are worth more than many sparrows.
Last evening in Scripture study we came to the verse from 1 Corinthians 6:20 in which Paul reminds us that we were bought out of slavery for a great price. We are reminded by this letter that our bodies are temples where the Holy Spirit dwells within, that we are branches growing on the great vine of Christ, that we are adored and beloved children of God.
Why, we are asked, do we worry over much? Why do we not turn to the one who loves us best to be consoled? Why do we seek consolation in empty places?
Isaiah speaks of God in awesome and majestic Old Testament terms: a god who exacts justice and who loves jealously. The New Testament translates this fearsome God into Jesus, one who obeys the will of the Father, who loves even those who murder him, who calls, awaits and abides with each of us. The punishing God arrives in our midst as the forgiving God who values us more than many sparrows.
When we read this chapter of Isaiah we can see where pride takes us away from the one who purchased our freedom at a great price. We can see what our idols of silver and gold can do for us. These gods stand silent when we are in pain. These deities offer nothing but their continual demand that we become less human. These false champions fear our own divinity and they are incapable of salvific transformation. They do not rescue and they do not save. And they would sell us for less than a sparrow if it suited their whim.
Isaiah reminds us that in this world there are lands filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; yet all of this is as nothing before the gift of life God gives to us freely and with love.
We are worth more than we can imagine. Let us value this gift just as our maker does, and let us remember that we are worth more than silver or gold, more than many sparrows.
A re-post from September 28, 2011.
Image from: https://outforia.com/types-of-sparrows/
The Noontimes 