Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father;
These words come in the middle of a warning about persecution. The disciples must face men who can kill the body, and against that the Lord points to a bird worth almost nothing — so why should a falling sparrow steady someone facing death?
The verse is one of several reasons the Lord gives for courage. One writer traces the chain of reasons He gives them:
They were to expect insults. They were not above their Master, whom their enemies had already called Beelzebub. Their part was to trust God, whatever the hidden plots of their enemies... They were not to fear. First, they should fear Him who could cast body and soul into hell far more than those who can only kill the body. But besides, without their Father — Him who guarded them as a Father — not a sparrow fell to the ground. They had more value in His eye than many sparrows.
The coin named here was among the smallest in use. Comparing this account with Luke's, where five sparrows go for two of the same coins, one writer notes that each Gospel presses a different detail:
The coin called the "assarion" had two values, and we must allow for local differences. But the "two farthings" would be worth about one penny of our money. Matthew stresses how small the coin was that bought two sparrows; Luke stresses how many birds you got for it.
The bird was cheap enough to be thrown in for free — and against that price the Lord sets the worth of His disciples:
The sparrow was so worthless that if a customer bought two farthings' worth, an extra bird would be thrown in! Then the disciples were reminded that they were of more value than many sparrows and that the very hairs of their head were all numbered.
The choice of title is deliberate, and it changes the whole weight of the sentence:
We learn our Father's special, detailed care for His own children from this: the sparrow, a bird people despise as worth nothing, cannot fall to the ground "apart from your Father." He could have said, Without God. But He said, Your Father — and a father's love is concerned for his children.
Noticing a sparrow is not beneath God; it is part of what makes Him God:
God is so great that He can take notice of these little things. He is great in great things and great in little things. Such a small thing, and it seems so worthless — yet your Father notices it!
Another writer sets that care beside the scale of the universe:
The God who rolled the mountains together, laid valleys, seas, and rivers in their places, and calls all the stars by name, so that not one fails — this is the God who loves me!... This same God spans the heavens and measures the sea in the hollow of His hand. Yet He describes Himself as the One who notices the falling sparrow and counts the hairs of His people's heads.
This care reaches further than the disciples, though they hold a special place in it:
Although most people are unaware of it, God takes a deep interest in all His creatures... People, nations and cities all come under the watchful eye of God. He cares for His saints in a special way, but His goodness in providing for His creation and His rule over it are always plain to those who have eyes to see.
If no sparrow falls outside the Father's hand, no trial does either. That changes how a believer reads his own troubles:
It is important to take everything from the Father's hand. It is just as important to look at the trials of others the same way — saying to a tested Christian, "If not a sparrow falls without the Father, how could you be in this trial without the Father?" What a difference it makes to look at things from the heavenly side.
That leaves no room for the fear that something has slipped past God or gone wrong:
Not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father, and He assures us we are of value to Him. He makes no mistakes, and there is nothing that escapes His eye and hand.
- Fear — Men may kill the body. But no disciple falls outside the Father's hand.
- Farthing — The bird costs almost nothing. Matthew stresses the tiny coin; Luke, the extra birds you got for it.
- Father — He did not say God. He said "your Father" — so the smallest event carries a father's love.
- Fullness — The One who names the stars also counts the sparrows. His greatness shows in small things as much as in great ones.
- Faith — If no sparrow falls without Him, then no trial reaches you without Him — and He makes no mistakes.
but of you even the hairs of the head are all numbered.
The Lord says this as He sends out the twelve — His first followers — into a world that will hate them. Again and again He tells them not to fear. His comfort is not that nothing will happen to them. It is that a Father counts what nobody else would bother to count.
This is not a general saying about God's kindness. It sits inside a mission that promises insult, plots, and death. The Lord gives it as one reason for standing firm.
They were to expect reproach; they were not above their Master... Their part was to trust God, whatever the hidden plots of their enemies... They were not to fear. First, they should fear Him who could cast body and soul into hell much more than those who can do nothing but kill the body. But besides, without their Father — Him who guarded them as a Father — not a sparrow fell to the ground. They had more value in His eye than many sparrows. Lastly, whoever confessed Jesus before men, Jesus would confess him before the angels of His Father. These are the three motives that He gives for firmness.
A hair is worth nothing. Yet God's greatness works the opposite way from human greatness.
One of the features that sets God apart is this. He cares for great things and arranges them — the ordering of the solar system, the sequence of the seasons. He also provides for small things — marking the fall of the sparrow, or numbering the hairs of the heads of His saints. The great men of the earth are too small to look after small things — they are not big enough. How different our God is! He is great enough to sustain the universe. He is also great enough to come down in fullest sympathy to the wants and troubles of His lowliest creature.
Some soften the line into poetry. Taken as fact or as picture, it lands in the same place.
And no detail of your life is too small for His notice. When He told His disciples that the hairs of their heads were numbered, He meant it. And if you will have it that His language was figurative, so be it. But it simply means that those details of your life that are too insignificant for your notice do not escape His.
Just before this, the Lord commands fear. Just after it, He forbids it. One writer explains the two as different in kind.
Notice, in one place He says, "Fear him," and a little later He says, "Fear not." There is no contradiction. Oh, no! In the first, it is the holy fear of a child, afraid of doing what would pain or grieve the Lord. In the second, you have the sense of the care of God... He puts the care of God, in its exact detail, in a very touching way: "But even the hairs of your head are all numbered." That is the deeply blessed interest God has in us. His eye is upon us with all the tender affection of a Father's love... If you had this sense, you could leave everything with God.
The promise does not mean freedom from harm. One writer admits it sounds strange next to the warning that some of them would be put to death.
God's rule now does not keep the righteous from suffering, and least of all from suffering for the name of Christ. But the Lord watches over him. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father. It seems strange to us to hear, "Some of you they will put to death … But not a hair of your head will perish."
If the count is real, nothing reaches you without the Father's permission. That changes how believers face sickness and danger.
The children of God, if they were in the power of this truth, would also be far less restless and anxious in times of sickness. God may allow us to use remedies, but how often we use them in unbelief! We act as if our recovery depended only on human help and advice. Surely if a sparrow cannot fall on the ground without the permission of our Father, His children cannot. No, the very hairs of our heads are all numbered, and God is honoured by our perfect calm and confidence in the face of the greatest dangers.
- Counted, not guarded. God tracks every detail. He does not promise that no trouble comes. The Lord sent His disciples into a world that hated them, and this was their comfort there.
- Counted by a Father. The One who counts is your Father. The count is His tender care, not distant record-keeping.
- Counted downward. The God who orders the solar system stoops to the hair and the sparrow. Human greatness is too big for small things; His is not.
- Counted for real. Take the words as fact or as picture. Either way, what is beneath your notice is not beneath His.
- Counted, so calm. Nothing touches a child of God without the Father's permission. Fear of man gives way to fear of God, and anxiety to confidence.
Fear not therefore; *ye* are better than many sparrows.
These words come at the end of a long warning. Jesus has been telling His twelve disciples what danger lies ahead of them. He answers their fear not by removing the danger, but by pointing to a bird sold for small change.
Three times in this passage the Lord says "fear not," and each time on a fresh ground. One commentator traces the second of them to the limits of what any enemy actually holds:
A second reason not to fear is on other grounds: and what harm can they do? They cannot touch the soul; nor can they even touch the body unless your heavenly Father allows it. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." They cannot injure you. There is nothing a believer has to dread, except grieving and sinning against God.
The Lord picks the lowest comparison He can. Sparrows were among the cheapest things in the market:
In Palestine sparrows are plentiful. Five of them were sold for two pennies. Yet the Lord said that not one of them fell without His Father's knowledge, and He added, "you are of more value than many sparrows." If God cares for the birds — and the word used here is the small form, a little bird — surely He will care for His own beloved ones.
The weight of the argument rests on one word in the sentence before this one:
This is where we learn our Father's special, detailed care for His own children. Men despise the sparrow as a worthless bird, yet it cannot fall to the ground "apart from your Father." He might have said, Without God. But He said, Your Father — and a father's love is concerned for his children.
Jesus does not say what the comparison amounts to. One writer answers by pointing away from anything in creation to what has been given instead:
"Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." We must listen to the Lord in John 17 to get some idea of what we are worth. God could have created a far better world than this one for each saint, better in man's eyes, and perhaps more glorious than this world was at creation. But what would all of that be next to what He has given us in Christ? And we have even more than this — yes, the love of Him who gave it all.
Fear is both commanded and forbidden here. One writer draws out what the fear of God does to every other fear:
Here the heart is taught not only to fear God, but also to trust Him — it is not only warned, but also calmed. "Fear," and "fear not," may seem a contradiction to flesh and blood; but to faith it is no contradiction. The man who fears God most will fear circumstances least. The man of faith is the most dependent man in the world, and at the same time the most independent. He depends on God, and not on circumstances.
Sparrows do fall. Jesus does not promise that the disciple will survive; He has already spoken of those who kill the body. He promises that nothing happens outside the Father's hand:
We only have to do what we are told in His Word, and leave the consequences to Him. He is well able to take care of His own interests, and nothing left in His hands can go wrong. Our difficulty is that we get nervous about ourselves, and wonder what is going to happen to us... A sparrow cannot fall to the ground apart from our Father; and we are of more value than many sparrows. If He is determined to keep us here for Himself, an army of murderers could have no power against us. And if it were His blessed will that we should seal with our blood the testimony entrusted to us, what does it matter? "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:8).
The Father's care is not the last word in the chapter:
We have had the Father's care; now we come to the Son's confession, which is still to come. The Father's care we know on earth, whatever the trial may be. The Son's confession of us will be in heaven, when the whole scene of trial is over.
- Value counted. The Lord answers fear with a price. Not even the cheapest bird in the market falls unnoticed. God will not overlook a disciple in danger.
- Value named. Jesus did not say "God" but "your Father" — a father's love is concerned for his own children.
- Value proved. Measure the disciple's worth by what God has given in Christ, and by the love of the One who gave it.
- Value freeing. Fear God most, and you will fear your circumstances least. The man who depends on God depends on nothing else.
- Value kept. The promise is not escape from death. It is that nothing reaches us outside His hand — the Father's care now, the Son's confession of us in heaven.