“His Eye is on the Sparrow”

4th Sunday after Epiphany- Jan 29, 2023

Matthew 5: 1-12 - BRCC- Pastor Deb

There is a tender story written by Minnesota author William Kent Kruger entitled, “This Tender Land.” His story takes place in Minnesota during the depression era, and tells the tale of four, young, American Indian children who have been taken from their families and put in a school for American Indian children. In this school, they experience abuse and cruelty that no child should ever endure…and all in the name of a loving God and His church.

A boy named Odie, who calls himself Buck, is especially angry at God calling Him the “Tornado God,” for God, he feels, is the one who has allowed his life to be torn apart and blown away. His anger leads Buck to fight back, only to be beat down again and again. But an opportunity comes for he and three other orphans to escape, and finding a canoe along the Mississippi River, they become a little family of refugees, riding the river all the way down to St. Paul and Mankato. As they come upon various friends and foes of that era, they wander in and out of broken communities seeking life and happiness within their circumstances. They encounter dust bowl families living in shanty’s along the river; Jews barely surviving in St Paul ghettos; Sioux Indians who have been cheated out of their land and pushed aside to survive on the fringes; and a band of traveling evangelists. Within each of these groups of broken, seeking, hurting travelers, these children become part of a shared bond that teaches them about the power of family, and the meaning of happiness and home.

The entire story of This Tender Land, is a study of spiritual hunger, and what these children come to believe and understand about God, within the harsh realities of their stolen lives. As these four orphans grapple with poverty; powerlessness; and human cruelty; they also encounter mercy, forgiveness and love in the most unlikely places. Each child grows into a new understanding of who they are and who they will become as the freedom of growing into adulthood finally sets each of them on a path to find a real home. It’s a beautiful story of spiritual awakening.

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ ministry now begins. Matthew tells us that as Jesus went throughout Galilee proclaiming the good news he was also curing every disease and sickness. People came from everywhere, but they were not the crowd that the disciples were expecting. They are described as the sick, the afflicted, the poor and the lost…those spiritually hungry and seeking a home they could not find in this world.

The prophecies of old awaken a spiritual hunger in Israel as they hear about Jesus. Can He be the one God has promised to send? Like a new Moses, Jesus goes up the mountain. The crowd gathers, and as is expected of a Rabbi…he begins to teach them about the Kingdom of God. A “Home”...a “Kingdom”...A new kind of life…where ALL are embraced into the Father’s arms of mercy and peace…but also where the fear and rejection of the world will fight for dominance. We refer to this passage as the Sermon on the Mount, and it will go on for three chapters in Matthew’s gospel. We also refer to today’s text as The Beatitudes, for it reminds us that when Jesus shows up…we are BLESSED.

What does it mean to be blessed? The Greek word for Blessed literally means “happiness” but it's a different kind of happiness that what we might expect…or that the world would embrace as desirable. For it’s a happiness that comes through brokenness and spiritual awakening. It’s a happiness that happens when Jesus shows up and engages us in our human experience…and points us to our true home within the Kingdom of Heaven. A home that can never be ripped away.

Have you ever wondered what heaven might look like? I know I have. I’ve even indulged in reading a few books or listened to a few speakers who use scripture to imagine the specifics. What we will eat and drink; what our mansion might look like; who will be there; what we will do with eternal time. But I came away unsatisfied with these human concoctions for they merely offered a perfected version of life as we know it here on earth, but without any discomfort. Why do we as humans strive to have every answer when the “mystery” and promise of God is all we really need?

This is what Jesus was speaking of when he teaches us what it means to be blessed. The Kingdom of Heaven has come to us…not the other way around. We, like those seeking orphans in The Tender Land, are on a journey to find our true home. And guess what, it’s not a place, or a level of comfort and safety; it’s not control over the circumstances all around us; and it’s not something that we can be worthy of or find on our own. It’s a spiritual awakening…a blessed joy, that sets us free from all brokenness when our Savior points us toward the promise that in God’s eyes…we are LOVED and BLESSED…just as we are, not as we should be.

What does heaven look like? What does it mean to be blessed? Each of those orphans needed to find it for themselves as Jesus’ showed up in their lives…and as they grew in their journey to find home, they found blessed peace. Perhaps that’s all we need to know for now…that being blessed is to be awakened to our Savior who shows up and brings the promise of new life within the journey we walk with God.

Perhaps this story illustrates that blessed assurance.

On a chilly winter day in Manhattan, a musician was offering his gift of music for a few tips in a coffee shop. Over the hiss of the espresso machine and the buzz of people chatting, the voice of one woman could be heard singing the songs right along with the musician. Noting that she loved to sing, the musician invited her to come up and join him. Embarrassed, she hesitated, but finally agreed and asked him if he knew any hymns, as they were what she like to sing the most. He answered that the one he knew the most was “His eye is on the sparrow.”

She hesitated, but then smiles and said, “That hymn would be perfect.” And so the two of them began to sing…”Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows come?” Just as Scottish singer Susan Boyle astonished her audience on Britain's got talent a few years ago, so too his woman’s voice rose above the buss of conversations and soon silenced the entire room. “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.”

When the last note was sung, the entire place cheered and applauded as if she were standing in Carnegie Hall. Embarrassed, the woman tried to silence everyone. “Oh, you all go back to drinking your coffee..” But the ovation continued. The musician embraced her and said, “That was beautiful!” You have touched every heart in this room!” “Well,” she replied, “it’s ironic that you picked that particular hymn because it was my daughter’s favorite.” Then she grabbed the musicians’ hand and looked into his face and said, “That song was sung at her funeral last week. She was 16 and died of a brain tumor.”

The musician was stunned and couldn’t think of what to say except. “Are you going to be ok?” “Yes,” she whispered, I AM ok. I just keep trusting the Lord and singing his songs, and he’s going to make everything better.”

Jesus has shown up…and keeps showing up. He alone makes everything better. That, my dear friends in Christ, is what is REAL and ATTAINABLE in this world we journey through. We have a God who has come in humble tenderness, walks among us in ways we can experience through our poverty of spirit and thirst for righteousness, and HIS presence IS turning this world’s heart toward God’s Kingdom of Love ONE HEART AT A TIME. We have a Savior who shows up in our hardest places and calls us to be blessed in the midst of life’s storms. So why should be we discouraged?

As our song of the day…let’s sing together that wonderful song of faith…”HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW,” and trust that Jesus is with us, and that we are blessed. Amen.