Valuable

The other morning as I was walking- jogging (at a very slow pace!) around the local oval, the kookaburras began their chorus of laughter. I’m sure it was coincidental but on both occasions this happened when I changed from walking to jogging mode!And what a delightful and distinctive call it is.Our Lord and Saviour was a keen observer of His creation and spoke of it to make His   teaching clearer to us. He didn’t speak of kookaburras specifically but already in Luke 12 we have heard Him speak of the common sparrows (6) and now of ravens (24). The sparrow was so common that Dr Luke observes that five could be purchased for two-pence. Matthew tells us that you could buy two for a penny. The implication is that if you bought two-pence worth you could get an extra one thrown in for nothing! And Jesus says that not one (not even that extra one) is forgotten by God (6).Ravens, says Our Lord, are fed by God even though they have no storeroom or barn. They search for their food (Jesus’ point is not to promote indolence) but they do not need to store it up. And Jesus’ conclusion, so full of comfort and given to help us overcome our propensity to be ‘worrywarts’: “and how much more valuable are you than birds” (24).Consider the ‘conversation’ between a robin and a sparrow in the following ditty by E Chaney that brings out the point so well:

Said the robin to the sparrow,“I should really like to knowWhy these anxious human beingsRush about and worry so.”

Said the sparrow to the robin,“Friend, I think that it must beThey have no heavenly FatherSuch as cares for you and me.”

These words of Jesus ‘How much more valuable are you than birds’ again imply another vital aspect of this.  Tasmanian Peter Singer champions a branch of ethics that maintains there is no fundamental difference between humans and animals. For this reason Singer and others support infanticide. An unwanted or disabled child according to this sinister ethic is no more valuable than a dog, cat or whale. Jesus blows this evil ethic out of the water with His words “How much more valuable are you than the birds”.  As an affirmation of Genesis 1-3 Jesus endorses  men and women as the highpoint of God’s creation.A further departure from Jesus’ life-affirming statement is seen in the current Lotto TV ad, with its self-serving lie that we are simply the product of luck and chance. It is no wonder that men and women in our culture not only worry but have no clear idea of their own value or worth.We are doubly valuable to God by virtue of our creation and the fact that Jesus died for us on the cross.Value lies not in what we can do or accomplish but in who we are by virtue of our being created in God’s image, redeemed by His Son and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.Good theology will always be good for us. There are no worries about this.Warmest greetings in Christ