Today's Gospel in Art - Not one sparrow is forgotten in God's sight

A Millefleurs Tapestry with Birds and Animals. 1530-1545 © Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA

Gospel of 16th October 2020 - Luke 12:1-7

The people had gathered in their thousands so that they were treading on one another. And Jesus began to speak, first of all to his disciples. 'Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees - that is, their hypocrisy. Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on the housetops.

'To you my friends I say: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Can you not buy five sparrows for two pennies? And yet not one is forgotten in God's sight. Why, every hair on your head has been counted. There is no need to be afraid: you are worth more than hundreds of sparrows.'

Reflection on the Tapestry

Whilst today's Gospel reading is somewhat sobering and again addresses the hypocrisy that Jesus condemns so harshly, there is also great beauty in it. Jesus is telling each one of us how deeply significant and important we are to God. If each small sparrow is important in the eyes of God, then we are certainly important and significant to Him.

God doesn't need us. He doesn't need anything or anyone. God is entirely self-sufficient. But therein lies the deepest value of His love for us: he created us out of pure love, not out of need. That does not mean He created men and women because He was lonely up there in Heaven and wanted some companionship. No. But, we do need Him, and we are dependent on Him. And how do we ultimately know that He loves us in the first place? Because He sent His Son, who gave His very life for us… That is the essence of our faith captured in today's reading.

Why God created each single one of us, we don't know. All we know is that we are each single threads woven together in a tapestry God has created. Only He can see the full picture… Hence today's object is a 16th-century Flemish tapestry, with sparrows, birds, animals, flowers, each and every thread playing its role to create the overall picture…

LINKS

Today's story - https://christian.art/en/daily-gospel-reading/576

Christian Art - www.christian.art