<p>12:6 <i>Are not five sparrows sold for two very small coins? And not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God</i>- See on Mt. 10:29. Two sparrows were sold for one coin; and five were given for two coins. The sparrows were so little worth that one was thrown in for free. Yet the sparrows are represented in the presence of God (Gk.); even animals have their representative Angels there. This is &lsquo;how&rsquo; in one sense a personal God sees and knows all things; because His Spirit / Angels are in His presence reporting all things to Him. At least this is how we are invited to perceive it. The sparrows aren&rsquo;t forgotten in the presence of God, and we are of more value than many sparrows (Lk. 12:6,7); Matthew has: &lsquo;Your Father feeds the sparrows; are you not of more value same Greek as in Luke than many sparrows?&rsquo;; &lsquo;no sparrow falls to the ground&nbsp;without your Father knowing... you are of more value than many sparrows&rdquo; (Mt. 6:26; 10:29,31). The sparrows being in God&rsquo;s presence is paralleled with His feeding them Gk. &lsquo;to bring them up&rsquo; and being aware of what is happening to them on earth. God feeds / raises the sparrows through His Angelic messengers.</p><p>&ldquo;An inscription of the Emperor Diocletian setting out the maximum prices that might be paid for various articles of commerce shows that sparrows were the cheapest of birds used for food...&rdquo; (Leon Morris,&nbsp;<i>The Gospel According to Matthew</i>&nbsp;(Leicester: I.V.P., 1992)). This is another example of the Lord&rsquo;s radical collision course with the Rabbis; He taught that God&rsquo;s care even embraces sparrow. For the Rabbis explicitly forbad prayers that mentioned God&rsquo;s care for birds, because they argued that it was dishonouring to God to associate Him with something so small as a bird (<i>Berith</i>&nbsp;5.3). And the Lord purposefully stood that idea upon its head. The Rabbis had a whole list of unforgivable sins, like murder, apostasy, contempt for the Law, etc. But the Lord went further. His many words of judgment weren&rsquo;t directed to the murderers and whores and Sabbath breakers; they were instead directed against those who condemned those people, considering themselves righteous. He calls those who appeared so righteous a &lsquo;generation of vipers&rsquo;. The publican, not the Pharisee, finds God&rsquo;s acceptance, according to Jesus. And again, the Lord is making a telling point- because Rabbis held that repentance for publicans was almost impossible, because it was impossible for them to know exactly all the people they&rsquo;d cheated. Very clearly, the Lord&rsquo;s message was radical. He was out to form a holy people from whores and gamblers, no-good boys and conmen. And moreover, He was out to show that what God especially judges and hates are the things that humanity doesn&rsquo;t think twice about: hypocrisy, self-righteousness, judgmentalism, exclusion of others&hellip;&nbsp;</p>