Scriptures: Genesis
29:15-28 Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Today’s Gospel gives us an hor d’oeuvres tray of images for
what Jesus is calling the kingdom of heaven.
These aren’t long, elaborate parables such as the parable of the Good
Samaritan or the parable of the Prodigal Son, or even like the parable of the
Sower that we heard two weeks ago or the parable of the wheat and the weeds
that we heard last week. Today’s
parables are just snippets, glimpses of what Jesus is trying to show his
followers, or maybe like appetizers – enough to catch our interest, but leave
us hungry to hear more. And when Jesus
is talking about the kingdom of heaven, it’s easy to be confused. He’s not actually talking about heaven. Since observant Jews did not utter the holy
name of God, words like heaven were used
as a way to refer to God without actually naming God’s name. So in telling his disciples about the
kingdom of heaven, he’s not talking about something that happens after we
die. Rather, he’s telling his disciples
what it’s like to live in tune with God’s will in this life, now, today, this
moment – what it’s like to do things God’s way, as opposed to the default
setting of doing things the world’s way.
I’m going to focus on the first two parables, which speak of
small beginnings that pack a powerful punch.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that is the smallest of
seeds, but grows into a great big shrub, so big that the birds come and make
nests in it. The kingdom of heaven is
like yeast that is mixed with three measures of flour – and of course, yeast
makes the dough rise.
These parables can seem a little bit like old hat. We’ve grown used to the idea that great
things can come from small beginnings – as the saying goes, great oaks from
tiny acorns grow. And that certainly is
a major part of the message of these two parables.
But Jesus’ listeners would have also found something a bit
off-kilter in both of these parables, something a little odd, that we miss. In Ezekiel chapter 17:22-23 the prophet
tells of a coming Messiah, in language that sounds a little like today’s
parables – and maybe Jesus had it in mind.
It goes as follows: “God will
take a tender shoot from the topmost branches of a cedar, and God will plant it
on a high and lofty mountain. On the
mountain height of Israel God will plant it, and it will grow branches and
produce fruit, and it will grow to be a noble cedar. Under it every bird will
live, and in its shade will nest winged creatures of every kind.” That was a very traditional Jewish image for
the prophecy of the coming Messiah. But
Jesus seems to be playing with the image, tweaking it, making it a bit more
down to earth...maybe with a bit of sideways humor along the way. Jesus seems to be asking his listeners, “Do
you think that the kingdom of heaven like a noble cedar on a mountain top? No, it’s more like a mustard seed – which was
considered an invasive weed – that lands in your garden, and produces a great
big shrub, that attracts birds to feast on your plants.” Likely he was inviting his followers to see
themselves as the scruffy, motley crew they were….who could still be used by
God to accomplish amazing things. Similarly, though we’re used to leavened
bread – we like our Wonder Bread, preferably with a plastic bag around it,
sealed with a twist tie – the Jews who listened to Jesus’ parable ate
unleavened bread at Passover, like Matzoh, and in fact in preparation for
Passover, they were to carefully scrub their houses to get rid of any old
leaven that may have spilled….and Jews practice the custom to this day. Leaven carried the meaning of corruption –
the ancient Jews were concerned with purity to the point of obsession, and
flour with yeast in it was seen as impure because the flour had yeast mixed in
it. And so Jesus’ parables would have
been heard as being subversive. Remember,
he and his listeners were living under Roman occupation. There were people, called Zealots, who
advocated violent overthrow of Rome. But
Jesus is offering a different way. Jesus
seemed to be saying that, if you want to resist Rome and avoid buying into
Roman culture, just living as God wants us to live, while it seems like a small
thing, is enough to undermine the empire.
Sort of like the way that a single snowflake is tiny, but if enough of
them land in one place, they will stop cars and 18-wheelers dead in their
tracks. Again, in these particular
parables, Jesus was not talking about the world to come, but about living in
the world right now, today. And Jesus
was right….in the book of Acts, the early Christians were known as “these
people who have turned the world upside down.”
Pretty impressive, don’t you think?
And Jesus’ next two parables, about the pearl of great price and the
treasure hidden in a field, tell his listeners that it is worth their giving up
all their other priorities, to put the rest of their lives on hold, to live in
this way, according to the will of God.
It’s helpful to hear this, I think, because our culture,
with what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in 1967 called its giant triplets of
racism, materialism, and militarism, is as far from God’s ways as the Roman
culture of Jesus’ day was, and we Christians today, as did the earliest
followers of Jesus, still need to live in the world without following the
world’s priorities, to be in the world but not of the world, as Jesus said. We need to live in resistance, to jam the
gears of injustice and oppression, to be like an invasive weed messing up the
garden, or like snowflakes stopping traffic. As Dr. King put it in that speech 50 years
ago, “We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a
‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and
property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets
of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” [1]
King’s words were true when he
spoke them, and fifty years later, they’re still true.
But if we’re faithful, God will
use us to accomplish amazing things, even if the beginnings are distinctly
unimpressive. In our Old Testament
reading, we’re again following the story of Jacob as he’s on the run from his
brother Esau, and staying with his uncle Laban.
Up to this point, while Jacob had an encounter with God, he’s lived in a
thoroughly self-centered way, a real slimeball. As it turns out, Jacob is about to find out
that his uncle Laban is likewise a cheat and a slimeball. Jacob falls in love with Laban’s younger
daughter Rachel, and agrees to work for seven years for her hand in marriage.
Jacob holds up his end, but on the wedding night, Laban sends his older
daughter, Leah, to spend the wedding night with Jacob. Jacob protests, but Laban piously says, “it
is not our custom to marry off the younger daughter before the older daughter. Work another seven years for me, and you can
have Rachel as well. “ In the chapters
following today’s reading, the story grows even more convoluted. It turns out that Leah is fertile while
Rachel at first is not….and each of the women has handmaids, who also sleep
with Jacob, and if you think this sounds like something out of the cable series
the Handmaids Tale –this story of Jacob is where the idea for the Handmaids
Tale comes from. Eventually between
them, Jacob and the four women – Rachel finally did bear children - produce
twelve sons and a daughter. The
offspring of the twelve sons become the twelve tribes of Israel, and of course
Jesus comes from this lineage. As I said
last week, in order to get to Jesus, we have to put up with Jacob and his
shenanigans. A great savior, from very
unimpressive beginnings indeed.
Looking over Jesus’ seed parables
of the past three weeks, Jesus is telling us that we are all planting seeds,
whether we realize it or not, whether we want to or not. All of our actions have consequences, for
ourselves, but also for others. Every
word we say, for good or bad – or every word we leave unsaid; every action we
take, for good or bad – or every action we don’t take – is a seed that will
bear fruit. Because words and actions
have consequences – this is one of the basic lessons we learn growing up. Because our lives are connected, those
consequences affect not just ourselves, but those around us. But what seeds are
we planting? What fruit will they bear,
and where, and to whose benefit or detriment?
I’ll close with some words by
Roman Catholic Bishop Ken Untener, attributed in memory of El Salvadoran
Archbishop Oscar Romero, gunned down while saying mass in March of 1980.
It
helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No programme accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.” [2]
Amen.
[1]
Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr., Beyond Vietnam:
A Time To Break Silence; Riverside Church, April 4, 1967;
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.htmlhttp://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html
[2] http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers-and-devotions/prayers/archbishop_romero_prayer.cfm
