Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit and work through these words. Help us to know your kingdom better and help to make it a reality here and now. In the name of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, one God. Amen.
Deacon Nancy told us there were more parables to come and here we are! Today’s parables are all about one thing, The Kingdom of Heaven. Would you be surprised to hear that The Kingdom of Heaven, also known as The Reign of God, is the thing that Jesus talks about more than anything else in the gospels? By some accounts up to 126 times! But what is it? And what do today’s parables have to say about it?
The Kingdom of Heaven is the expression that refers to what things are like when God is in charge. When we are living under God’s reign, God’s control, then we are experiencing the Kingdom. This can be a bit tricky, because the Kingdom is an “already” and “not yet” kind of thing. We are experiencing the Reign of God here and now, in bits and pieces, in glimpses and moments of beauty, shared love and peace, AND we are waiting for God’s Kingdom to be fully realized. That time when God’s dream for all of us and all of creation will finally come true.
Our first two parables speak to us about WHAT the Kingdom is like.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
The Kingdom may start small, like the tiniest seed, say mustard or poppy, or a simple bit of yeast, but watch out, it will grow and grow and grow. It has amazing potential. The smallest act of kindness and compassion can flower and grow, working its way through the whole batch of dough, activating, causing it to rise and grow and grow. God’s love is like this. When God’s full love is realized, it will take over everyone and everything. Nothing, nothing will be able to get in its way or stop it from growing and expanding.
The next two parables speak to us of the VALUE of God’s kingdom.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
Once we discover the love that God has for us, for EACH and EVERY one of us. NOTHING can possibly be more valuable. When we enter into a relationship with God with the help of Jesus, who knows us full well, perfectly relating and showing God’s love in human form, then NOTHING, NOTHING can compare in value. When we start to understand just how good, how loving, how caring, how full of mercy and great compassion our God is, then we’re be willing to sell everything to get that treasure, that pearl. It was suggested at this week’s Holy Curiosity bible study that Jesus is the treasure, that Jesus is the pearl. What could possibly be more valuable than to live in relationship with Jesus, by him and with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory and VALUE is God’s alone.
Our final parable is a little trickier. It speaks to us of the realization of God’s Kingdom, the “fully present” and realized part.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I think our tendency is to hear this and think about God’s judgment at the end of time, good fish people in one basket and bad fish people thrown away into the fire of hell, weeping and gnashing of teeth. But I’d like to offer a different idea for you here, after all, parables have many interpretations, right? What if this sorting of fish and furnace of fire is not about who’s in and who’s out, after all, Jesus set the example of including outsiders, what if this parable is describing the full reality of God’s Kingdom? A Kingdom free of evil, a Kingdom refined, purified by fire, so that all that is left is pure gold, pure love? Isn’t this what Jesus has been talking about, showing and doing throughout his ministry here on earth? Casting out evil, restoring right relationships, healing and transforming lives, purifying people, creating beloved community, bringing pure light and love?
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
What can we bring out of our treasure, out of our relationship and understanding of God that is an old understanding that has value? And what can we discover and bring out that is new? How can we work together to help usher in God’s Kingdom here and now? All it takes is the tiniest seed. Amen.
