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Matthew 13: 31–33, 44–52
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your Name. Amen.
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As you and I read through the Gospels, we almost never find Jesus at a
loss for words. He always seems to have just the right word for
each person who approaches him. But this morning, as he tries to
describe the Kingdom of God to those of us trying to understand it
better, the language of earth is having trouble describing the realities
of heaven. Evidently, even Jesus’ words can’t describe
something that’s beyond words. So, instead of giving us a
single image or a single parable to direct our understanding, Jesus
offers us a series of images – in quick succession – like
pearls strung along a string, each one of them full of meaning. And
altogether they begin to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom.
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Each parable, each image – the mustard seed that quickly grows
into an invasive bush, the yeast capable of raising a large quantity
of dough, a valuable treasure discovered buried in a field, a pearl
of great price found in a handful of nondescript ones – describes
someone or something in action. And when you understand
that in Hebrew that word dabar can mean either
“word” or “action”, you begin to catch the
significance of all these different examples of the Kingdom. For
the Kingdom of God won’t be found in words alone. Nor is
it so far off we can hardly grasp it, hardly understand it, like
pie–in–the–sky–by–and–by.
Instead, it is something that’s happening all around us
in our everyday world. Look quick or you’ll miss it.
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Kingdom action is like the action of a tiny mustard seed planted in
good soil that quickly grows into a bush so full, so large it can
accommodate birds nesting in its branches. Or, it’s like
the yeast a woman worked into three measures of flour – that will
raise the whole batch to such a large volume the bread will feed a
hundred people – for some great wedding feast. In other
words, though the Kingdom starts small and looks insignificant, it has
a way of growing, of giving to others around it.
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And there’s something else. Often enough, like a treasure
hidden beneath the surface of a nearby field, the Kingdom of God is
not immediately visible to one and all. It’s close, but
it’s just below the surface. So it has to be searched
for. It has to be discovered to be delighted in. It’s
like Jesus – healing lepers his society said were hopeless, or
enjoying a meal with people the Scribes and Pharisees treated like
trash. Those people were all around them, but until Jesus came
along, and treated them compassionately, no one else saw them as
valuable. In fact, no one paid them much attention at
all. But Jesus delighted in them. He loved them. Where
others saw them as problems, Jesus saw their potential. And when
he treated them as valued citizens of the Kingdom of God, others began
to see their value too. And then finally, they could all begin
to live up to Jesus’ high hopes for them.
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The final image Jesus offers us of the Kingdom of God is that of a
net full of fish being sorted through once it’s been brought to
the surface. And this image adds a darker, more ominous note to
his string of metaphors. For though all kinds of fish, good and
bad alike, are hauled in by that net, only certain fish are finally
chosen. And we realize that the fish themselves are not making
that decision.
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Now, I say that’s the final image of the Kingdom of God that
Jesus offers us this morning, but there’s actually another
one. It’s not in our Gospel reading, but it’s so
familiar, so obvious, it has probably been at the back of your mind
ever since I started speaking. And that is the phrase in the
Lord’s Prayer that we say every time we recite that prayer,
wherever we are. We say, “thy Kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
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You see, the Kingdom isn’t about carefully chosen words that
describe our heavenly reward. The Kingdom is about actions, about
doing something. About growing from small faith to large
faith. About searching for God in all the small details of our
lives. It’s about working His will – to feed
the poor, clothe the naked, comfort the afflicted – into our
schedules every day. Just as the Hebrew term debar means
both “word” and “deed”, we simply can’t
separate the the presence of the Kingdom of God from the doing of
God’s will. Not in great dramatic actions – like a
mega million–size donation for your favorite charity – but
in smaller, more ordinary actions of caring and compassion. Maybe
like remembering to ask someone here at church about someone you know he
or she has placed on our Prayers of the People list. Or taking the
time to help out at Putnam Christian Outreach. Or just meeting the
need of someone in the grocery store line ahead of you who is having
trouble paying her bill. You see, it’s the little things
that we actually get around to doing that begin to reveal the Kingdom
of God right in our midst.
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How do I know these things? I don’t just know them
through the words of this passage in Matthew or from my own
experience. I’ve also learned them through some of the
old hymns. And there’s one old hymn I think you probably
know, “Lead on. O King eternal” that talks
about what it takes to walk into the Kingdom of God. (If you
want to look at it, it’s hymn number 555.)
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It won’t be easy, this hymn tells us. No, it will take a
fight, a battle, because it’s sin itself that opposes us as we
try to enter God’s Kingdom. But in that fight, the hymn
says, we will be victorious because – by God’s
grace – we have already begun to learn what it takes. I
can’t say it more clearly than this:
Lead on O King eternal, till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
and holiness shall whisper the sweet amen of peace;
for not with sword’s loud clashing, nor roll of stirring drums,
but deeds of love and mercy the heavenly kingdom comes.
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I wish you a blessed week, full of grace and mercy, as you enter into
the Kingdom of God.
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Amen.
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