Scripture:
The church in Rome was in a life and death struggle -- from within its walls, hostility between Jewish and Gentile Christians threatened to tear the church apart. From without, there were threats by the powers of sin, death and political persecution. According to Paul, it is the outside struggle that is the real issue with which the church must deal. This struggle is not in vain, for God has triumphed in Christ over the powers that distort the world. God is faithful amid human suffering and in that faithfulness is our hope for the restoration of our fallen world. I read from the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, verses 26-39.

Romans 8: 26-39

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. [27] And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.


[28] We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. [29] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. [30] And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.


[31] What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? [32] He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? [33] Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. [35] Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? [36] As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered." [37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

May God bless this reading to our understanding.

Today we hear again parables, known as the Parables of the Kingdom. As in a fireworks display, they go off in rapid succession, the grand finale of the gospel of Matthew's collection of parables. An explosion of simile and paradoxes, these parables shed light on Jesus' worldview, his vision of reality. Two thousand years later, how new does it sound to you? Think "kingdom" and listen to Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52.

Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52

He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; [32] 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."
[33] He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened." . . .
[44] "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.
[45] "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; [46] on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
[47] "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; [48] when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. [49] So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous [50] and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[51] "Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." [52] 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."

Thus far the Gospel for this morning.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable unto you O Lord; our strength, and our Redeemer. Amen

Sermon:


When you hear that common-to-our-ears phrase, the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, what comes to mind? A monarchy? Pearly gates? Life after death? Perhaps the phrase conjures a shimmering Brigadoon, looming somewhere ahead in a sort of wrinkle in time. Perhaps Peter Pan's Neverland where Tink's magic dust is the necessary ticket in. Or maybe Narnia, accessible through a common piece of furniture.

All three of these places bear some resemblance to God's dominion in the sense that each co-exists, however fantastically and fictionally, with this plane of existence. God's reign is happening right here and now, whether we see it or not, are aware of it or not. Whenever and wherever Christ is present, wherever God, not self, is central, there is the kingdom. But with the pain and misery in this world, it surely hasn't been fully realized. It's in the process of becoming. Whenever and wherever we experience forgiveness, wholeness, healing, love, there Christ is also; there God reigns. In Romans Paul assures us that wherever there is hardship, distress, persecution, peril or sword, there too is God.

It would appear from what Jesus said in today's scripture, that he was wary of pinning himself down as to exactly what the kingdom would look like. Remember that parables are evocative little stories that don't draw neat and tidy lines about reality. Rather, they cast familiar images in a new light; the familiar and the unexpected come together to convey a new reality or a new take on reality. Surely, when his disciples and followers heard him begin to say what the kingdom of heaven was like, they expected some fanfare...something apocalyptic...some glory. As usual, Jesus turns their expectations upside down, revealing more common-wealth than king-dom.

Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which grows to the largest of shrubs, a tree for the birds. It progresses from seemingly negligible beginnings to a size that all the world can see. Jesus was shocking his audience a bit in his use of the mustard plant as the symbol of God's kingdom -- it is rather a lowly herb compared with the tree found in apocalyptic literature of the time. Of course, this is in keeping with the king who operates in meekness, and rides a donkey instead of a war horse. Humility reigns when God does.

The mustard seed -- a tiny pinhead of a seed -- grows up to be "the largest of shrubs." How amazing and mysterious when you stop to think about it. That within something so tiny there should be the potential for so much. That a tiny preemie newborn, but 2 and a half pounds at birth, could grow to the 6'3" man who would be my father.... that a stuttering young English boy named Winston would become one of the great orators of the 20th century whose words would nurture the hope, solace and determination of Great Britain during WWII.... that an infant born of humblest means would become a healer, a savior, demonstrating and preaching such wisdom, truth and love, that 2000 years later, millions attest to his lordship in their lives...

God's kingdom is like a mustard seed. Gestures of love, seemingly small, contain the blueprint of the kingdom. Mother Theresa has said, "We cannot do great things, only small things with great love." When God has found a home in your heart, your faith can grow like the mustard seed. The growing love of God in our hearts leads us usually to reach out to help and support others, just as the growing mustard seed was able to grow strong enough to support the nest of a bird.

Jesus says, the kingdom of God is like yeast -- a seemingly neglible amount when mixed, "hidden" among three measures of flour leavens dough that would be able to feed, according to one commentator, 100 people. Note that in this parable, there is no mention of kneading, the action expected to bring about the final extravagant supply of bread. There is also no mention of the time it will take for that dough to rise... God's kingdom is present and silent, working mysteriously by unexpected means in its own time. The future will reveal its reality. There is assurance here -- what is hidden will be made visible. God is present with God's community, a hidden presence.

If God's kingdom is where God is and God is within us and all around us, could God change us like the yeast was changed into bread? In the following poem by Gunilla Norris, hear the word "us" to mean us-as-church:

God is at work mysteriously, within and among us. Let us be patient and quiet so as to permit the kingdom's rising.

Jesus says the kingdom is a treasure hid in a field... it's like a merchant in search of fine pearls who finds one... whether you're looking for it or not, when you find the kingdom, you give up everything to get it. A woman I know "stumbled" upon her desire to attend seminary. It came as a complete surprise...which she answered by selling all she had and going to seminary. There's an urgency to act to gain the kingdom while the opportunity is there. Once the dominion of God is recognized as a gift, all else should be, all else will be forsaken to obtain it. That action is puzzling and out of step with those who live by the old values.

The parable of the net thrown into the sea is about future judgment. A realistic picture of the end of an ordinary day of fishing: the net brings in every kind of fish which are then sorted. The bad fish, which stand for the wicked of this world, will be sorted out. As in the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds, told just before the Mustard Seed, this sorting of the good from the bad, of the wheat from the weeds, is God's business.

The kingdom...a time and place that we only glimpse by way of Jesus' stories. We grasp that looks may be deceiving there. The smallest may be the mightiest. A handful may be more than enough. Patience and humility are the order of the day. Grace and forgiveness feature, too -- in the parable of the wheat and weeds, the landowner bids his servants to let the weeds grow. They'll be harvested and separated then rather than plucked out before they can be distinguished from the wheat. The kingdom is a place where the perfect and imperfect will reside together, peaceably.

There are challenges and gifts for us in these parables. They defy logic and provoke hours of thinking. It's challenging to accept that a mustard seed does indeed grow to be the largest of shrubs... That seeking the kingdom is as simple (if as painful) as picking up the phone or turning to your estranged friend, having a conversation and asking for forgiveness... or bestowing it. A small gesture with great love whose gift lies in the fruits of that gesture.

Where are you challenged by what Jesus describes as God's kingdom? Where do you need God to rise in you? Where do you need healing, forgiveness, love? Have you given up searching for God's kingdom? Are you afraid to expect the unexpected? Where do you need God's help so you can give up what you're holding on to even with that treasure in clear sight? Permit yourself to name them. For no matter how challenged we are, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; no matter how far away we may feel from the source of our life and love, Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Amen.

Sally Wile 7/28/96
9th Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Unedited Sermon for Personal Reflection