Morning Prayer: Harry Smith Hymn of Faith *Fairest Lord Jesus* Witness of Scripture: Metthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Anthem * Simple Gifts* arr. Bracket/Corcoran. Elise Buyten, violin; Joy Riester, cello; Jenifer Buyten, piano; John Riester, organ Sermon *Parable Party* David Spain
Recorded on July 30, 2023
There is a comedian who, in a movie from about 30 years ago, played a hyperactive, almost stream of consciousness character who went from one expression to another, one joke to another until he took a dramatic pause, looked at the camera and said, “somebody stop me,” at which point he continued with his banter.The 13th chapter of Matthew’s gospel has that kind of feel to it, because Jesus is on a roll, preaching one parable after another as he tells people about God’s way, God’s reign, God’s dominion. The kingdom of God, or as it is more frequently phrased in Matthew’s gospel, ‘the kingdom of heaven is like…’ Well, did you hear the one about the Sower, did you hear the one about the wheat and the weeds, did you hear the one about the mustard seed, did you hear the one about the yeast, did you hear the one about the treasure in the field, did you hear the one about the pearl, did you hear the one about the net catching everything?It is a parade of parables, a parable party to which we are all invited.
Each parable has its own nuances and subtleties because parables never say only 1 thing—they are meant to expand not reduce, create not summarize. However, if there is a common thread, perhaps it is this—God’s realm, God’s reign does not sound anything like any kingdom the disciples have ever pictured. So, Jesus tells these simple stories drawn from everyday living that play and laugh and sing, and along the way also disorient and reorient. Parables ‘tell it slant’ as Emily Dickinson once wrote in her poetry because “the truth must dazzle gradually or every man be blind.”The kingdom of heaven is like…
When we hear the word ‘kingdom’ what comes to mind? Castles, royal robes, opulence, wealth, power, dominance, arrogance even if humorously portrayed like King George sings in Hamilton “You’ll Be Back…da, da, da, da, da.” Or, maybe it is something more idealistic, like Camelot where the rain only falls between sundown and sunrise and the summers are never too hot and the winters are never too cold and the fog burns off before 8:00 in the morning. No one would fault the disciples if their picture of kingdom did not come from Jesus’ parables. Rome was the current ruling kingdom, and before that Persia, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt. Even Israel, back in the day thanks to Saul, David, and Solomon had been a kingdom. Firmly fixed in their imagination—voiced by the prophet Zechariah—was the hope that with Jesus on hand he would mount up against the palace, send Caesar packing, and they would become knights at the round table—an idea of ruling by swagger if not sword they held closely and expressed loudly that one Palm Sunday during Passover, only to have their entire picture of God’s reign completely crumble 5 days later. What do we think of when we picture the word kingdom? Da, da, da, da, da…
We can safely assume Jesus understood the disciples’ expectations of kingdom, so he offers an entirely different smorgasbord. “The kingdom of heaven” [listen, here it comes], “the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed…” Uh, I’m sorry, what did you say, as we hear the symbols crash. Well, that is an interesting image Jesus…you could have chosen the grand oaks, but you picked a bush that might get as much as 10 or 12 feet high. Yes, the birds can come and nest in them—so there is shelter and you didn’t mention that mustard has some curative properties in it, but still a mustard seed!That of course is the delicious irony to it all…far from being something that gets a trumpet fanfare and a marching parade, God’s way in the world is as wondrous as a tiny, planted seed that grows beyond anyone’s anticipation and without anyone’s help. In other words, the reign of God is planted into this world to grow, to nourish, to shelter, to shade. It is in the design—not something we have to make happen—only something we can abide in and in our own ways imitate.
If you are not a gardener and the growth from something tiny to something well beyond what
a tiny seed might indicate does not stir you, Jesus says try this one on for size, a morsel that is even more mysterious than the seed. ‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman mixes into flour so that it rises.’There is of course a chemical explanation for what happens with leaven in dough, but this is not chemistry class, nor is it even cooking class. What it is, is the gift of wondrous abundance. In case we are not up on our conversion scales, three measures of flour are about 80 pounds—mix in the cups of water and this woman is working a hundred pounds of dough. We’re dealing with a lot of dough, which is to say the whole world--a reminder that there is not one single corner of God’s creation that is without the mystery of God’s touch, the wonder of God’s goodness. From manna in the wilderness to loaves on the communion Table, God gifts this world with wonder bread enough for everyone. Better said and truer to the parable, this world is the wonder bread of God’s good designing, which like leaven may not always be seen but is mixed into this bread of life from the very beginning, as the One who is Bread of Life is telling us in this parable, which means there is no such place or person who is God-forsaken. God leavens life.
The first two parables move from the miniscule to the grand scale, a reminder that more often than not God’s reign is at work transforming, reshaping because this is how God has designed the world to be. It is an encouraging word to those disciples then and any disciple since.We remember there were only 12 of them to start with, and how could these 12 rather insignificant people, by Rome’s scale of measuring, do much of anything? It is a reminder that in a world where supersize is treasured, God will work with any size, anywhere, anytime. We know this although it is easy to forget. Remember that one word of encouragement, that one chance exchange, that one introduction of an idea—it might come from a sermon but it is also as likely to have come from a comment a teacher made on a paper, an encouragement a coach gave to a student, the casual observation from a neighbor, the act of kindness from a stranger, the beauty of a mountaintop moment. From such humble beginnings, the old phrase proclaims.The kingdom of heaven is like…and now the insignificant does not seem so insignificant.
At this point in Matthew’s telling there is a short pause at the parable party, which seems to move from outdoors to indoors, and perhaps Jesus’ audience is mostly his disciples now. There is also a bit of shift in emphasis, as Jesus focuses on value. Someone recently shared they were assessing their values, and what a courageous reflection that is. Jesus makes a couple of value statements—“the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field”. In a world of 10,000 things what is of most value…what is it around which we center our lives and organize our days? Odd as such an image might be, it was not uncommon in Jesus’ day for people to bury what is of great value in a field so that an army marching through would not take it. Perhaps the buried treasure is forgotten, or the person who buried it is taken, and there it remains until that day when a farmer plowing the field uncovers it. If the image of hiddenness calls to mind the parable of the leaven, then Jesus is alluding to the same idea—that the fields of the world are laden with gifts. But this parable goes a little bit further. Playfully, Jesus says this farmer bought the whole field, not just a little quadrant where the treasure was buried—bought the whole thing…rocks, potholes, weeds, stickers, fertile loam. It is all there in the field this farmer bought because one of the things this farmer values is not just having something for himself but being connected to the whole. This farmer’s value is not that which can strictly benefit himself—instead, he gets the whole package, the pleasant and the difficult, the smooth and the rough. The farmer does not excise the treasure just for himself, but cares about the whole field. That is the treasure, just as God in Christ relates to the whole field of humanity, so to in his joy says the parable, this farmer cares about the whole.It begs the question that provides no easy answer—for what are we in this life? In a world of incredible self-centeredness (and apparently that is nothing new, otherwise why would Jesus tell the parable) what do we treasure?It is a question of value, which may be at play when Jesus says ‘the kingdom of heaven is like a pearl’ that someone gives up everything in order to have. When Jesus told this parable, the pearl was the gold standard of jewelry.What is most important, Jesus asks, and the disciples are fidgeting a bit because their image of kingdom was ruling, dominion, overpowering. And here Jesus says God’s reign is like a pearl, which as we know is only formed in response to an irritant, which is to say the wondrous reign of God sometimes comes with struggle, pain, healing. It is the kind of reign that comes more through compassion than dominance, more from shared humanity than exclusive privilege. Oh King George…da, da, da, da, da!
‘The kingdom of heaven is like a net that is pulled through the sea and catches all kinds of fish,’ along with maybe a few other things that didn’t start out in the sea. If echoes of the wheat and the weeds come to mind, Jesus would likely nod to their similarity. There is a day of sorting but it is not up to the fisherfolk, which is exactly what Jesus calls his disciples to be…fishers of people not determiners of destiny.There are those who will do the sorting, those who see value where others do not. The fisher people simply keep dragging the net. We can ponder the catch of the net and focus less on the who and more on the what. It might be self-serving and easier to focus on who might get tossed out, but perhaps Jesus would invite us to ponder what might not be kept in the net of God’s good catch. In other words, what does not belong in God’s realm of relating—things like ridicule, vengeance, arrogance, superiority, exclusivity, inequity, deception, most if not every form of -ism.
As the parable party is drawing to a close, Jesus turns to his slack-jawed disciples and asks, “Have you understood all this?,” which leads to the funniest moment of all as the disciples cut their eyes at each other and say “Oh, yes, sure Jesus we understand everything perfectly.” Who knows if the disciples get the parables, but thanks be to God, Jesus keeps telling them. He wants disciples then and now to know about and participate with God’s reign, God’s way. Matthew writes that Jesus keeps saying, “did you hear the one about…” Please, don’t anybody stop him!