Matthew 13:31-52 July 25, 2026
More parables.
.jpg)
Jesus
has been telling a lot of parables.
Jesus
doesn’t say too much of anything directly.
He
doesn’t much say exactly what
we
should or shouldn’t do.
Mostly he’s doing things himself and hoping
we follow suit.
Or
he’s using parables and metaphors.
Jesus
obviously thinks it’s important for us to use our
imagination
and creativity when we’re thinking about God.
It’s
not enough to just say it, Jesus has to show it.
That’s why if anyone tells you that the Bible is an
instruction
manual they’re flat out wrong.
The
bible is not at all as dry as a how-to manual.
It’s
more like a coloring book, it gives you the lines
and
we color it in with our own lives.
It
really takes a lot of the magic and wonder out
when
it’s reduced to a rule book or a manual.
I
don’t even know how you get rules or how-to’s
out
of these parables we’ve been hearing.
And
especially today.
Jesus is sharing a few images today about
the
Kingdom of God. He says, “The kingdom of God is like…”
A
lot of times when we hear the kingdom of God,
people
think of heaven, eternity, a place we go after we die.
But
I think that these parables make it real obvious
that
when Jesus says “The Kingdom of God”,
he’s
not talking about heaven, because if he was talking
about
the promise of a wonderous eternity,
these
are some pretty lame descriptions of that:
mustard
seeds and yeast.
Not
very compelling descriptions of an afterlife.
When
Jesus says the Kingdom of God,
he’s
more talking about what God’s vision and inspiration
looks
like when it comes in to our own world.
When
Jesus says “the Kingdom of God is at hand”
he’s
not saying, “you’re about to die”
He’s
saying that the vision of God is coming into the world.
In
these parables today, he’s telling people how they can
recognize
God’s work in their own communities in their own time.
When
we look for God’s work in the world,
what
should we look for? A mustard seed and leaven.
And
then with the last couple metaphors,
what
we should do once we find it.
But
first the first two: Mustard seed and yeast.
One of the
things about uncovering the meaning of parables is
trying
to understand what they would have meant
to
the people who heard them in the first place.
Although we are familiar with mustard seeds and yeast,
we
may not be as intimate with those things as the people
who
were around in Jesus time. Growing and home baking
weren’t
just hobbies then, they were mandatory for survival.
So
what about the mustard seed?
Just
to interject here, there are two mustard seed images
from
Jesus, there’s the one today which is in
Luke
too, and then there’s another one where Jesus says that
if
we have faith the size of a mustard seed
we
could move a mountain.
Today’s
is arguably the better one with better imagery.
But
just so we don’t conflate the two.
We’re
not talking about moving mountains today.
But
back to this mustard and what people thought of mustard.
So - Pliny
the Elder was a Roman citizen who
Wrote an encyclopedia of “Natural History” around
the
time that Jesus was alive. It covered animals, plants, rocks,
minerals,
all things nature. In the entry about the mustard plant
he
wrote that “the mustard plant needs no cultivation”
He says “Its seeds are pungent and fiery and very useful”
But in the end he calls it
“a
malignant weed with dangerous takeover properties.”
Mustard
was actually so invasive that
there
was a Jewish law that you couldn’t
plant
it even in your own fields because
it
would infest everything including your neighbor’s field.
So, the
kingdom of God is a malignant weed
with dangerous takeover properties.
People are afraid of it, don’t like it.
Maybe even have a resistance to it.
Maybe even a law against it.
The man planting it in his field looks a little
crazy,
you would advise him NOT to do it.
But he does it anyway.
And when he does, it becomes this awesome
big plant and the birds take shelter in it.
And the birds may even take the seeds
and drop them around randomly and more can grow.
But it is insidious, and once it establishes itself,
it’s really hard to get rid of.
Interesting
description of God’s work in the world.
I think most people’s inclination is to say that
God’s work is terrific and awe inspiring, majestic.
Not risky and dangerous and controversial.
And Jesus
says the Kingdom of God is also like leaven.
The stuff that makes bread rise.
Well,
if we think of yeast as this stuff that is
in
a neat little envelope that you put in hot water,
then
that could be misleading.
Leaven
was different in those times.
Leaven
was old, fermented dough, like a sourdough starter.
You
combined it with the rest of the flour and it would make it rise.
But leaven
was tricky to use without refrigeration.
If
it was bad, it would ruin all the flour you had.
And
you wouldn’t know until you tasted it after it was done.
So
the kingdom of God is like leaven,
that
a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour –
that’s
almost 8 gallons of flour.
That’s
like 50 loaves of bread.
Almost
two months worth of flour.
She
could ruin all of it with a little bit of bad leaven.
So
the kingdom of God is like a woman living
on
the edge, it’s a little dangerous.
It
looks crazy at first.
You
would advise her NOT to do this,
but
she does it anyway.
And
when she does then there is a terrific bread party,
everyone
eats. 50 loaves of bread.
It’s
still a little crazy, but that was a really good day.
You see these
are not rules here.
These are stories, images.
Jesus is dealing with feelings, impressions,
he’s giving us these lines and we’re coloring it in.
So how do we
identify the kingdom of God?
Based
on these parables, when the kingdom of God
is
entering into this world, it looks a little crazy.
It
looks ill-advised. At first it looks like something
you
wouldn’t want in your backyard.
It’s
not popular. The Kingdom of God – God’s vision
entering
our world can look potentially dangerous.
Even
a threat. But it becomes something wonderful,
and
life-giving, and delicious, but still uncontrollable.
And
once it’s in, it’s hard to get rid of.
It’s
in there, it changes the landscape.
The
paradigm is shifted permanently.
And
abundance abounds.
I’ll color those lines in with a little history.
I
like history if you haven’t caught on yet.
And
I think I like it so much because you can’t see the Spirit
working
so much in the present tense,
you
have to look in the rear view mirror to see it,
and
that’s what history is.
So,
I’ve done a lot of reading on the civil war
and
the time leading up to it especially.
And
specifically about religious people’s feelings around slavery.
Slavery
is certainly one of America’s greatest sins and
embarrassments
in its history.
And
the Emancipation of slaves, and the end of slavery
was
certainly a move of the Holy Spirit,
the
Kingdom of God coming to the world,
that
we can see plainly see now, in the rearview mirror of history.
It
was not so clear when they were going through it.
If
you read newspaper articles, and essays,
and
sermons from that time before the war,
like
1830’s on, you can read some essays and
newspaper
opinion pieces from Abolitionists,
those
people that wanted to end slavery completely,
Now
everyone wants to see their favorite
hero
of history as an abolitionist,
or
they want to hear how their denomination was abolitionists,
but
it was a very small portion of the population that actually
wanted
that. Most thought compromise was best
way forward
or
a slow phasing out of slavery. Even in
the north.
Or
those in the south wanted to just keep slavery going just as it was.
Many
people thought it was just the proper order,
how
God had ordained the world to work.
And
abolitionists were seen by most of the population
of
the United States, north and south, as absolute radicals.
They
were called extremists, fanatics, lunatics, incendiaries, mad men. Crazy loons.
And
if we’re honest, the writings of abolitionists
had
a pretty hysterical quality to them.
William
Lloyd Garrison, one of the leading abolitionists wrote:
I
am aware, that many object to the severity of my language;
but
is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth,
and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or
speak, or write, with moderation. No! no! Tell a man whose house is on fire to
give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of
the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire
into which it has fallen,—but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the
present. I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not
retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.
You
can almost hear him pulling out his hair in this
(Even
though he doesn’t have much hair)
In
contrast, the people opposed to abolition, north and south,
sounded
very reasonable, very measured,
like
they’re all sipping brandy in a library
This
is in contrast from George Fitzhugh a pro-slavery sociologist:
Every
one of the abolitionists, I’ve read
(except for Frederick Douglass who was always very chill and matter-of-fact)
basically
sounded like the house was on fire, because it was.
And the pro-slavery, or at least the anti-abolitionists
sounded
calm as cucumbers.
“We
can work this out. Don’t be so radical.”
The kingdom of God coming in the world
looks
like a very bad idea at first.
I
was invited to talk at All Saints at a Lenten
thing
they had about community and the
discussion
turned to our current times.
And
for some reason I don’t remember,
I
told them about the hysterical abolitionists.
And
someone came up to me later and asked,
“so
was your point that we should try and
calm
down and be more reasonable”, and I said,
“no
we have to be more comfortable with being
seen
as hysterical.”
The
Kingdom of God, the work of God in this world,
is
often identified as a malignant weed with dangerous
take
over properties. It can seem radical, hysterical, crazy.
It’s
a guy planting a danger seed, and like the woman
with
the leaven.
But
we shouldn’t shy away from that.
Because
that guy and that woman are the ones
with
the courage of the Spirit in them.
The
ones that were willing to take the risk.
Like
the abolitionists. Very few liked it at first,
but
once that thought took hold, once everyone saw it,
that no one should be enslaved,
that God wanted freedom for everyone, then it took
over.
Then
everyone wanted to say they were an abolitionist
right
from the start.
And
even when people try and take it out again,
that
persistent mustard plant is there,
and
the birds are still finding rest in its branches,
and
the birds are taking the seeds and dropping them
in
the neighbor’s backyard and it keeps growing.
You
can’t get rid of it.
So,
there, I’ve drawn some lines there.
What
would we color that in with?
What
does the Kingdom of God look like today?
And
then Jesus gives us another nice image after those.
The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.
When he finds one pearl of great value,
he
goes and sells everything he has to buy it.
Notice
the order.
The merchant doesn't sell everything hoping he'll find something worthwhile.
He finds the pearl first.
And then everything else he has becomes expendable.
That's
how the Kingdom of God works.
When you catch even a glimpse of what God is doing—
when
you see a world where
every person bears the image of God,
where enemies become neighbors,
where the hungry are fed,
where strangers are welcomed,
where forgiveness is stronger than vengeance,
where love proves more powerful than fear—
once
you really see that – you can't unsee it.
It's like that mustard seed.
It gets into your imagination and starts taking over.
It's like the leaven.
It works its way into every part of your
life
until everything begins to rise.
And
eventually you realize you've found the pearl.
That's
why people throughout history
have
risked their reputations,
careers,
fortunes, even their lives
for
the sake of justice and mercy.
From
the outside it looks irrational.
Why
would anyone give up so much?
Because
they have seen something
that
everyone else has missed.
The
world says they're throwing everything away.
Jesus
says they've found the pearl.
The
Kingdom of God has always looked foolish
to
those who can’t see it yet.
It looked foolish when someone planted
mustard in a field where it didn't belong.
It looked foolish when a woman trusted
all
of her flour to a lump of old leaven.
And
it looked foolish when abolitionists
refused
to stop saying the truth about justice, and slavery
and
freedom, and the true vision for the Untied States.
The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us
who are being saved it is the power of God.
Once you've seen the pearl,
once you've caught sight of God's dream for the world,
there is nothing more valuable.
And
maybe that's Jesus' one rule for us today:
Don't
spend your life protecting the things
that
will one day pass away.
Look
for the pearl.
And when you find it—
have the courage to let everything else go.
Because
the Kingdom of God isn't just worth believing in.
It's
worth everything we have.
No comments:
Post a Comment