Sermon: Hints of the Kingdom

Delivered at St. John United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on July 26, 2020

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Hints of the Kingdom

Audio Version

[Jesus] put before them another parable: “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.”

He told them another parable: “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 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.

“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.

“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.”

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (NRSV)

It's everything you ever want
It's everything you ever need
And it's here right in front of you
This is where you wanna be

From “The Greatest Show” by Pasek and Paul

The Gospel According to St. Matthew is the most Jewish of the four Gospels.  It is perhaps for this reason that, even though most scholars agree that it was not the first Gospel written, it has been placed first among the others, where it is closest to the Hebrew Scriptures.  Written primarily for a Jewish audience, Matthew's Gospel contains more references to the Hebrew Scriptures than any of the other three.  In this Gospel, we see a number of parallels between Jesus and Moses.  In the same way that, as an infant, Moses had to be hidden from the agents of a paranoid Pharaoh, Jesus, as a young child, had to flee with His parents from the agents of a paranoid King Herod.  As Moses ascended Mt. Sinai to receive the Law from God to give to the Israelites, Jesus ascended a mountain to deliver to His followers His famous Sermon on the Mount, which, like the Jewish Law, contains rules for living.¹

In the Gospel of Matthew, many of Jesus' teachings are arranged into five major discourses, the first of which is the Sermon on the Mount.  It has been suggested that these five discourses were meant to reflect the five books of the Torah, the Jewish Law.  The third of these discourses is sometimes called the Parabolic Discourse.²

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One day, while Jesus is sitting by the lake, a great crowd gathers around Him, and He has to board a boat to give himself some breathing room.  He sits down in the boat and begins teaching the crowd.  On this particular day, Jesus teaches in parables.  First, He tells a parable about a farmer who scatters seeds.  Though most of the seeds don't bear fruit, the seeds that find their way to good soil yield an abundant harvest.  Next, Jesus tells a story about a landowner who plants wheat in his field.  When an adversary plants weeds in the same field, the landowner has no choice but to allow the wheat and the weeds to grow together until the harvest when they can be sorted.³  Jesus then speaks of a tiny mustard seed that, when planted, grows into a large plant that provides shelter for birds.  Next He tells of a woman who thoroughly mixes some yeast into a large amount of flour.

Later on, Jesus tells the Disciples a story about a man who finds a treasure in a field and then sells everything he owns so that he can afford to buy the field.  Then Jesus tells a story about a pearl merchant who, upon finding a single valuable pearl, sells all that he owns so that he can buy it.  Jesus then tells a story about some fishermen who throw a net into the sea and catch all kinds of fish.  They keep all the good fish and dispose of all the bad ones.  Finally, Jesus speaks about the head of a household who puts on display his new treasures along with his old ones.

We read that Jesus teaches in parables in order to reveal truth while also concealing truth.  To paraphrase the Psalmist, He speaks in parables in order to “proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation world.”⁴  At the same time, to borrow some phrases from the prophet Isaiah, He speaks in parables in order to conceal these things from those whose “heart has grown dull” through impenitence, those who “listen but never understand” and “look but never perceive.”⁵  Basically, Jesus speaks in parables in order to reveal truth to those who are truly seeking it – to those who have “ears to hear.”  To the Disciples, who come to Him to ask about two of the parables, He says, “Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.  Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”⁶

Each of the parables Jesus tells this day is meant to convey some truth about the Kingdom of God.

This is not the first occasion on which Jesus speaks about the Kingdom of God – or, as it's called in Matthew's Gospel, the “Kingdom of Heaven.”  When Jesus began His public ministry, He started proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near,”⁷ as John the Baptist did before Him.⁸  As He traveled, He announced “the good news of the kingdom of heaven” while healing people afflicted by illnesses, demons, and other conditions,⁹ and, later on, He commissioned the Disciples to go out and do the same.¹⁰  Jesus taught, in the Sermon on the Mount, that the Kingdom of God belongs not to the rich and the powerful but to the poor and the persecuted.¹¹  He taught that, in the Kingdom of God, greatness is not measured in the same way that it is measured in the kingdoms of this world.¹²  He urged people not to worry about their basic needs but to instead “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” assuring them that, when they do so, they will find that their needs will be met as well.¹³

If we want to know exactly what the Kingdom of God is, then we need to look no further than the prayer Jesus taught His followers to pray, the prayer we commonly call “the Lord's Prayer.”  For nearly two thousand years, disciples around the world have regularly prayed, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done [on] earth, as it is in heaven.”¹⁴  From these two petitions, we learn at least two things about the Kingdom of God.

First, the Lord's Prayer teaches us that the Kingdom of God is not something to which we will “fly away,” “some bright morning with this life is over.”¹⁵  The Kingdom of God is something that we pray comes to us.  The Gospel is not a story of our going up to God but rather a story of God's coming down to us.  Emmanuel, another name of Jesus referenced in Matthew's Gospel, literally means “God is with us.”¹⁶  An early Christian hymn quoted in one of St. Paul's letters teaches us that Christ, who was equal with God, divested Himself of all divine power and glory, took on frail human flesh, and lived among us as a servant.¹⁷  In the Book of Revelation, the writer describes a vision of the age to come, when the New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven to Earth and the announcement is made that “the home of God is among mortals.”¹⁸

Second, the Lord's Prayer teaches us that the Kingdom of God is where God's will is done.  In other words, the Kingdom of God is simply the place where God reigns.  The Kingdom of God has been described as simultaneously “already” and “not yet.”  One quick glance at the news will serve as a reminder that God's will is not yet done “on earth as it is in heaven,” but, when we see people who truly strive to do God's will, we can see that the Kingdom of Heaven has already “come near.”  As Jesus says in Luke's Gospel, “The kingdom of God is among you.”¹⁹

Jesus provides explanations for a few of His parables about the Kingdom of God, but He leaves most of them for us to ponder for ourselves.

Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed which, when planted, grows into a large plant in which birds can find shelter.  He then compares the Kingdom of God to yeast, which a woman mixes into a large amount of flour until it is thoroughly leavened.  Both of these parables have similar themes.  In both parables something is hidden.  A mustard seed is hidden in the ground, and some yeast is hidden in flour.  In both parables, there are processes that happen out of sight.  In the ground, the process of germination begins, by which the mustard seed takes root and grows into a plant.  In the dough, the yeast converts sugar from the flour into gas which makes the dough rise.  Amy-Jill Levine points out that these processes must be allowed to happen.  Once the seed is planted and the yeast is mixed into the dough, they cannot do what they are meant to do unless they remain undisturbed.²⁰

Both parables begin with something seemingly insignificant and end with something quite significant.  The mustard seed has been used as an example of something very small,²¹ and yeast doesn't appear to make much of a difference to dough until it starts to rise.  Both a mustard seed and yeast make significant changes in their respective environments.  The mustard seed develops into a mustard plant that provides shelter to birds where there previously was none, and bread that is made with yeast is a lot more enjoyable than bread made without it.  In both parables, good things come from humble beginnings.  In some cultures, mustard is valued for it's medicinal properties, and bread made from three measures of leavened flour can be shared and enjoyed by many people.²²

Jesus goes on to compare the Kingdom of God to a treasure hidden in a field.  When a passerby stumbles upon this treasure, he sells all that he owns so that he can purchase the field.  Jesus then compares the Kingdom of God to a pearl merchant who, upon finding a single valuable pearl, sells all he has so that he can buy it.  These parables, like the pair that preceded them, also contain similar themes.  These parables seem to suggest that the Kingdom of God is something that is worth giving up everything to obtain.  As Jesus has already said, “Strive first for the kingdom of God.”  Both the man who finds the treasure and the merchant who finds the pearl liquidate all of their assets so that they may obtain the things they have found.  Levine points out that the merchant gives up not only his possessions but also his identity as a pearl merchant, for he no longer has any means of buying pearls without selling the one he has given everything to obtain.²³

Both of these parables also seem to suggest that the Kingdom of God is something that is costly.  William Barclay writes,
Suddenly, as the man discovered the treasure, there may flash upon us, in some moment of illumination, the conviction of what God's will is for us.  To accept it may be to give up certain aims and ambitions which are very dear, to abandon certain habits and ways of life which are very difficult to lay down, to take on a discipline and self-denial which are by no means easy - in a word, to take up our cross and follow after Jesus.²⁴
I would add that nobody takes up a cross without dying on it in some way.

Jesus then compares the Kingdom of God to a net that some fishermen throw into the sea.  They catch fish of all kinds, and they gather the good fish into baskets while disposing of the bad fish.  This parable shares themes with the parable about the wheat and the weeds Jesus told earlier.  According to Jesus, the fishermen, like the reapers in the other parable, represent the angels who, at the end of the age, will separate the good from the evil.  This parable suggests, rather harshly, that not everything will be allowed to continue as it is.  In the vision of the age to come in Revelation, it is announced that “death will be no more” and that “mourning and crying and pain will be no more” because “the first things have passed away.”²⁵  If there will be no mourning, crying, pain, and death when the Kingdom of God is fully realized on Earth, then there will be nothing to cause such things.

I urge you to approach this parable with humility.  Notice that it was not up to the fish to decide which ones were good and which ones were bad.  Do not assume that people are “bad fish” just because they are different from you in some way.  In the words of William Barclay, “It is our duty to gather in all who will come, and not to judge or separate, but to leave the final judgment to God.”²⁶  Also, don't automatically assume that you are a “good fish.”  Remember that, in the Gospels, Jesus' harshest words are reserved not for the so-called “sinners” but for the supposedly good, upstanding religious folks of the day.  We all need to be constantly repenting in anticipation of God's Kingdom, as Jesus urged people to do.  We all have things in our lives that are not as they should be, so we are all in need of the Holy Spirit's refining fire.

Finally, Jesus compares a scribe who has been trained in the ways of the Kingdom of God to a wealthy person who brings out for display both his old treasures and his new treasures.  Jesus has already compared the Kingdom of God to a treasure that is worth giving up everything to obtain.  For the scribes, who were basically scholars in the Jewish Law, receiving the treasure that is the Kingdom of God does not mean giving up the treasure of knowledge they have already obtained.  As Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”²⁷  Barclay writes, “Here we see Jesus telling men and women not to abandon their gifts but to use them even more wonderfully in the light of the knowledge which he has given them.”²⁸

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Maybe Jesus has to use parables to describe the Kingdom of God because it is radically different from any other kingdom this world has ever known.  As Jesus says in John's Gospel, “My kingdom is not of this world.”²⁹  Francis Spufford writes in his book Unapologetic,
[Jesus'] kingdom apparently exists in ever-changing resemblances.  He does not say what it is, only what it is like.  It’s like a tiny seed.  Like something inside you.  Like a pearl you’d give everything to possess.  Like wheat growing among weeds.  Like the camel climbing through the needle’s eye.  Like the way the world looks to children.  Like a servant making good use of the master’s money.  Like getting a day’s pay for an hour’s work.  Like a crooked magistrate, who has fixed the case in your favor.  Like a narrow gate, a difficult road, a lamp on a stand.  Like a wedding party.  Like a wedding party where all the original guests have been disinvited and replaced by random passers-by.  Like yeast in dough.  Like a treasure, like a harvest, like a door that opens whenever you knock.  Or like a door you have to bang on for hours in the middle of the night until a grumpy neighbor wakes up and lends you a loaf.  The kingdom is – whatever all those likenesses have in common.  The kingdom, he seems to be saying, is something that can only be glimpsed in comparisons, because the world contains no actual example of it.  And yet the world glints and winks and shines everywhere with the possibility of it.³⁰
We might say that Jesus' parables offer us hints of what the Kingdom of God is like.

I think that maybe the hints of the Kingdom these parables offer us are meant to help us to catch glimpses of the Kingdom of God in the world around us.  Perhaps they are meant to help us to see the “already” amid the “not yet” – to help us to see that, in Jesus' words, “the kingdom of heaven has come near,” despite troubling headlines and constant “breaking news.”  When we see something seemingly small and insignificant that ends up doing a lot of good, we might think to ourselves, “That is a lot like the mustard seed of which Jesus spoke.  I wonder if the Kingdom of God is at work here.”  When we see someone who sacrifices greatly in order to serve others, we might think to ourselves, “She is a lot like the merchant who sold everything to obtain the 'pearl of great price.'  She must be a citizen of the Kingdom of God.”

To all who would listen, Jesus proclaimed that “the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  Though we continue to pray that day will finally dawn when God's will is truly done on Earth as in Heaven, we can still gilmpse the reign of God here and now.  I hope that you take some time to ponder Jesus' parables about the Kingdom of God so that you may catch glimpses of the Kingdom in your midst.

Amen.


Notes:

1. This paragraph is made up of information I've accumulated over the years, from my college religion course to a more recent Bible study at my church.
2. Wikipedia: “Five Discourses of Matthew”
3. Matthew 13:1-9, 24-30
4. Matthew 13:34-35 (NRSV), Psalm 78:2
5. Matthew 13:10-15 (NRSV), Isaiah 6:9-10
6. Matthew 13:16-17
7. Matthew 4:17 (NRSV)
8. Matthew 3:1-2 (NRSV)
9. Matthew 4:23-24 (NRSV)
10. Matthew 10:5-8
11. Matthew 5:3, 10
12. Matthew 5:19-20
13. Matthew 6:25-33 (NRSV)
14. Matthew 6:10 (KJV)
15. From the hymn “I'll Fly Away” by Albert Brumley
16. Matthew 1:23
17. Philippians 2:5-8
18. Revelation 21:2-3
19. Luke 17:21 (NRSV)
20. Amy-Jill Levine.  Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi.  2014, Harper One.  p. 182
21. William Barclay.  The New Daily Study Bible: The Gospel of Matthew, Volume Two.  2001, Saint Andrew Press.  pp. 88-89
22. Levine, p. 181
23. Levine, pp. 151-152
24. Barclay, p. 101
25. Revelation 21:4 (NRSV)
26. Barclay, p. 105
27. Matthew 5:17 (NRSV)
28. Barclay, p. 106
29. John 18:36 (KJV)
30. Francis Spufford.  Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense.  2014, Harper One.  pp. 122-123

The photograph of the mustard plants has been released to the public domain.