Sermon 7/28/02
Keys to the Kingdom -
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 Romans 8:26-39
(view lectionary notes for this text)
In today's gospel lesson, Jesus brings us five quick parables all of a similar nature, all on the topic of the kingdom of heaven. These stories, about mustard seed, yeast, hidden treasure, pearls, and fish, all seem to be driving at the same message, the same illustration of what God's kingdom is like. Jesus seems insistent, determined to communicate something important here. Through the parables, Jesus gives us insight into what God's kingdom is, how we can see it more clearly, and what importance God's kingdom has in our day to day lives. Pastor Carolyn Volentine writes that Jesus' kingdom parables give us a sort of 'word kaleidoscope.' Like the stones in a kaleidoscope, as we turn over the words Jesus speaks, new and different pictures appear. The pieces are the same, and but different pictures are created - overlapping, layered images. When Jesus says "the Kingdom of God is like", she suggests, "he is turning the kaleidoscope of word pictures, parables, so that we might get yet another view, another surprise, another treasure describing the essence of the kingdom of God."
The first two parables, about the mustard seed and the yeast, have important similarities. First Jesus says, "the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in a 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." Maybe to us, nothing seems striking about this message - but to the hearers of the word in Jesus' day, they would have recognized something unusual in what he was saying. The mustard seed certainly is a small seed - about the size of the head of a pin. However, it doesn't grow to be the "greatest of shrubs" - it doesn't grow to the size of a tree, or grow tall enough to support birds and their nests. Jesus exaggerates it's size, it's greatness. Why does he do this? Everyone would wonder at his words. And next he says, "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." Sounds straight forward enough. We know how yeast works, spreading through the other ingredients, making bread rise to double or triple it's size. Yet, Jesus tells us that the yeast goes through 3 measures of flour - making enough for 100 people! Again, Jesus exaggerates. He gives another illustration of how something very small can turn out with outrageous abundant results. Again, the crowds would wonder at his words.
The next parables take a different look at the kingdom; they show a different view from the kaleidoscope. In both these parables, someone happens on something very precious and valuable: in one, a hidden treasure, in another, a fine pearl. In both cases, the person who finds these valuable items sells all their possessions in order to take hold of the precious object. The object found is worth more than the total of one's possessions. Like the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast, these parables emphasize the enormity of the kingdom of heaven, the vastness, the priceless value.
Jesus' message is that the kingdom of God is immeasurable. It is more valuable than anything else. It's worth is immense. The power of the kingdom's presence is also immeasurable and immense: it can transform whatever it touches, even though it seems like a tiny mustard seed. The kingdom of God works like yeast in our lives, in our church, in the world - just a little bit will pervade the entire amount of flour. Clearly, the kingdom of God is a powerful concept. But still, so what? What difference does it make that God's kingdom is valuable, influential, unable to be counted?
Let me share some of my own parables, and see if we can make a connection with the stories that Jesus' shares with us. In Rome, my hometown, there used to be a building behind the gas station where my grandfather worked, with restrooms and storage space. If you walked part way around the building, you would find, with surprise, that the building appeared to be only two or three inches wide. But if you went in the restroom doors, the building inside was quite large. I marveled at this when I was little - the building appeared big on the inside, but seemed practically flat from the outside. How could this be? Eventually I discovered the secret: If you walked all the way around the building, you would find that it eventually jutted out into a normal sized building. It was just the first few feet on the sides that gave the appearance of being a flat building, a deceptive illusion, at least for five year olds…
Another parable: In one of my favorite books, The Last Battle from the Chronicles of Narnia, the characters are thrown into a very small stable. However, once inside, instead of finding a dark and smelly animal shelter, they find that there are blue skies and green trees all around. In fact, they have made it to Aslan's country, what we would call heaven. What they found inside was much bigger than what they saw from the outside.
Finally, as Lucy, a character from Narnia pointed out, our world too has an example of a stable holding something much larger inside than appeared to be from the outside. Once, in a manger in Bethlehem, what appeared to be a lowly stable was actually the birthplace of one who would be called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace. Instead of a peasant child's humble beginnings, that stable held someone who would change the world - who would change our lives 2000 plus years later.
Often, we get more than we bargain for, and in the case of God's kingdom, Jesus tells us this is a good thing. Someone goes seeking pearls, and finds out there is a pearl more valuable than everything else added together. A mustard seed is planted, and the sower expects a shrub, but instead gets a great tree, even housing the nests of birds. Where the kingdom of God is concerned, we get more than we expect - it's bigger and better and more present than we realize. And yet, we find ourselves back to that nagging question, "So what?" The kingdom of God - what does that mean for us?
Carolyn Volentine turns back to her kaleidoscope image, insisting that a single answer to the question isn't necessary. "Is the mustard seed growing within the individual, or in the greater society, or maybe even in the church? Is the yeast in the believers, or is the leaven Christ in the world redeeming it? The answer is Yes. Jesus means both and more as he continues to show us the kingdom of God." Leo Tolstoy wrote again and again that the essence of the gospel was that the kingdom of God is within one's self. The Kingdom of God is within you. It is like we have a mustard seed planted within our hearts, or a little yeast bubbling in our soul. The seed or the yeast is God's presence in our lives - will we let it grow into a great shrub, will we let God work through us like yeast through flour, changing our whole being? The kingdom of God is within us. And we can be the mustard seed acting in the world, the yeast that stirs things up. We might feel small, as one individual, but when we use the resources God gives us, we can be a transformative power in the world. If you've seen the movie Pay it Forward, you know the idea that by helping others in turn, one person can affect a lot of people. This idea is no more than the great commandment, to love neighbor as self. We can be the yeast in the world by pervading with love when there seems to be hate all around, by choosing to do justice when others treat one another unfairly, by reaching out when others turn away. We can embody the kingdom of God for others, just as Christ embodied it for us, just as God gives us a glimpse of the kingdom by planting mustard seeds in our hearts.
God's kingdom is life changing, world changing. It is worth selling all that we have, just to take part in it. It produces a hundred fold from where it begins. It grows and grows, greater and grander than we can imagine. Turn the kaleidoscope again, and see just what the kingdom of God is like. Amen.