Pentecost 9

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: Pentecost 9
PROPER: 12A
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: July 25, 1999

TEXT: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-49a - Jesus put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heavcn is like a mustard see 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.

ISSUE: The Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven is just not what people would expect. Jesus is full of surprises when he talks of the kingdom like a weed mustard bush or a place of impure yeast. Yet it is extraordinarily precious like the treasure and the pearl, the catch of fish. This passage calls us to a deeper wandering as to what the Kingdom of God is truly like. It is in contrast to what the world thinks of power and worldliness. Somehow it may be something incredibly simple and yet unique as a kingdom of simple love.
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Today's passage continues with a string of parables which tells what the Kingdom of God, or what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Biblical scholars believe this string of parable is very close to what Jesus may really have said because they are quite extraordinary. Some one has said they are like explosive shells. They blow up what people would normally think the Kingdom of God might be like. When you sort of understand them, and that's not particularly easy, you really have to struggle a bit with just what it is the Kingdom of God or what God's Domain is really like.
Recall last week that Jesus said the Kingdom of God, or God's Domain was like a field of wheat in which an enemy came and planted weeds. Servants wanted to tear up the weeds, take revenge, and demand reparations and to save face in the community. But the wise farmer says "No." He lets the weeds and wheat grow up together and there is fuel for the winter or for the stove, the weeds; and wheat, food, in the barn. Somehow the Kingdom of God is the place where a greater simpler wisdom seems to prevail, quite unlike the way of the world.
Today we have a string of parables about what the Kingdom of God, the Domain of God, the Kingdom of Heaven is like. They try to say something of what it is like to step into the Domain of God. The first one is the saying that the Kingdom of God is like mustard seed grown in the garden. It is a small seed that grows into a big tree, so that the birds come and make nests in its branches. When Jesus said that he must have had the peasants rolling on the ground in shear laughter. The concept of a grand kingdom in Jesus time was of the great and tall cedars of Lebananon. But when the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of the great tree that had fallen in the book of Daniel, Daniel interprets the dream as the great fall of the empire. Kingdoms of this world rise like might oaks or cedars, but they fall. God's Kingdom is like mustard tree. That was startling in contrast to the vision of the great Empires pictured as mighty trees.
What continues to be outrageous about the parable that surely got people thinking was that no one would ever plant mustard trees in their fields. They were essentially weeds. They started from small seeds, not really the smallest. And birds did not nest in them. They may have enjoyed their shade but they didn't live in them. Mustard trees were really more like bushes growing from two six feet tall, not very impressive. However, once they got going that were very hard to get rid of, like so many other weeds we may know of today. The Kingdom of God is not like the mighty Kingdoms of this world that come and go, rise and fall. The kingdom of God is like a mustard weed that is very tenacious and that you can't get rid of. It will prevail. In a world that saw "kingdom" like the mighty Roman Empire this was a sharp contrast and almost prophetic maybe, and was food for thought.
Of course, like everything else, mustard trees, weeds that they were, were not all bad. It had some useful medicinal purposes: It helped clear congestion, it soothed toothaches, used as a gargle, and for some stomach problems. It was used on snake and scorpion bites. It counteracted poisonous fungi. And it was very good as a laxative. In an empire of a lot of poor, shamed, outcasts, sick and miserable peasants, the Kingdom of God, as a place where you could find healing and the poisons of life cleared out, you head cleared, you troubled soul calmed and you bowels cleared out, and that was so tenaciouly prevailing - this was a bit of good news.
Then another parable, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour." That seems innocent enough but yeast was considered to be unclean and impure. It was mold. Yeast was a metaphor for corruption. It was a symbol of decay. The Jews believed it to be impure and unclean. (Ex. 12:15) At the Passover Feast anyone who ate leavened bread or had it in their house were not longer considered to be one of God's people. In a society where so many people were considered to be impure, and yet to be a part of the Kingdom of God was again some good news. What's more, the yeast (that impure stuff or mold) mixed in with three measures of flour made a lot of leavened bread. All that bread will get out of hand. But the kingdom of God incorporates the impure, those who were considered to be unclean, impure, expendable into the ranks, and the a bountiful Kingdom of God's people shall abound.
This kingdom, whatever it's going to look like is precious, according to Jesus. A man finds treasure buried on another man's property. He has according to the thinking and laws of the time no real claim on that treasure, but it is so precious that he can't resist it. He goes to whatever means he must to claim it, even if being quite shrewd. This concept is reminiscent of the parable of the crooked steward who when found out fudges the accounts, and is commended for being shrewd. Jesus sees the Kingdom of God as extraordinarily precious.
The merchant finds a pearl, and sells everything he has just to buy this one pearl. That is not good business; to sell everything you have for one pearl. But the exaggerated point is made that being in God's Kingdom whatever it is more precious than anything else in the world.
The fisherman throws out the net and gets a great catch of fish. Some scholars believe the original parable was that he caught many fish, but one was large and special above all others and keeps it. Matthew, however, likes to talk about the end of the age, and says that the good fish are separated from the bad fish, that is scavenger fish, which were considered unclean and not eaten. The point being, perhaps, there will come a time of ultimate cleansing and there will no longer be impurity or injustices in the Kingdom of God.
These parables which may not really have been all told at the same time tell of a very unique Kingdom of God, unlike the Kingdoms of this world that appears to be all encompassing and welcoming. Simple non-elite people like farmers, women, merchants, fisherman will be welcomed along with the poor, the sick, the least, the last, the lost, the expendable. And, it is indeed extraordinarily precious so much so that people will give up every thing they possess to claim it, and seek residence in it.
These parables were simple metaphors, which captured people's attention. They were addressed to simple people. They are not really terribly definitive as to what the Kingdom or Domain of God is explicitly like. They created thought, they hinted at something very precious, and they imply that the Kingdom of God may not be what you expect at all.
What is precious to us? What is it that realm that we would really want to dwell? For some I suppose it's dying and going to a place called heaven where you push the clouds around, we become angelic like and the streets are paved with gold. For some it is seeing dead relatives again. For some it is like the White Marsh Mall where they have every "thing" you'd ever want and a full security police besides to keep you from harm. For some the church is precious, that place where we find good friends, where we get our babies baptized and we participate in the communion. It is the place where our common lives are made holy. Or perhaps the Kingdom is a place where people work for justice and peace. Where those who mourn are comforted. Where the poor and the outcasts get their fair share of the inheritances of the earth. To be in the Kingdom is to search for the loveliness of God. Maybe the kingdom of God is the place where people forgive one another, and merciful and compassionate to one another. Maybe it is where people learn to and do listen to one another to their hurts and their feelings, and where people encourage one another. The perception of the Kingdom may be a mix of these things that are precious to us. Jesus certainly saw it as all encompassing and as tenacious as weeds and bountiful and simple, and the unexpected or perceived impurities of life were a part of it. It sure is mysterious and something in which we all continue to search for as we endeavor to step into the Kingdom of God that is made available to us.
The Hebrew Scripture reading this morning tells of young Solomon, the son of the great King David, coming to the throne as a young boy. Solomon talks with God, and says that he doesn't even know when to come in or go out. He needs more than anything else is understanding, wisdom, as to the ways of God. May we all pray for wisdom to know what is genuinely precious, and how, Lord, we continue to find and step into your Kingdom, for surely is not always what we think or expect?