This message was first delivered as a homily in July 2020.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 (NTE)
31 He put another parable to them.
‘The kingdom of heaven’, he said, ‘is like a grain of mustard seed, which someone took and sowed in his field. 32 It’s the smallest of all the seeds, but when it grows it turns into the biggest of the shrubs. It becomes a tree, and the birds in the sky can then come and nest in its branches.’
33 He told them another parable.
‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven,’ he said, ‘which a woman took and hid inside three measures of flour, until the whole thing was leavened.’
44 ‘The kingdom of heaven’, Jesus continued, ‘is like treasure hidden in a field. Someone found it and hid it, and in great delight went off and sold everything he possessed, and bought that field.
45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who was looking for fine pearls, 46 and who found one that was spectacularly valuable. He went off and sold everything he possessed, and bought it.
47 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea, and collected every type of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen brought it to shore. They sat down and selected the good ones, which they put into a bucket; but they threw out the bad ones. 49 That’s what it will be like at the close of the age. The angels will go off and separate the wicked from the righteous, 50 and they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
51 ‘Have you understood all this?’ asked Jesus.
‘Yes,’ they answered.
52 ‘Well, then,’ he said to them, ‘every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his storeroom some new things and some old things.’
It is puzzling for a reason. Jesus uses parables to get past our rational, judgemental, egoic minds. Parables are a language of the heart using symbolism and story to help us relate at a deep soul level. Jesus teases our minds into insight rather than communicating with simple illustrations and pat answers. We are invited to discover, and to own, what we find. In a sense, these are little mysteries where we notice the kingdom itself is also a Mystery and the central teaching of Jesus.
I wonder what we can unearth in this series of stories that each shed light on the “kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of heaven is known as the “Kingdom of God” or the ‘‘Reign of God” which draws our hearts and our eyes from looking out yonder somewhere for a kingdom of heaven that will be fulfilled someday to notice the right-here, right-now, God-life that is with us – to the nearness and here-ness of God.
I think it is important to note that Jesus uses fairly common everyday experiences as well as some profound ones to show God at work on earth. He often conceals and then reveals. Jesus draws our attention to a tiny seed that grows into a nesting place, some yeast that leavens some bread, and an everyday fishing net, to the extreme experiences of discovering an unexpected treasure and a much sought-after jewel being found.
Each of these puzzles shows something that is concealed in the soil, the flour, the ground, and in the clam or the shop, where-ever the Pearl was waiting. The greatness of the Kingdom is concealed and then revealed in the small and in the grand things of life. I wonder what discovery or insight we may bump into today or may be found as a part of our search?
A few verses ahead in Matthew (vs 11) we read, “to you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom.” In John’s gospel (John 16:12-15) we hear Jesus say, “I still have many things to say to you (but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, she will guide you into all the truth; for she will not speak on her own, but will speak whatever she hears, and she will declare to you the things that are to come.”
In each of these stories the highlight is the surpassing worth of the kingdom of God and the joy of finding it. Maybe we can relate to both of these experiences on our journey of faith: sometimes we bump accidentally upon the kingdom as a surprising gift in our lives; and sometimes we have to search for it, which today’s Psalm (15) encourages us to do, “Search for the Lord and his strength; continually seek his face.”
I found my most sacred treasure in an incredibly unexpected way! I was picked up on the Sunday school bus that went around our neighborhood. I wanted to go, and my mother approved so I jumped on the bus. In a sense I bumped into Jesus while just doing life on our street! I fell in love with Jesus and the kingdom of God, committed my life as best a 7-year old child could (by putting up my hand a hundred times to receive him into my heart and he heard me every time.) The love and action of the Divine have been my treasure that I didn’t even know to seek for. A pure gift of grace. There are other times when life seems dark or confusing and I wonder where did God go – and I am given the grace to seek and search.
It seems that the action in the kingdom of God - can not be fabricated by human beings. We might say, “It has a life of its own.” This life is the divine life that is active within us – Not out in heaven somewhere or only in our Anglican faith communities, but directly within us. Luke 17:21 says that “the kingdom of God is within you,” within our very being.
We see the mustard seed is within the ground, and the yeast within the flour, the treasure in the earth, and the pearl in the clam. So it is that the kingdom of God is within us. It divinely grows and rises within us and feeds many. The extra ordinary within the ordinary.
This kingdom or presence of God hidden within us is a radical thought, isn’t it? A radical reality. There is actually another life, the life of the divine, living in us. We awaken, discover, and surrender to this divine life which works through our particular uniqueness. This, one-ness of God & our true self is union with God. God dwelling in us. God reigning in us. So, it really isn’t “taking on a life of its own” it co-creates the reign of God, the Kingdom of Love within us and among us. We partner with God as we commit and co-operate to nurture and care for this life within us.
The happy person who discovers this internal treasure, as we read in Matthew, is thrilled and commits themself to this treasure. They put all their energy and resources into the realization that if they have this reign of Love found, alive, growing, rising, and active within, they don’t need anything else; they can sell everything. Perhaps this is why we are urged in Matthew 6:33 to seek first God’s kingdom. It is indeed a treasure above all others. The Creator of this universe which is expanding every hour while we water the seeds, bake the bread, go fishing or play bocce ball, chooses to include us in the Divine Presence of God.
What we have been given is incarnational reality – this is God-in-us reality. God did not withhold his own Son, says Paul, but gave him up for all of us to come and show us the kingdom of God in action! Paul declares that this treasure is so durable and powerful that with it we can conquer even death and that absolutely nothing can separate us from it - the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing – not Covid19 restrictions, deaths, sickness or isolation, wearing masks or not wearing masks, not even the weather – being too cold and then too hot, and always unpredictable these days; not the powers of this age in president or prejudice… NOTHING can separate us from God’s fullness of Love living in us and flowing out to the world. We are never alone.
I am going to share a quote that likely includes a part that you will recognize. It is a prayer of Julian of Norwich, 14th Century doctor of the church and committed anchorite, who survived the Bubonic plague when sadly her husband and children did not. I believe she would certainly understand some of our struggles at this time of pandemic. She faced hardship, death, distress, and seems to agree with Paul that all things work together for good as we love God and fulfill our calling according to God’s purpose.
Her prayer–
“In you Beloved Father is our preservation and our bliss. In you, Jesus is our restoring and our saving. You are our mother, brother and healer. In you, Holy Spirit is marvelous and plenteous grace. You are our clothing: you wrap and embrace us with your love. You are our maker our lover our keeper. Teach us to believe that by your grace all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.”
She found in her Beloved - her treasure - in Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit – her saving and her bliss and that nothing absolutely nothing could separate her from God’s steadfast and eternal love and goodness.
There is even more Good News when we look at the Kingdom of God as a gathering net and the sorting of the fish. At first glance, it might not appear to be good news, but if it is like the kingdom which Jesus taught, it must be the good news he spoke. We see the good and the bad are brought in together – the good is kept and the bad is thrown away. What a beautiful symbol of the reign of God in our hearts and communities – ALL of us are brought in – all are welcome – The kingdom is FULLY INCLUSIVE.
We are ALL brought in with our warts and our worries, our rotten attitudes and evil actions. The Spirit removes what is rotten with the goodness preserved. The evil is purged in God’s consuming fire of love. When the Spirit purifies us and our world, there is often a bit of resistance, at least I know I resist letting go of my rotten attachments and face the shadows that try to dominate me. There is usually some weeping and gnashing as we are purged - we think we are dying because a rotten part of us needs to die and surrenders to love.
What a relief to know this cleansing task is part of God’s reign. And that even my rottenness can not separate me from God’s grace.
All shall be redeemed in our human nature by the transforming work of the Spirit. The furnace is an image of the final consummation of redemption at the end of the age. We may weep, and all creation groans and yearns, for that deliverance.
There is suffering, despair, presidents and problems, and even death - but we are more than overcomers through Christ’s love. This is the brilliant treasure we have found – God has not withheld his love or his own Son to show us the way!
Paul insists that nothing can botch this up! God has made victory possible even in the worst situations and scenarios. The NOW & the final redemption forgiveness and transformation are promised. All shall be well! What a comfort for our hearts. We need to know this today with all that is going on in our lives and in our world. What we have been given is the REALLY good news. We may bump into it or I will find it on our search. God gets the final word. It is the good news of this radiant kingdom, the presence and action of God with us and within us.
We see this good and bad playing out when we look at Jacob being deceived, and also remembering he is one who had deceived his own brother for his birthright, and later will deceitfully pay back his father-in-law when he wants to advance his flocks. Jacob also broke a Leviticus law by marrying sisters - yet the children of these sisters, and their two maids, become the 12 tribes of Israel. The good and the bad are gathered and separated with the good being kept. Gratefully God does this amazing grace work of redemption. We can breathe a sigh of relief because we are not qualified.
What if Jesus (who is this Kingdom of God in action) is actually talking to the people, and to us, about himself in these mysteries? What if he is the reign of God flourishing, rising, gathering, the separating? We see the kingdom of God is right in front of them, their treasure unexpectedly found. He was concealed and now revealed, they bumped into him on that day. What if Jesus, the Christ, is right in front of us and within us, today and every day - in mysterious, normal and extra-ordinary ways?
Jesus, the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:16), the bread of life (John 3:35), the treasure, the pearl, the net that gathers and the sorter who sanctifies by grace, and even the scribe who at their hearing is taking old Hebrew stories and truths and making them relevant with hopefulness to all they are facing when they go home from the synagogue for lunch.
A final note, Jesus encourages us to hold old traditions of wisdom and embrace the new movements of grace. Thomas Keating, the founder and father of contemplative Outreach and Centering Prayer, calls this “fidelity to the old and openness to the new.” He urges us to consider both the ancient revelations of God and to notice the signs of the time to integrate new wisdom, new science, new information into the Gospel if she is going to communicate it to contemporary people and to people of other cultures. This intentionality of love goes beyond human rules, customs, and mindsets and enables the church to present the Mystery and the message of the Gospel in the way that it can best be heard in particular circumstances. May the church carefully preserve the tradition while continuing to hear and understand it anew.
What is being highlighted in this message? May we be blessed to see the surpassing worth of the hidden and found treasure of God’s presence living in us. And may our joy be full at this gift. May we discover anew the Presence and Action of God in the small and the grand happenings within us and all around.
May we rest more fully in the inclusive kingdom of God where all things work together for good. All shall be well. May we earnestly commit to care for this precious pearl – our one-ness with God as it grows and expands to others. May the God of hope – our treasure within - fill us with all joy and peace in believing what Jesus said and did by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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