Pentecost 7 July 27, 2014
Luther Memorial Church Seattle, WA
The Rev. Julie G. Hutson
Sermon Series: The Stories That Shape Us: Imagining the Kingdom
Psalm 119: 129-136 Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52
Open our ears Lord, to hear your Word. Open our hearts to receive it. And open our hands to share it with the world you so love. Amen.
Have you ever struggled so hard to understand something that it was necessary to have it explained to you over and over again? For me, this was exactly what happened in my college Economics class. For the disciples, though, they struggled mightily to understand what Jesus was telling them. And Jesus never stopped trying to explain things to them. Things like how he would have to be crucified and die, but that he would rise on the third day. Things like how everyone is called to follow him and its no one else’s job to judge who is worthy and who is not. And the disciples, bless their hearts, almost never got it. Just like me in that Economics class.
In today’s reading from Matthew, Jesus is trying to explain to the disciples what the kingdom of heaven is like and in just these few verses he tries to do that in five different ways. With back to back parables Jesus leaves the disciples and us with a cacophony of images and sounds, so different from one another and so graphic that it must have made their heads spin a little.
And here’s my absolute favorite part of this reading. Jesus stops in the midst of this conglomeration of imagery and asks them: “Have you understood all this?” And they don’t hesitate or pause…YES they answer. And you know they weren’t telling the truth.
Because understanding what the Kingdom of heaven is like is a complicated effort. And the first thing that we need to be aware of is that we are trying to describe what it means to live within the wide, beautiful, undeserved mercy, grace, and love of God. We aren’t attempting to describe the afterlife, but rather what it means to live in the Kingdom as it exists here… and always… and everywhere.
This is why Jesus uses parables, or stories in his attempt to describe the Kingdom. Because there’s nothing hard and fast and certain that will suffice. We can’t wrap our hands around the Kingdom and say “Here it is! This is it.” Instead, we settle into stories that shape us…the Kingdom of heaven is like….
In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses images that remind us that the Kingdom may appear to be small. It may seem insignificant in the face of the challenges of the world and of the day…but those small things grow to become big things, sustaining things…a tiny seed becomes a place where birds can make their homes. And a small amount of yeast can be mixed with flour to become bread that feeds the hungry.
A tiny seed – the smallest of things – can become the place where the creatures of God can make their home.
A small amount of yeast, just a bit, can become food to feed the hungry.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like that….
Where have you seen the kingdom breaking through? Where have you spotted God at work, and the mission of God shining in the darkness? Can you take those stories and make them Kingdom stories?
The Kingdom of God is like a party, where all are invited, even those whose invitations appeared to be lost in the mail.
The kingdom of God is like a garden that gathers in its neighbors and invites them to rest there.
The kingdom of God is like a retired pastor who invites his buddies and friends to meet for donuts every Monday morning. What they find in their gathering is holy. (Get it? Hole-y)
The kingdom of God is like an ant, which is actually one of the smallest of all insects, but also one of the strongest.
The kingdom of God is like a deviled egg. Although it appears to be an egg smaller by half, it is actually in the ability to be smaller that it finds its most delicious state.
The kingdom of God is like the beginning of football season when your team won the Super Bowl last year…you can’t wait to see what’s next.
By now, you’ve probably caught onto what’s coming next. The ushers gave you a sheet of paper this morning that says: “The Kingdom of God is like…” My invitation to you is to fill these out while we are here this morning, without thinking too terribly hard about it. We don’t need an in depth analysis of the kingdom, we don’t need a theological exegesis of God’s presence. What we’re looking for is modeled on Jesus’ attempts to describe the kingdom using the ordinary. So, start with thinking back over the last several days….search your memory for the holy moments, the moments when, whether your head was aware of it or not, your heart saw the kingdom of God.
We’re going to take a few minutes to jot these down….and then I’m going to invite you to share them if you’d like.
(The congregation will share what they’ve written here)
Thank you! You all did a great job of reminding us what the Kingdom of God is like.
It’s important to note that the kingdom of God is also present in days that are hard or long or difficult or filled with sorrow. Our culture would have us suggest that something as life giving as the kingdom is filled with butterfly and flower moments, but…
The kingdom of God is like a hospice nurse, whose task it is to comfort the dying.
The kingdom of God is like an unexpected diagnosis, when we look carefully, we find gift, even amidst the difficult.
The kingdom of God is like a thunderstorm…amidst the clap of thunder and the flash of lightning, the earth is still being watered.
In the end, parables are stories that tell truths. They may not be our particular stories, but they will always contain universal truths. And in these parables, on this day, Jesus is giving us eyes to see the kingdom. Because let’s face it, with all of the news that meets us, with all that is going on in the world, with wars and rumors of wars, with bloody conflicts where there is both truth and fault on each side; with planes that crash and planes that are shot down and planes that just disappear; with fires that rage across the land, taking trees and homes and lives…it can be tough to see the kingdom. And these are the times when these stories that shape us bear the presence of the Gospel, of the Kingdom, to a world that desperately needs to see that it’s there.
Thanks be to God. Amen.