The Kingdom of Heaven is Like… – sermon on July 30, 2017
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”
The Kingdom of Heaven is Like… by Rev. Doreen Oughton
If you ask me, the disciples were not being truthful with Jesus, about understanding him. He throws out all these similes for the kingdom of heaven. He started in the passage you heard last week, about the good seed and the weeds growing together, and then he goes into what you just heard here – like a mustard plant, like yeast, like treasure, like a merchant who finds a pearl, like a fishing net. The lectionary leaves a part out, right after he talks about yeast. In the missing part, the disciples ask him to explain about the good seed and the weeds that he talked about earlier. I’m guessing their confusion over that kept them from registering much about mustard plant and yeast. Jesus explains, the launches into still more similes. When Jesus asked them if they understood, I’m wondering if they are responding in regards to his seed and wheat explanation, or if they were so baffled by that they just said yes, despite their confusion.
Certainly these similes have me scratching my head, and I don’t think it is just because we live in a different time and place. Even back then, the mustard plant was considered more weed than useful plant. It was uncontrollable, invasive, not what people wanted growing on their land. And yeast, a leaven, would have associations of impurity – something that would taint the loaves. And sure, people would understand the excitement of getting a deal on land because the owner is unaware of the treasure, but doesn’t that have a manipulative, dubious feel to it? And selling everything – all your possessions and comforts – basically becoming homeless and penniless just to have a pearl in your possession, well that wouldn’t have made any more sense then than it does now. I don’t want to claim I am a better preacher than Jesus, but I’m not so sure I would find a church that would welcome such confusing teachings as what he put out. There was a different way of teaching in that time and place than we are used to here and now. We westerners think linearly, we want things to have a certain logic, to follow and flow. The way Jesus preached and taught was common to his time and place – more circular, returning over and over to themes and patterns – more poetic, using parables, less clear morality teachings and more invitation for people to find meaning for themselves.
The kingdom of heaven was a really important topic to Jesus. It is the thing he talked about the most. Some say, and I agree, that the good news, the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about the kingdom of heaven, that it has drawn near, that it is accessible to us. So of course he spends lots of time trying to persuade people of this. The persuasion matters, because when it comes to the kingdom, it is not a matter of “seeing is believing,” it is more “believing is seeing.” It is hard to access the kingdom of heaven if you don’t know what to look for. It is hard to point out to people who have hardened their hearts against the reality of it.
Some critics of religion say that it is a tool used to manipulate people into behaving with the promise of reward or punishment after they die. I am sure religion has been used this way, but it is clear to me that that was not Jesus’ agenda. The ways he describes the kingdom of heaven would not inspire ME to good behavior if I was the kind of person who needed a concrete reward or threat of painful punishment. So I wouldn’t have a mustard plant or leavened bread. Not too high a price to pay. If his goal was to manipulate people into acting a certain way, he might promise a kingdom where the streets are paved with gold, where there are mansions for everyone, with servants to do your bidding – never having to work again. But that’s not what he does. He uses challenging metaphors, some that include weeping and gnashing of teeth. The kingdom is hard to describe, so he keeps trying and trying, like this, like that. And I think he purposely steers clear of the things we understand as making for a good, worldly life – glitz and power and excess, because those things lead us further away from the kingdom.
If you are on my e-mail list, you received an invitation from me to share your similes, your ideas of what the kingdom of heaven is like. I took some creative liberties with what you said, so it would sound more like Jesus. In addition to what people shared, I included things from movies, from other things I’ve read, from scripture, and from my own imaging.
The kingdom of heaven is like the great outdoors, like seeing the oak tree in an acorn, like a wild, beautiful garden. The kingdom of heaven is like waking up, enveloped in the warmth of God’s love. It is like talking out loud to loved ones who have passed and receiving a response. The kingdom of heaven is like a family reunion where you are astounded to see that you are related to everyone. It is like laughter as you slurp up an endless pasta noodle. It is like eating abundantly everything you want without gaining weight. It is a house, a house not built by human hands, but a house that contains many mansions.
The kingdom of heaven is like the most beautiful song sung in harmonies we can only imagine. everything that is and was and always will be. It is here and there at the same time. It is like all emotions – love, sadness, joy, happiness, peace and sorrow. It is like a human heart, the size of a fist but with the power to sustain a life than can change the world. It is a pulse that reverberates through everything, calling us from within and without. The kingdom of heaven is like one being with all parts moving together in love. It is the restored oneness and unity of everything. The kingdom of heaven is here, the action is here, the divine life is here, the point of it all is here and now.
Inspiring right? And maybe all of these give you some ideas about how to look for the kingdom, but they are no more clear than the things that Jesus said. And I don’t know how much sway any of this would hold for people who are doing very well in this life, just the way it is, people who are self-made, who have lots of money and power and comfort. This is why Jesus said it was harder for a rich person to get to the kingdom than it is for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle. For us who are Christian, we are called to look beyond worldly wealth and follow Jesus to the kingdom. Even if we don’t understand it, even if it remains a mystery. This was his purpose, this was why God incarnated, why Jesus lived among us, why he was crucified and resurrected. This is the good news. Jesus doesn’t want us to miss it by looking in the wrong places.
So though I don’t fully grasp the similes Jesus uses, we can explore some things they have in common. There’s an element of surprise in all of them – like something small that expands beyond what we imagine. That is a very compelling idea to me. Did you know that if there were no space between atoms, this world would be the size of a baseball? That seems like a good metaphor for the kingdom – the space between the atoms, room for the Spirit to work within everything. Or the surprise is stumbling over something of great value that others have overlooked or devalued. Isn’t that what church should be about also? Finding life-giving treasure in this good news, finding depths of beauty and worth in ourselves and each other as we understand who and whose we are, no matter how many others have rejected us or judged us. We can take that treasure with us, out into our homes, our families, our jobs. We can live in the kingdom and let the kingdom live in us, let it beckon others into this life in Christ.
Jesus uses the image of the fishing net, a net that picks up all kind of fish. The kingdom of heaven scoops souls up without discernment. There is some sorting later, by angels, by beings with better insight about what is good and what is bad. I believe there is mercy in the kingdom of heaven, but there is accountability too. People who want kingdom living need to see and repent for the ways they have spread weeds, led people astray, exploited, manipulated and hurt others creatures. Despite the imagery of blazing furnace and weeping and gnashing of teeth, I do not believe such accountability means eternal exile from the kingdom. The weeping and gnashing of teeth may be a necessary step for some to let go of distractions away from kingdom living. Understanding and identifying with suffering may just be what it takes to break open someone’s heart enough to yearn for it.
There is joy in some of the descriptions, a joy that doesn’t make sense to others. Finding our way to the kingdom should move us, should fill us with excitement or contentment or a peace that passes all understanding. There’s a wildness to the similes – something we can’t control, an edge that reminds us that the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of God. We can’t define it or control it or limit it, or say who is in and who is out. We can’t set the rules for admission. We can’t stop the dough from rising, can’t control the birds nesting in the branches of the mustard plant. We can’t narrow our understanding of the kingdom of heaven to just one description, one idea. Jesus wraps up his teaching by saying that all who become disciples of the kingdom heaven are like homeowners who bring out not only the old treasures, but the new ones as well.
Brian McLaren suggests that if Jesus were giving this talk to us here today, he might not even call it the kingdom. It is, he says, an anachronism. At that time it referred to the dominant social, political, cultural and economic reality. The kingdom of heaven, or of God, was in contrast to the kingdom of Caesar. We don’t talk much about kingdoms anymore. McLaren suggests that effective translations for the kingdom of heaven might include a peace revolution, a new love economy, the sacred ecosystem, the beloved community, the dream, the dance, or the movement. Whatever you call it, hear and believe the good news – it is at hand. Jesus Christ leads the way. Will we follow? May it be so.
