by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
Jesus put before the crowds another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed 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.”
He told them another parable: “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.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
—Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Today we are talking about Kings and Kingdoms and so here is a quick story to get us started.
A tour group went to Runnymede, just a few miles from London on the Thames in England. It is the location where King John signed the Magna Carta. The tour guide explained everything very well, and after a few minutes of history he asked if there were any questions.
The wife of an American service member asked, “When did he sign it?”
The guide simply said, “1215.”
The woman looked at her watch and loudly proclaimed, “Oh my goodness, we only missed it by forty-five minutes!”
I believe that in order to understand writings from antiquity, namely the New Testament, one must do some research about what things were like at the time. Otherwise we will arrive at notions that just might not be true. In the case of the New Testament we want to know what life was like in the first century. More specifically, for today’s discussion, what was government like in the first century, and what were the powers of a king?
Well, in the first century we must remember that one out of every four people on the planet lived within the Roman Empire. There were kings, such as the rulers that held sway in the Holy Land, but kings served at the pleasure of the emperor in Rome. Their job was to collect the taxes, play the local policeman, and honor the Roman peace. If they failed in those tasks they could lose their kingship and probably their life too.
It was the emperor in Rome that had all the power. And that power was immense. His was a job for life, or until he was assassinated. He probably inherited the position from his father or was adopted so that he could inherit it legally. The life was luxurious. He had a great education. Yet his life was full of political intrigue. There was cruelty, total power, and complete domination of all but those in the patrician class. What he said went, period, whatever he said.
When Jesus spoke of a king everyone knew he was referring to the Emperor. He was famously asked who had more power, who to honor, the Emperor or God? In answer he asked for a coin, and questioned the people there whose image was on the coin? The emperor’s they said. And Jesus famously replied, “then render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s”.
In the Holy Land the ultimate power on earth in the first century belonged to the Emperor and there was no question about that. So any other power was compared to his. If Jesus referred to a king it was the emperor that those listening thought about.
Jesus said from the very beginning that his message was to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He was to proclaim it and then do his best to describe it. He told the people that God was even more powerful than the emperor. And Jesus was telling the people that God’s Kingdom was very different than the Empire of Rome. This was good news to the ears of those listening since the Romans were about as popular as the plague.
Now if Jesus could just make them understand what he meant. That’s where it got tricky and remains hard to understand for us today. Just what the heck did Jesus mean when he referred to the Kingdom of God? Well luckily we have Jesus’ metaphors that attempt to describe it, some of which we just heard in today’s gospel.
By the way, he used metaphors because for some things metaphors are the best and perhaps only way to describe something. If you have ever taught or been a teacher you know this.
Today we heard Jesus say the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, some yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, and a pearl of great value. Let’s think about each metaphor quickly and see what we encounter.
A mustard seed is indeed a small thing, but the magic is that when it grows it becomes a much larger plant. I don’t know about a tree in which birds reside, but certainly big enough to notice, and when combined with other like plants can color a field a beautiful yellow. The mystery is in the change. How in the world does something so small and insignificant become so large and beautiful? What is the magic ingredient? The answer of course is the Spirit of God found within the Kingdom of God.
How about the yeast? When you combine all the ingredients for bread nothing happens. It’s like a cracker, like Matzo when you bake it. But add yeast and the dough takes on another shape. It rises and becomes bread; rich, and beautiful. It seems that something magic has happened. Jesus is saying that the addition of God’s presence is like the yeast and things that don’t have much character change and grow in the Kingdom of God as a result.
And then we think about the treasure in the field. The treasure is so wonderful that a man buys the whole field. This is a metaphor that represents us. We are that field and the Spirit of God is already within us waiting to be discovered. It’s already there whether we are aware of it or not. In the Kingdom of God we become aware of the treasure we already possess.
And then the pearl of great value, worth so much that a merchant is willing to sell all that he has to possess it. The Kingdom of God is like that Jesus is saying. A place in God’s kingdom is infinitely valuable, more valuable than anything you possess, whoever you might be, even if you are the wealthiest person in the world. There is no place else like it. There is no place better to be than to be in partnership with God in God’s kingdom. And you certainly can’t beat the price. It’s free.
And so we receive a painting depicting the Kingdom of God. We may not totally understand it, but we know that within it is life, and beauty, and potential. God’s Kingdom is infinitely valuable and in some way we cannot comprehend it is already here within us.
And make no mistake it is God’s Kingdom, not the emperor’s or some modern day human ruler who can’t get enough of themselves or grasp enough stuff. God’s kingdom is unique, unlike anything ruled by a human being and by definition then so is God. God is unique. God is different than we would expect.
God loves us all the time. God puts us before God’s self. God accepts our forgiveness before we even ask. God has assured our entry into eternity. God provides life and a future to everything in the cosmos. God is a good God without fault. Within the Kingdom of God and in partnership with God it just doesn’t get any better than that. No wonder we have a hard time getting our heads around the reality of God and God’s Kingdom.
Photo by Mike Garabedian