Year A

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Hope of the Kingdom

Listen to another story about the kingdom of God. Today, Jesus proclaims the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, yeast, treasure, a pearl of great value, and a net cast into the sea. Most of his stories begin with “The kingdom of God is like” or “The reign of God is like.” If you are like me, I often need a refresher course so we might ask, what is this kingdom of heaven, this reign of God that he proclaims in his parables from chapter 13 of Matthew? We might answer that it is a challenge, a confrontation. The reality is that Jesus’ stories can frustrate us and call for change. We could say that the kingdom of Heaven is what’s left when we take away our ego, our self-centeredness. Or we could say it is a perfect state of being, where there is no injustice, no hunger, no want, no war. It is peace of mind, twenty-four hours a day of praising and glorifying God. Its liberation, it’s us, and it’s here even when we can’t see it and it’s our reward with Christ after living here.

St. Catherine of Siena, a 14 century mystic, activist and author who at a very early age devoted herself to God and had a great influence on Italian literature and the Roman Catholic Church, once said, “that for those who believe in Jesus, all the way home to heaven is heaven. Heaven is here on earth now. If we stumble on this treasure here on earth, if we stumble into this relationship, then we have stumbled into the kingdom of God. What would it be like to stumble into a place where we could experience this peace and justice here on earth? It would be a place where people were busy taking care of God’s work, taking care of God’s people. It would be a place of loving God.”

This quality of who we are as followers of Christ says whether or not we are in the kingdom. Whom do we think about, who benefits from our decisions, our priorities and lives, our generosity and justice? If we are busy taking care of the kingdom of God, then God is busy taking care of us as God did for Jesus. It is this relationship that Jesus had with God that is now extended to us. Jesus came, proclaimed the good news, lived the good news, is the good news, and now he has entrusted the good news to us. If we don’t make the good news come true in the world, then it dies. God trusts us a lot more than we would choose. This relationship with God is based on trust and can be intimate and close.

Really, there is nothing more important than our relationship with the Lord and our service in the kingdom of God and today, we hear this truth in the several kingdom of God stories. Yet, have you ever tried to explain to others this kingdom of God relationship that we have with Jesus? It’s not always easy to put into words what we believe or how we are different because of this relationship. Barbara Brown Taylor in her book Seeds of Heaven, say’s, “there are no words that are true enough, right enough, big enough to explain. The truth is that it is impossible to speak directly about holy things. How can the language of earth capture the reality of heaven? How can words describe that which is beyond all words? How can human beings speak of God? We tend to describe holy things by talking about ordinary things.  We cannot say what it is, but we can say what it is like, and most of us get the message”.

This is what Jesus did in his teaching. He was always making comparisons. “The kingdom of heaven is like lost sheep, a wedding feast, like seed sown on different ground, like the wheat among the weeds, like the owner of a vineyard, like a mustard seed, like yeast, like treasure hidden in a field, like a fine pearl, and like a net thrown into the sea that catches fish of every kind. Down to earth stories that when we put them together, or take them individually, they teach us disciples who so often count the cost, the possibilities of failure, the meager size of the project compared with the problems to be addressed, and we might never get started in the first place. But Jesus said—don’t underestimate how a little beginning can grow and grow into spectacular results. 

It is a kingdom which cannot be suppressed. It will grow like a mustard seed and expand like yeast and it is worth everything we are and we have to be a part of it. The value of the kingdom of God is seen in these parables and how people should give everything up to get it. There shouldn’t be anything more important to us than the kingdom of God or our relationship with Jesus? For Solomon there was nothing more important than his relationship with God. Having established the Lord’s greatness and “steadfast love” for his father David and his own humility, Solomon makes his request for “an understanding mind and heart to govern God’s people with justice, to discern between good and evil.

When God expresses pleasure at Solomon’s request the Lord grants him his desire. Such listening, discernment, wisdom, and commitment to justice are the qualities that enable God’s people to do the work of the kingdom of God. And Paul reminds us today, as he continues his discussion about life in the Spirit that the Spirit of God helps us in to be able to do all these things for God’s kingdom. The Spirits assistance in our weakness is part of God’s plan to care for us. Then Paul lays out this divine plan for those who have become God’s children. The plan involves all things working together for good for those who have become children of God through the Spirit, for those who love God and are called according to God’s purpose in the kingdom.

This doesn’t mean that bad things will not happen to us if we are faithful, we know that. We only need to look at scripture and the individuals in scripture to know this is not true. God is not punishing us somehow or that we are not faithful when bad things happen. God did not even spare God’s own son to the cross. Jesus was more than faithful to God’s plan for his life. It is when we look back we can see God’s presence in those times-not causing them but carrying us, and loving us through those times. This is how my faith has grown through the years. God can use everything in our lives for good-to help us turn to God, to help us love God and our neighbors in new and different compassionate ways. We saw love in action yesterday at the back to school bash. The community came together to make sure the children of this community will have what they need to start school. The spirit of God is alive.

The text today concludes with one of the most beautiful statements of faith in the scriptures. It shows the fruit of Paul’s years of labor for the kingdom of God. If we wonder how Paul could bear his imprisonment and the likelihood of his death, we can turn to these verses. In fact, many people choose these verses to be read at funerals, as they hold out the assurance that we can never be separated from the love of God. To the church in Rome that is suffering persecution as followers try to live out their faith, Paul offers a much-needed reminder of the promises that are inherent in trusting Christ. This hope can never be taken away.

This is the hope of the kingdom that can take root in our lives through the spirit of God and grow. The gospel does work and brings forth fruit beyond our counting. Let us be willing to sacrifice all to find what is truly important in life, as we learn from the parables of the pearl and the buried treasure. Let us firmly believe, as we hear in the images of the yeast and mustard seed, that in God’s eyes there is nothing that is too little or insignificant. The kingdom of God is like these things and found in these things. There is a Japanese folk saying: The scent of the flower remains on the hands of the person who gives the gift away. This is the way the kingdom comes, yielding the treasure to others, giving away the pearl of great price, making bread and opening our arms so that others can come and find a home secure in us.