Sermon - Tarrytown United Methodist Church

The Way Things Can Be

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

July 24, 2011

Text: Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-46

We see the way things are. Jesus saw the way things can be. He used parables, little common stories. Not a philosopher; a rabbi.

PARABLES

Did you ever try to explain something logically to someone and they don’t get it?

“You need to make time to relax, just let things happen….so you don’t wear yourself out. It’s like this. I watched a buzzard this morning, probably half a mile up in the air. He did not flap his wings once; he was riding the breeze, adjusting his wings to move along. Relaxing is something like that.”

I heard a violinist in concert in March, Anne Akiko Meyers. Beautiful is too tame a word for what I heard. It was like a soaking rain after a long drought; it was like a full moon in a cloudless sky.

The first words out of Jesus’ mouth in the Gospel of Mark were these:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel.”(1:14)

Kingdom was widely regarded as liberation of the Covenant people from oppression, which included the forgiveness of sins, God’s presence in everyday life, a new way to think of life and hope for the future! But as stunning as Jesus’ teaching, healing, and confronting were, the disciples did not see much in the way of results. Jesus disciples would have prayed in full voice: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” If the kingdom is “in your midst,” why is it not apparent? You can imagine them saying to Jesus, “Use your powers to make it happen now!”

So Jesus uses parable drawn from ordinary life to point them to the meaning of God’s kingdom, God’s reign.

The kingdom of “heaven”---Jesus was avoiding the holy Name of God, out of respect--- is like the situation in which a tiny mustard seed grows to be 10-15 feet tall;

Or like the common practice of a woman mixing leaven into the wheat and watching the whole thing rise up for baking

Or like the situation in which a fellow who discovered a treasure in a field, liquidated all his assets and goes and buys that field;

Or a pearl collector who finds a pearl so precious that he cashes in everything in order to buy it.

Like a fishing net thrown out into the water which hauls in fish of every kind.

TINY

Imagine being a farmer. You decide to plant a mustard seed. Maybe you have never seen a mustard seed before. It is tiny. So you plant it next to your house, right up close, so the ground under it won’t be trampled. Then, year after year, you watch it grow, and you now see that you should have planted it farther out. It is so big now----topping out at about 15 feet. You love to tell your grandkids about the day you planted it and your low expectations. A puff of wind would have carried it away.

Imagine the disciples saying: “Hmmm. Jesus has been telling us about forgiveness, healing and a new life. I can hear people scoffing already. Such a “tiny” fragile-sounding message! This is not how you change the world! This message won’t last.

“But I wonder. This job we are on. It is just a drop in the bucket in transforming the world. So can we believe that this active, healing, justice-seeking holy presence can grow into a movement which will include all kinds of “birds” in its branches? Will people of all kinds be blessed by this kingdom that is coming?”

The kingdom comes with baby steps. Then walking, then running, then climbing up to the top of the fridge.

INVISIBLE

Three portions of flour, one little dab of fermented flour (yeast). The children watch their mother knead the bread and then watch as she covers the pan with a damp cloth and sets it aside to rise. They go out to play and come back later to find the whole mixture lifting up the cloth covering it. And the aroma is heavenly!

What does this mean? Maybe that this active loving presence of God is so often an invisible thing, in our hearts and minds, in our fellowship---- it can’t be easily quantified.

But it changes lives, our lives, our hopes. We no longer have to be numb, empty, and hopeless. This Jesus is not strong like a warrior or a judge---- and yet our friends and neighbors’ lives have been re-shaped. Look at old Zacchaeus the tax collector who is now making amends after Jesus ate with him and talked with him. Did you ever think that would happen?

PRICELESS

The fellow had eked out a living on hard scrabble land, probably as a tenant farmer, just providing enough for his family and having a few sheep and goats. Then one day he is working the land and he finds treasure that has been buried. (This was first century safe deposit box.) He knows a good deal when he sees it. So he goes into town, sells all he has and then, in his joy, he buys that field. He and his family will finally be able to have some security.

Well, this fellow is a little dishonest. Is Jesus condoning dishonesty?! No. I think I get his point. When we hear Jesus teach about mercy of God and see how Jesus greeted the little children, and witness him stand right up to those who have been condemning us, there is no doubt in my mind that I want to be with him----that I want to be his disciple. I would give up everything else in order to live under God’s gracious rule.

OR,

Pearls: This merchant had an eye for them. He was always looking for the perfect one. Then, one day, he found one, at the market, brought in by someone from far away. Up beside this pearl, all the rest were ugly. He sold all the other pearls so he could have this one---not an especially well-reasoned decision. One might say that his heart overcame his head! “The expulsive power of a new affection.” Is what one man has called it. (Quoted in The Diary of Readings, John Baillie, Abingdon, 1955)

Remember Peter, James and John? They had their trade, fishing. They had their boats and nets, their homes, a good life. But when they saw Jesus on the shore, calling to them, it was as if the pearl of great price had found them. For the joy of following Jesus and working for him---for the joy of God filling their heart with peace and purpose---they would leave their former life and fish for people.

A piece of heaven now. Yes, they did suffer, and they did get rejected for their association with Jesus. But they took heart that they were beginning to live under the gracious governance of God, and were joining with God in this great endeavor.

Joachim Jeremias, the great New Testament scholar, wrote: [The kingdom] fills the heart with gladness; it makes life’s whole aim the consummation of the divine community and produces the most whole-hearted self-sacrifice.” (The Parables of Jesus, adapted)

The great good news is that God has come to us in Jesus of Nazareth----and, through the Holy Spirit, still does? In Jesus, the glory of God, has a human face. (N.T. Wright)

THE FISH STORY?

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear. And you can’t tell who will hear and respond. Let God do the sorting out.

Jesus chose the humble and compassionate---and risky---road. He used his power to serve, not to dominate.

For those of us who follow in his steps we have learned a lesson. Power is for service. Don’t get full of yourself; empty yourself for other’s sake. (Take a good man and make him powerful and he will use his power for good in the world; bad man powerful and his power will only makes him worse.)

Amusement is everywhere; but joy is rare.

Be awake for the kingdom of God is near, even in our midst. You may be aware of God brushing up against you. I hope for the capacity to be surprised!

Choral performance is sometimes a parable of the kingdom of God, a hint of a new day----- many voices coming together to create something beautiful. And you say to yourself, “This must be what God’s reign is like, all these different people creating something beautiful, something which lifts spirits, breathes new life into tired souls.”

JESUS AND HIS FRIENDS

How does the kingdom keep on coming into life today? Jesus’ disciples represented Jesus to others. God has, does and will give the world the kingdom. We can be for today the agents whom God uses to do and tell the gospel, to plant seeds and point to pearls of great price.

Treasures, tiny seeds, leaven in the loaf, pearls of great price----for God’s kingdom is still in our midst and within us.

There are rumors and hints of the way the world ought to be, will be, can be, because, in the ministry, teachings, life and death----and resurrection---of Jesus of Nazareth, a new day has dawned.

The gospel of the kingdom is not first about what we are called to do. It is first about what God has done in his Word which became flesh, dwelling among us,”full of grace and truth.) (John 1) It is first about God’s powerful, active presence through the Spirit, in our midst, in our hearts, in a world hungering and thirsting for peace. The kingdom of God is like……the situation in which you and I live, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see.