Mustard Seed

What was the message of Jesus? The gospel of Matthew says that Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Mark's gospel starts the same way, except that he calls it "the kingdom of God." Repent; for the kingdom of God is here!

I suppose you've heard about the church whose steeple badly needed a new coat of paint? So they got several estimates, and, as churches are want to do, they went with the low bid.

Well this painter had the lowest bid because he had learned some tricks along the way about making his paint stretch a bit. He would often thin his paint, and thought no one would know.

So he painted that steeple, and just as finished lo and behold a rain cloud appeared in the east, and down came the rain, and down ran the paint, and it looked a mess. The painter was about to get into his truck to flee the scene, when suddenly a rainbow formed right over that sorry steeple, and written across the sky were these heavenly words: "Repaint! And thin so more!"

But that's different from "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!" That little phrase "kingdom of God" pops up all over the New Testament, over 100 times; five times in the passage Gordon is about to read. But what is this "kingdom of God?"

It's not easy to define simply; Jesus always used stories and metaphor when he talked about it. I understand it to mean the reign, or the rule of God in people's hearts. Picture God as a benevolent sovereign - like a king in Jesus' time. A king would have a realm - outlined by geographic borders. Anyone within those borders would be subject to the ways and laws and the will of the king. But the authority of the king would extend beyond those borders too, because citizens of the realm venturing abroad would still be citizens of that kingdom - with allegiance to the king, expected to live out the ways of the king.

The "kingdom of God" is how life is lived when people acknowledge, embrace, and obey God. Kingdom people seek to live out by word and by deed the ways of God. So the kingdom exists wherever people live by the values - the expectations - of God: living in grace, with love and mercy, justice and kindness, even toward enemies. And why do they live that way? Because that's the way it is - in the kingdom.

And this kingdom had arrived, said Jesus. It was time to live like we were citizens of the kingdom. And so he called for decision - it's time to decide, time to repent, to turn around - to walk away from the standards and morals and values of the day - ways of living that were exclusive, hierarchical, based in fear, oppressive. Instead, a kingdom person would go the other way, toward openness to God and to others, toward an inclusive, freeing, trusting way of life.

What's it like in the kingdom? Where will we find it? What does it look like? How do people act in this kingdom? Jesus answered those questions with stories, with parables, with metaphor. Hear now the stories of the kingdom for today.

Jesus put before them 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."

I told you last week that the writer of this gospel of Matthew really liked stories of judgment. After four encouraging and insightful images of the kingdom in today's reading he had to top it off with that fifth one about the net and the fish and the gathering and burning and the gnashing of their little fish teeth . . . . I honestly don't know what that means, and so I say let's just talk about the first four!

And briefly at that. Because they fit nicely into two pairs.

The first pair - the mustard seed and the yeast - tell me that if you are looking for the kingdom you'll find it in odd places. Because God works in the world - kingdom people work in the world - in the small, the insignificant, and the hidden.

The women of my home church all seemed to have a necklace with a glass ball, and encased in that glass ball was a tiny, tiny seed - visible only because it was magnified by the glass. It was of course a mustard seed. And it was tiny. But, as Jesus tells us, that tiny seed - proverbially the smallest thing you can see - grows in time into a large, large plant (eight to ten feet in height), so large that birds make it their home.

So don't look for the kingdom in the big and showy places of the world, in what we call successful or popular, glamourous, impressive or powerful. Don't look in palaces, still less in cathedrals; it's not the TV evangelist with followings of thousands of people and millions of dollars who embodies this way of living, this kingdom way. No, look for the kingdom - look for God - in the humble worker at the soup kitchen, the care giver lovingly watching a loved one, the child helping a friend. "Greatness" in the kingdom is not measured by the number of servants in your household, but the number of people you humbly serve.

Because this kingdom begins very small. And it's hidden, like yeast lost in the loaf - invisible but alive, scattered through the dough but growing. Bread would not be bread without it, but when it's mixed into the dough you would be hard pressed to find it. Hidden. But alive, and at work, and essential.

Point number one: The kingdom of God is found in the small and powerless, the apparently insignificant, the unattractive, the easily overlooked. But trust me, says Jesus. It's there, because that's where God chooses to be. And it is growing.

The second pair of kingdom stories are about the treasure and the pearl of great price. The treasure is found buried in a field, found by accident. The pearl is found by diligent searching. But in both cases the finder sells everything they had - everything - in order to buy the treasure, to own the pearl.

For living by the values of the kingdom is absolutely the most important thing a person can do. Living in the kingdom - serving its king, living out in our lives what we most deeply believe in our hearts - that is the essential starting point for faithful living. More important than our profession or our wealth. More important than our pleasures or our security. More important - dare I say it? - more important than our loves, our friendships, our families even. Because everything else is built upon and grows out of our fundamental commitments, our values, and beliefs - the reign of God in our lives.

Point number two: this kingdom of God is of utmost importance, and so let us seek it with all our hearts, and live it, with God's help.

So what have we learned about the kingdom of God? This kingdom always begins very small, even hidden. But it is surely growing, even when we cannot see it. Jesus calls us not to lose faith in God's presence and work in the world, in our lives.

And this kingdom needs to be the treasure, the pearl of our lives. Elsewhere Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom God, and then everything else - families and homes, food and drink and clothes to wear - those things will follow. But first comes the reign of God in all that we do.

I do especially like one line in this reading today, toward the end. Jesus asks his disciples, listening there wide-eyed and wondering to his parables of the kingdom, "Do you understand all this?"

And they answer - more out of reverence or embarrassment, I think, than knowledge - they answer quickly and simply, "Yes."

And perhaps they did understand, on some level. Even as we do, on some level. May God take whatever understanding we have, whatever level of commitment we have to this reign of God in the world and in our lives, and bring us to a deeper, more profound, more trusting experience of living as people of God. Amen.