Scripture Passage: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Today, Jesus teaches the disciples about the kingdom of heaven in parable. And perhaps our first question is: Where is the kingdom in this mess?
What a good question. Supposedly, in this kingdom, God reigns. Jesus is Lord. The church is not a democracy but a monarchy, the kingdom, where the one ruler is Christ. While I personally struggle with the language of kingdom and Lord to describe God’s realm and Christ’s sovereignty, because of the patriarchal world from which scripture comes, describing power and authority in masculine terms is not surprising. If I can set that aside, I begin to see the good news of God’s realm and Christ’s sovereignty. A realm where the grace of God pervades all creation, a sovereignty where power looks like love. But, here and now, in a time and place where and when I need not describe the chaos and division and suffering of our world, where is that grace and love? Where is God’s realm evident, and how is Christ sovereign?
Jesus’ parables make clear that the realm of God and the power of Christ do not look anything like US democracy—or any other temporal form of government. The realm of God and the power of Christ do not include military prowess or violence of any kind. The realm of God and the power of Christ do not even include middle managers, those who might distribute God’s grace and Christ’s love to others as if God needed to appoint gatekeepers for the kingdom. God’s realm and Christ’s sovereignty challenge our notions of authority and power for Jesus’ parables today teach us:
God plants the kingdom in the smallest of seeds that the kingdom might nurture the life of the world. For Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.”
God kneads the kingdom into the world as if bread dough that the kingdom might feed the world. For Jesus says: “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.”
God hides the kingdom in a field to be discovered by a stranger. For Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field.”
God’s kingdom is worth more than any pearl. For Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.”
God indiscriminately throws the kingdom into the sea of humanity. For Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind.”
God’s realm and Christ’s power do not live in palaces, courts, and capitols but in kitchens and fields, gardens and fishing boats. God is sneaky in the very best way, entering the small and the daily and the mundane.
Yes, we are called to do big things as people of God, to exercise wisdom with the social power we possess, to vote, to voice our opinions in the public square for the sake of the world God loves. Yes, we are called to the vocations of citizen, advocate, and some of us even: leader. But the realm of God neither starts nor ends in these places.
We see the kingdom most vividly in the life of Jesus who did not take the world by storm. The very opposite, rather. He didn’t hang out with King Herod or the emperor. He didn’t ingratiate himself with the Jewish leaders of the synagogue so that he could lead them out of corruption from the inside. He took up with fishermen, tax collectors, women of questionable reputation. He sat at their tables and touched their wounds and fed them in the wilderness.
The first sermon Jesus preaches in the gospel of Matthew is: The kingdom of heaven has come near! And he preaches it in the backwaters of Galilee.
We may think that Christianity needs to take the world by storm, that churches should be the center of our public life, that our shared social norms and practices should be Christian in nature. I agree that putting love and justice—as I believe Jesus, the prophets, and the law do—at the center of our public life could only be a good thing. But God’s realm shows up in the small, the daily, and the mundane, in kitchens and fields, gardens and fishing boats.
Where is the kingdom of heaven in this mess? In this mess of pandemic, violence, racism, and division? In kitchens and fields, in gardens and fishing boats. In hospitals where exhausted nurses and doctors give of themselves for the sake of others. In labs where frantic scientists put in overtime developing a vaccine and treatments for Covid-19. In zoom meetings where people discuss white privilege and in living rooms where they read books to educate themselves about racism. In the back alley of Grace Lutheran Church where people drive up to receive boxes of food to deliver and at the back door where ministry partners drop off water and sack lunches. In conversations where people listen to those with whom they disagree, in families where forgiveness is practiced, when people in power apologize for their mistakes and seek solutions. In God’s realm, the kingdom takes root in the small and the daily and the mundane, and Christ’s sovereign power looks like love. Lest we think these small, daily, mundane manifestations of the kingdom make no difference, consider that you sit listening to these words and fashion your whole life around following Jesus because 2000 years ago an illiterate Galilean peasant preached and healed, fed and befriended, loved and died and was raised.
Right now, the world feels like a mess, and heaven help us, it’s always been that way. But no suffering, no violence, no division, no illness will root out the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is Lord, and the kingdom comes, not with might but with love. Look and see. The kingdom of heaven has come near! Thanks be to God. Amen.