More Parables

Matthew 13: 31-33 p 795
31Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;32it 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.”33He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

This is the word of the Lord…..thanks be to God


The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed- the smallest seed, at least in that part of the world. the kingdom of heaven is like a seed that is so small that you can barely see it, so small that we don’t notice it when it gets mixed in with other seeds, or gets blown on the wind and plants itself in a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, that grows into the greatest of shrubs, and keeps on growing, so big, that it stops being a shrub and becomes a tree, a tree for the birds to come and nest in, a tree to take shade under, a tree that grows beyond our wildest imaginations. Except in the Middle East, the mustard seed is a weed, that invades fields and takes over if you don’t pull them out. Last week’s parable warned against trying to pull the weeds growing among the wheat. Sometimes it’s hard to tell what’s wheat and what’s weed, and besides, uprooting weeds may damage the wheat. This parable gives us another truth: maybe what we think are weeds are also the kingdom of heaven.
I guess that means…the kingdom of heaven is like some offensive plant you can’t control, that spreads and grows while we are sleeping. The kingdom of heaven is like weeds that disturb the beautiful, neat rows of corn and wheat, and seems not to care about fences or proper boundaries.
Or, to say it another way, the kingdom of heaven is like yeast—not yeast as we know it, in neat little packets or jars, but yeast that is like sourdough- a bit of wet bread left to sour on the countertop, yeast spores that blow in on the wind, yeast that smells bad, yeast that was considered a corruption, in Jewish thought- but yeast that when hidden in three measures of flour- enough to make bread for 150 people. And the one hiding it in the flour is a woman.
Strange kingdom. It comes from small things: tiny seeds, a small amount of yeast. This kingdom turns things upside down, breaks the rules, makes us feel uncomfortable.
And the kingdom of heaven is active, even when we don’t see it—seeds sprouting in the dark of the earth, even while we sleep. Yeast working when we are away from the kitchen, busy with other things. Unusual kingdom.

Matthew 13: 44-51 p 795
44“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.45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;46on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.47“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;48when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.49So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous50and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.51“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.”
This is the word of the Lord……thanks be to God



Perhaps you’ve seen them. The shows about finding treasure where there was no treasure to be seen, sometimes hidden in plain sight. You know them: Antiques RoadShow, Storage Wars. Pawn Stars, History Detectives, and now even a show named Buried Treasure. Perhaps you’ve even wondered if you had any treasures in your own home—and it is certainly what drives the numerous yard sales and garage sales!
Finding treasure, finding something hidden, something precious, is the stuff that dreams and stories are made of. It doesn’t have to be discovered in a sunken pirate ship, or buried on a desert island. Maybe it’s among your Aunt Anna’s castoffs, or tucked away in a cobwebbed corner of your garage or basement.
And hat’s what those tv shows show us. People who find an old Barbie doll, from 1963. A sword from the Civil War. An painting that was said by some in the family to be a Picasso. Things that are new and old. And sometimes it has huge payoff- and sometimes it’s just ordibnary, but people think it’s a treasure just the same, because it sat over Aunt Betty’s sideboard all those years, and was part of every Sunday dinner, and is now part of the family life and lore.
As crazy as it seems, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field, hidden, which someone found and then hid again—and then in his joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Or the kingdom of heaven is like the pearl of great price—which the merchant, trained in the what makes for an excellent pearl, has seen, one day, amid shovelfuls of pearls, years of pearls- He recognizes this is the one- and he sells all that he has and buys it.
Both the buyer of the field and the merchant recognize something of great worth when they see it, and take action. They give all that they have, risk everything, for that one pearl hidden among others, for the field with its hidden treasure.
The kingdom of heaven is like a nearly invisible mustard seed, like yeast, like buried treasure, like a valuable pearl. God’s kingdom starts small, often in unseen ways, working while we are not even aware. But God’s kingdom and rule is not in some far off place that requires a special map: "X" marks the spot right here, right now, in all the ordinary people and places and activities of our lives. That is the Good News: God’s kingdom is here, and we are part of that kingdom-we are the treasure, we are the pearl of great value. Christ is the one who gave up everything to buy us, to redeem us, by his teaching, his healing, his embodying God’s love even as he died for us. And so we rest, and breathe, and live, knowing that we are claimed by God.



The kingdom of heaven is like a fishing net, which brings in fish of every kind. And hidden among the catch waiting to be sorted are the good eating fish, much like the wheat and the tares in last week’s parable. But what is good and bad? Does good require righteousness? How is that righteousness lived out? How can I ever be good enough?
Fortunately, we are not the ones deciding who is a good fish and who is bad, who is in, who is out- and thanks be to GOD! The kingdom of heaven, like the mustard seed and the leaven, is wild and untamed and in a way uncontrollable—thanks be to God—otherwise, it would look like every other kingdom and realm in the history of the world- but it does not—“and that upsets our boundaries and categories, [as] it grows and spreads and takes root in unexpected ways, in unexpected people, until what we thought we knew is transformed and redeemed by our surprising, invasive, sometimes hidden God.”
Last year, we looked at the book of Revelation, and talked about apocalypse: which means an unveiling, a drawing back of the curtain, a showing of what is hidden, what is actually the real reality. What we have in these parables about the kingdom of heaven is also an apocalypse, a revealing- what seems to be so on the surface is not. And what is hidden is the real truth. The kingdom of God is small, at first, hidden, but active, and growing. The kingdom of heaven is about judgment—good and bad. And the kingdom of heaven is also about ordinary things: weeds, yeast, fields of dirt, somebody at work, fish in the sea, our everyday lives, things old and new, right here and right now.
When asked by Jesus if they understood the parables, the disciples said “yes”. I’m not sure that we can ever fully understand these parables, or understand God. But perhaps our understanding grows, even as seeds grow, as we take things out, old and new, and examine them in our lives, moments when God was made real, when God’s action, God’s rule, previously hidden, is now seen, when we realize we are treasured by God, that we are the fish gathered into God’s kingdom.
The kingdom of heaven doesn’t play by the rules of this world. It is God who is in charge, God who plants, God who stirs things up, God who chooses, God who finds, God who saves. May we have eyes to see and ears to hear the goodness of God, even in our ordinary lives. Thanks be to God.