Thinking the Texts by John Fairless
Jacob, the boy who tricked everybody back home, finally meets his match when he confronts his Uncle Laban in our Genesis story for today. There’s lots of lovely detail to play around with if you’re telling this story — a tale of true love, a groom who was likely more than a bit tipsy, an older sister who wasn’t getting any fresher on the vine, and a conniving daddy/uncle who’s just trying to do what’s best for the family! But, as we have been on the journey with Jacob, we could mostly see this as one more step on the path of growth he must endure in his character development as the near-future Israel. After all, he will soon be matching wits (and strength) with God!
Solomon — a long future descendant of Jacob — is by contrast depicted here in Kings as patient and considerate. When given a blank check by God, he asks for the one thing he needs to rule the people well: wisdom. I don’t know that I would have been that tactful or in control! Anything, God… anything? Hmmm…
In the long wait through Romans 8, this final section is the “payoff”— at least IMO. Look at the greatest hits clips just from this final cutting of the great chapter:
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose
If God is for us, who is against us?
Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Heck, just read those and you have a sermon!
I wonder which of these is the most ‘valuable’ metaphor for the kingdom of heaven in Matthew’s account for today? The mustard seed? The yeast? The pearl? (I like that one!) Or the fishing net?
I suppose it depends on what you’re trying to do. If you want to grow a tree for an aviary, you get one answer. If you need to bake supper for the kids — another. You get the idea. No one image will ever fully illustrate the purpose or the power of God. Keep your eyes peeled and your heart open — the work of the kingdom is going on all around us, all the time. (Watch out when you see weeping and gnashing of teeth, though!)
And Just for Fun
When I see lovers' names carved in a tree, I don't think it's sweet. I just think it's surprising how many people bring a knife on a date.
What’s the difference between spinach and boogers?
Kids don’t eat spinach.A man asks his iPhone:
“Siri, why am I still single?!”
Siri activates front camera.You know, you could view the huge cross on the cover of the Holy Bible as a bigtime spoiler…
Sermon by Delmer Chilton
My first real book was "the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," by Mark Twain. It was a gift from my grandmother. Every time I read about heaven in the Bible I remember a scene in that book where the Miss Watson is trying to convince Huck to be good by telling him that the reward for being good will be to go to heaven. When he had enjoyed as much of this as he can stand, Huck said, "Do you reckon Tom Sawyer is going to be there?" Miss Watson snorted and said, "Most certainly not!" Huck replied, "Well I don't believe I want to go either. Me and Tom go everywhere together."
It would be reasonable for us to assume that Jesus is trying to tell is something about the heaven that we go to after we die –all magnificent mansions, and golden streets, and beautiful harps and such. It would be reasonable - it would also be wrong. Jesus is not talking about that heaven- he is talking about God's hidden presence amongst us on earth, right here, right now. In this lesson, Matthew combines six short Jesus parables that start with the phrase “The Kingdom of Heaven is like. . .” He arranges these images in three sets, each with two parables that are similar to each other. So, we have:
The first set - the mustard seed becoming a large tree and the yeast acting on flour and water to make bread.
Then we have The second set - the treasure found in a field and a pearl of great value found in a shop.
And finally The third set - the net of every kind of fish and a homeowner showing off his stuff.
1) First - The Mustard Seed and the Yeast. These parables are about how the work of God is often slow and subtle; not fast and flashy. They also teach us that, unless you know the whole story, you won’t even notice what God is doing. Writer Brian McLaren, tells a true story about a turtle:
“Some people I know once found a snapping turtle crossing a road in New Jersey. It was grossly deformed due to a plastic bottle cap, a ring about an inch-and-a-half in diameter( that got stuck around it's middle when it was a hatchling )(Now the turtle was) nearly a foot long, weighing 9 pounds, and was corseted by the ring so that it looked like a figure 8.My friends realized that if they left the turtle (as it was) it would die. . . So they snipped the ring, and . . .nothing happened. Nothing. EXCEPT ONE THING. At that moment the turtle had a future. It was rescued. It was saved. It would take years for the animal to grow into normal proportions, maybe decades.”
(A GENEROUS ORTHODOXY, p.98)
Anyone finding that turtle in the future would not be able to tell that a good thing was at work in it, they would not be able to see that it was moving from deformity to wholeness, from pain to health, from death to life. All they would be able to see is an ugly fiddle-shaped turtle.
So it is with the Kingdom of heaven. Its work in the world is often hidden from our eyes, but Jesus assures us that the Kingdom IS here and it IS working, like a seed
beneath the soil becoming a large bush, or yeast turning dough into a large loaf of bread.
2) The second set of parables is the treasure found in the field and the pearl of great value. The point here is not so much the surprise of finding the valuable items, but the whole-hearted response of the farmhand and the pearl merchant to their good fortune. When they found their treasure, they gave everything for it. The farmhand stumbled upon his treasure, the pearl merchant searched long and hard for his, but both gave up everything to possess the prize, and the the important thing is that both the farmer and the merchant gave away everything they had in response to the new treasure in their life.
The famous Ryman Auditorium was the longtime home of the Grand Ole Opry. It began as a church, built around 1900 as a preaching place for a famous preacher named Sam Jones. The story is told that Jones was holding a month-long revival there once, and it turned into what the Methodists used to call a “quittin’ meeting;” during which people confessed their sins and swore off things like drinking and smoking and running around and the like.Jones called upon one ultra-pious lady in the congregation and asked her what she was going to quit. She said; “I ain’t been doing nothing and I’m going to quit that too!”
These two parables, about a treasure in the field and a pearl of great price, are a call to us to “quit doing nothin” in response to gift of the Gospel, the Kingdom of Heaven here and now in our lives.
3) The third set of parables, is the fish in the net and the homeowner showing off the old and the new. These images remind us of the radical inclusivity of the Kingdom of heaven. People of every kind and every time are a part of God’s Kingdom.
Bp. Will Willimon, former United Methodist Bishop of Alabama told a story about an incident early in his ministry. He was at the hospital to visit a couple who had just had a baby. As the pastor walked into the room, the doctor was explaining to them that their baby had Down Syndrome as well as a minor, but easily correctable respiratory problem. The doctor told them –My recommendation is for you to consider just letting nature take its course and then in a few days there shouldn’t be a problem.” The couple stared at him for a minute or two and then said, "We don't understand, if the condition can be corrected, then we want it corrected." The doctor tried again to make his case for just letting the baby die. “Is it fair for you to bring this sort of suffering upon your other two children?”
The woman looked intently at the doctor before she said –“Our children have had every advantage in the world. They have never really known suffering, never had the opportunity to know it. I don’t know if God’s hand is in this or not, but I could certainly see why it would make sense for a child like this to be born into a family like ours.All our children will be just fine.” The doctor looked confused and abruptly departed, but not before pleading with the minister to "Talk some sense into them." (Paraphrased from PASTOR, p. 99)
What the doctor did not understand was the couple was already being sensible. By the standards of the Kingdom of Heaven, keeping that child and raising it in a loving home made perfect sense, because, in the Kingdom, all lives are valuable treasures to be honored and cared for and accepted as gifts from God. In the Kingdom, all sorts of fish are caught in the nets of God's love, the fish we may like, and the fish we may not care for, even the fish we think don't deserve to live. In the Kingdom of God, all are welcome.
One of the churches I served had a somewhat racially diverse membership. Our Vacation Bible School was held at night and one day at dusk,the parents and teachers were standing around on the church steps in the gathering darkness, enjoying the cool of the evening while the children were out in the side yard playing. They were boys and girls between the ages 3 to 13.They were playing a game called “Ghosts in the Graveyard,” a version of hide-and-seek. I stood on the church stoop and watched and listened.
What is the Kingdom of heaven like? Maybe the Kingdom of Heaven is like a game of Hide-and-Seek in the dark. When you really can’t tell who’s who, many of our superficial differences cease to matter. Surprises are around every corner. Activity is going on whether you can see it or not. And it really doesn’t matter who’s looking for whom; because giving yourself totally to the game is the important thing. And joy and laughter erupt because of the very Good News that everyone gets found by God in the end.
Amen and amen.