The Kingdom is Like …
Sunday, July 17th, 2005
Proper 11a, Pentecost +9
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 13:24-43
I love to read the parables. I love to think about them and turn them around in my head and view them from different angles and try to get at the core of them … except when they don’t seem to have one … or when the explanation that Jesus gives the disciples afterwards is a little too … thorny for my taste.
Parables have a way of illuminating for us what the Kingdom might look like, but they have an equally persistent way of unsettling us. That was the whole point, as near as I can tell, of why Jesus USED parables to begin with; for BOTH purposes.
Illumination is generally considered a good thing. There are times, I suppose, when what we discover to be the truth is not what we expected, and it turns into an unpleasant experience for a time. Perhaps on occasion that is what results in our becoming unsettled.
Spending twelve days in Chimalhuacan, Mexico, gave me a glimpse of the kingdom that I was hoping for, but couldn’t have prepared myself for, if that makes any sense.
In some ways it snuck up on me. Yes, I was in on the seminal conversation – the conversation that started the ball rolling that ended up in the trip happening, and yes, I followed the progress of the preparations, but there were other things going on all along. There were messages to preach, people to visit, errands to run, appointments to keep, and before I knew it, I had to pack my suitcases to get ready to go to Mexico. And it really felt like I dropped everything and went. Operative word being: DROPPED.
The kids had just finished school, Leslie was going to be staying here, Homecoming was fast approaching, Vacation Bible School had to be planned, meetings needed to be attended, and calls and emails returned, reports had to be made … whatever … it was just a mountain of stuff that had either not get done, or be put on hold … or entrusted to the care of others.
So we flew out of Richmond an hour and a half late, but still caught our connecting flight from Atlanta, and arrived in Mexico a little tired, but on time.
We stepped out of the car in front of the Manzano family home and into an experience that, to be honest, I am still in the process of processing.
I knew that before anything else, even before unpacking and eating, I wanted to walk down to Romualda’s house to greet her and let her know we were there and that the work was scheduled to begin the next morning.
And it was in that first greeting that Romualda set the tone for the rest of the two weeks we were there: welcoming grace and abundant gratitude. She was happy, of course, to see us. She said she couldn’t really believe we were there and that what was happening was really happening.
We stayed just a few minutes, to be truthful, probably a rudely short visit, but a lot can be excused if you’re a giant gringo who’s just flown a couple of thousand miles to be there. That fact came in handy a lot while we were there.
That night, late, the rest of the crew arrived from Tlaxcala, two hours away. Everyone was exhausted, so most of us were sound asleep within minutes of having greeted each other. Seeing the guys’ smiling faces and hearing their hearty hellos was pure joy.
The next morning we started early …
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
A group of friends who leave their homes and drive almost three hours away to gladly, willingly build a building for a woman they don’t know, and do it without pay.
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
The host and hostess of the group welcoming them into their home and giving up their bedroom and their children’s bedrooms so that the men who are there to do the work have a place to sleep.
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
A woman who has so little she can hardly take care of her family, and yet finds the wherewithal to at least prepare a pitcher of refreshing fruit juice at least twice a day for the men as they work in the heat and the dust.
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
A woman who spends the days preparing meals for the men as they work, ensuring that there is enough for everyone, and fretting about having meals that are nutritious and hearty, tasty and … varied, to not say interesting.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like …
Spending 12 hours a day lifting bricks and mixing concrete with a shovel and carting dirt and rocks and sand in a wheelbarrow and putting together all the reinforcing structure by hand, piece by piece, and the work is TIRING, to be sure, but it is not exhausting, it doesn’t drain you, because what is coming out of you is not from you … and you realize that the effort that is going into the work is motivated in one way or another out of love. Not just love through YOU, but love through all the people back home. And it IS a directed love – love with a purpose, but it is also a diffused love – love that doesn’t necessarily have anywhere to go – except OUT. It is love responding to the opportunity, and it is love pushing through, stretching the fabric of this world thin, and letting the light from the Kingdom shine through.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like …
The laughing and joking and ribbing and earnest conversations that surrounded the worksite. The way in which the team treated each other, with respect and a gentility that spoke of the esteem in which each other was held, as well as an awareness of the spiritual aspect of the work being done. What we were involved in could not have happened apart from the Holy Spirit – from the prompting of the initial conversation through the raising of the funds, through the combination of circumstances that resulted in the makeup of the team that went to do the work, the fact of the presence of the Spirit was inescapable. And it permeated every day of our stay.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like … coming home, and hugging and kissing and greeting, and being WELCOMED.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like … riding in your car and having the whole family begin to sing along with the music on the radio … and it’s a hymn.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like … walking into a committee meeting and everyone is smiling and laughing and getting along …
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like a group of adults who get together in the name of their kids and make a meal and deliver it … to NINETY SIX people … just because.
Their investment, the preparing and packing and buying and making and serving and taking are all a reflection of the Kingdom, of the fountain of love that flows and flows … even though they might be tired, doing it is a reward in itself. The give and take, the joking, the bantering, the laughter, is all exactly the same thing I saw in Chimalhuacan.
So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we can really, truly FIND the Kingdom of Heaven if we look for it … but also – and more importantly, if we live it. Jesus told us that the Kingdom was HERE (motion to self) WITHIN US.
Let’s stop thinking of the Kingdom as being PURELY something distant and unattainable, something reserved for the life hereafter, and start living in it, recognizing that yes, we live in a broken world, where children are given incorrect medications and it scars them for life, and yes, husbands die unexpectedly, and yes, people live and die in hunger, and disaffected, angry people blow themselves and others up on a daily basis, but the only way that is going to change is one person at a time.
That’s a nice thought, and true, but what does it LOOK like?
Well, that is actually where it stops being nice all the time, and begins to look like work. Did you know that the Gospel can be hard work? And it can get messy.
When we were in Chimalhuacan, I took a queue from the guys and set aside one set of clothes and designated them ‘work clothes’, and changed into them in the morning before heading out, and changed out of them each evening after getting cleaned up. The shirt and pants ended up with some pretty nasty stains – from used motor oil that I used to paint the forms with so the cement wouldn’t stick to them, and torn in a couple of places where there hadn’t been tears before, and basically have become work-ONLY clothes now. If you see me wearing them you’ll know I’m doing something that can be pretty grungy.
What are the clothes we put on to do the work of the Gospel? We’ve got a list of them in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The difference is these clothes aren’t something you take off. Well, to be honest, sometimes we find ourselves having forgotten to display them or exercise them, but the heart of the Gospel is the heart of God: God’s son, Jesus. When you accept Christ you accept the gospel, and you begin to learn how to wear these clothes. Just like any new item of clothing, there’s a period when you’re getting used to how that particular item of clothing feels. It’s the same with Christ. You get used to his presence, his prompting; you become familiar with his voice.
But the Gospel isn’t just a set of beliefs, a set of ideas. It’s the active part of our life. Hopefully, it’s the driving force in our lives.
So how does something that speaks to the life hereafter also speak to life here and now? Through embodiment: by making our lives a living example of the life of Christ. There’s a term you may have heard me use before: incarnational witness. It is that same incarnation we refer to when we speak of Jesus being God incarnate – literally: God in flesh. When we take on the life of Christ we become Jesus incarnate.
And what did Jesus do while he was on earth? Ate with sinners and tax collectors, spoke to Samaritans, healed lepers (and in the healing, touched them, a big no-no of the day), confronted power with truth, and faced down the forces that would impose the injustices of the world as it is with the justice of the world that is to come, and is in the process of becoming. It wasn’t a task for the weak at heart, but it took those who were weak at heart and transformed them into … the body of Christ: the Church. And as the Church it is for us to live in the present with the hope of the future.
God calls us individually, but doesn’t KEEP us as individuals. The Church (read: Jerusalem) is to be what living in the Kingdom is all about. We are called to live in that hope, and we continue the work of the Gospel when we dwell with him, and in him, and in community.
Let’s pray.
Sunday, July 17th, 2005
Proper 11a, Pentecost +9
Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA
Matthew 13:24-43
24 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” 28He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” 29But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’ 31He 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 mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’34Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. 35This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: ‘I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.’ 36Then he left the rowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ 37He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
I love to read the parables. I love to think about them and turn them around in my head and view them from different angles and try to get at the core of them … except when they don’t seem to have one … or when the explanation that Jesus gives the disciples afterwards is a little too … thorny for my taste.
Parables have a way of illuminating for us what the Kingdom might look like, but they have an equally persistent way of unsettling us. That was the whole point, as near as I can tell, of why Jesus USED parables to begin with; for BOTH purposes.
Illumination is generally considered a good thing. There are times, I suppose, when what we discover to be the truth is not what we expected, and it turns into an unpleasant experience for a time. Perhaps on occasion that is what results in our becoming unsettled.
Spending twelve days in Chimalhuacan, Mexico, gave me a glimpse of the kingdom that I was hoping for, but couldn’t have prepared myself for, if that makes any sense.
In some ways it snuck up on me. Yes, I was in on the seminal conversation – the conversation that started the ball rolling that ended up in the trip happening, and yes, I followed the progress of the preparations, but there were other things going on all along. There were messages to preach, people to visit, errands to run, appointments to keep, and before I knew it, I had to pack my suitcases to get ready to go to Mexico. And it really felt like I dropped everything and went. Operative word being: DROPPED.
The kids had just finished school, Leslie was going to be staying here, Homecoming was fast approaching, Vacation Bible School had to be planned, meetings needed to be attended, and calls and emails returned, reports had to be made … whatever … it was just a mountain of stuff that had either not get done, or be put on hold … or entrusted to the care of others.
So we flew out of Richmond an hour and a half late, but still caught our connecting flight from Atlanta, and arrived in Mexico a little tired, but on time.
We stepped out of the car in front of the Manzano family home and into an experience that, to be honest, I am still in the process of processing.
I knew that before anything else, even before unpacking and eating, I wanted to walk down to Romualda’s house to greet her and let her know we were there and that the work was scheduled to begin the next morning.
And it was in that first greeting that Romualda set the tone for the rest of the two weeks we were there: welcoming grace and abundant gratitude. She was happy, of course, to see us. She said she couldn’t really believe we were there and that what was happening was really happening.
We stayed just a few minutes, to be truthful, probably a rudely short visit, but a lot can be excused if you’re a giant gringo who’s just flown a couple of thousand miles to be there. That fact came in handy a lot while we were there.
That night, late, the rest of the crew arrived from Tlaxcala, two hours away. Everyone was exhausted, so most of us were sound asleep within minutes of having greeted each other. Seeing the guys’ smiling faces and hearing their hearty hellos was pure joy.
The next morning we started early …
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
A group of friends who leave their homes and drive almost three hours away to gladly, willingly build a building for a woman they don’t know, and do it without pay.
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
The host and hostess of the group welcoming them into their home and giving up their bedroom and their children’s bedrooms so that the men who are there to do the work have a place to sleep.
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
A woman who has so little she can hardly take care of her family, and yet finds the wherewithal to at least prepare a pitcher of refreshing fruit juice at least twice a day for the men as they work in the heat and the dust.
And the kingdom of Heaven is like …
A woman who spends the days preparing meals for the men as they work, ensuring that there is enough for everyone, and fretting about having meals that are nutritious and hearty, tasty and … varied, to not say interesting.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like …
Spending 12 hours a day lifting bricks and mixing concrete with a shovel and carting dirt and rocks and sand in a wheelbarrow and putting together all the reinforcing structure by hand, piece by piece, and the work is TIRING, to be sure, but it is not exhausting, it doesn’t drain you, because what is coming out of you is not from you … and you realize that the effort that is going into the work is motivated in one way or another out of love. Not just love through YOU, but love through all the people back home. And it IS a directed love – love with a purpose, but it is also a diffused love – love that doesn’t necessarily have anywhere to go – except OUT. It is love responding to the opportunity, and it is love pushing through, stretching the fabric of this world thin, and letting the light from the Kingdom shine through.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like …
The laughing and joking and ribbing and earnest conversations that surrounded the worksite. The way in which the team treated each other, with respect and a gentility that spoke of the esteem in which each other was held, as well as an awareness of the spiritual aspect of the work being done. What we were involved in could not have happened apart from the Holy Spirit – from the prompting of the initial conversation through the raising of the funds, through the combination of circumstances that resulted in the makeup of the team that went to do the work, the fact of the presence of the Spirit was inescapable. And it permeated every day of our stay.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like … coming home, and hugging and kissing and greeting, and being WELCOMED.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like … riding in your car and having the whole family begin to sing along with the music on the radio … and it’s a hymn.
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like … walking into a committee meeting and everyone is smiling and laughing and getting along …
And the Kingdom of Heaven is like a group of adults who get together in the name of their kids and make a meal and deliver it … to NINETY SIX people … just because.
Their investment, the preparing and packing and buying and making and serving and taking are all a reflection of the Kingdom, of the fountain of love that flows and flows … even though they might be tired, doing it is a reward in itself. The give and take, the joking, the bantering, the laughter, is all exactly the same thing I saw in Chimalhuacan.
So what does this mean for Jerusalem Baptist Church at Emmerton?
It means that we can really, truly FIND the Kingdom of Heaven if we look for it … but also – and more importantly, if we live it. Jesus told us that the Kingdom was HERE (motion to self) WITHIN US.
Let’s stop thinking of the Kingdom as being PURELY something distant and unattainable, something reserved for the life hereafter, and start living in it, recognizing that yes, we live in a broken world, where children are given incorrect medications and it scars them for life, and yes, husbands die unexpectedly, and yes, people live and die in hunger, and disaffected, angry people blow themselves and others up on a daily basis, but the only way that is going to change is one person at a time.
That’s a nice thought, and true, but what does it LOOK like?
Well, that is actually where it stops being nice all the time, and begins to look like work. Did you know that the Gospel can be hard work? And it can get messy.
When we were in Chimalhuacan, I took a queue from the guys and set aside one set of clothes and designated them ‘work clothes’, and changed into them in the morning before heading out, and changed out of them each evening after getting cleaned up. The shirt and pants ended up with some pretty nasty stains – from used motor oil that I used to paint the forms with so the cement wouldn’t stick to them, and torn in a couple of places where there hadn’t been tears before, and basically have become work-ONLY clothes now. If you see me wearing them you’ll know I’m doing something that can be pretty grungy.
What are the clothes we put on to do the work of the Gospel? We’ve got a list of them in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The difference is these clothes aren’t something you take off. Well, to be honest, sometimes we find ourselves having forgotten to display them or exercise them, but the heart of the Gospel is the heart of God: God’s son, Jesus. When you accept Christ you accept the gospel, and you begin to learn how to wear these clothes. Just like any new item of clothing, there’s a period when you’re getting used to how that particular item of clothing feels. It’s the same with Christ. You get used to his presence, his prompting; you become familiar with his voice.
But the Gospel isn’t just a set of beliefs, a set of ideas. It’s the active part of our life. Hopefully, it’s the driving force in our lives.
So how does something that speaks to the life hereafter also speak to life here and now? Through embodiment: by making our lives a living example of the life of Christ. There’s a term you may have heard me use before: incarnational witness. It is that same incarnation we refer to when we speak of Jesus being God incarnate – literally: God in flesh. When we take on the life of Christ we become Jesus incarnate.
And what did Jesus do while he was on earth? Ate with sinners and tax collectors, spoke to Samaritans, healed lepers (and in the healing, touched them, a big no-no of the day), confronted power with truth, and faced down the forces that would impose the injustices of the world as it is with the justice of the world that is to come, and is in the process of becoming. It wasn’t a task for the weak at heart, but it took those who were weak at heart and transformed them into … the body of Christ: the Church. And as the Church it is for us to live in the present with the hope of the future.
God calls us individually, but doesn’t KEEP us as individuals. The Church (read: Jerusalem) is to be what living in the Kingdom is all about. We are called to live in that hope, and we continue the work of the Gospel when we dwell with him, and in him, and in community.
Let’s pray.
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