Pearls,
seeds, thistles, yeast and treasure
Fifty-eight verses of story-telling and
some explanation now follows. Jesus tells stories to give insight into the
kingdom of liberation. Some of these stories are allegories (these are stories
where every aspect has a key meaning) and Jesus makes plain the meaning. Some,
however, are puzzles with no specific explanation; these are called parables. The
disciples ask him why he tells stories rather than give black and white
answers. He says it is because stories make each hearer think more deeply than literally. He says stories give insight. He tells the disciples they don’t
need insight into God’s kingdom in quite the same way. Eugene Petersen’s
paraphrase puts it this way: ‘You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You
know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been
given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and
understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of
receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to
nudge the people towards receptive insight… but you have God-blessed eyes –
eyes that see! And God-blessed ears, ears that here!’ (vs 11-17)
I’ve been reading the bible since I was
about eight or nine years old. What I know is that some stories in the
bible are kind of straight forward. Others require patience to understand. And
others are impenetrable. Jesus’ stories of the kingdom in Matthew are not
straight forward at all. Yet, they were told to ordinary folk not as a
smoke-screen, but because Jesus dignified them with puzzling minds, minds that
were willing to work things out for themselves, minds that would not give up
because something is tough to understand. He honoured people with a capacity to
wrestle, tease things out, work things out for themselves, rather than learn
something by rote and without real thought.
Jesus is after people who are willing to
dip beneath the surface meaning of life and ask questions. Jesus is recruiting
disciples who are hooked by mystery, disciples of any age and from any age. Jesus
did not think faith was possible without questions and a questioning mind. And
I believe questions are not a sign of doubt but rather a sign of faith.
I am not going to try and fathom the
mysteries of the Jesus’ stories of the kingdom in this chapter, in this blog. I
am more interested, on this occasion, in their existence and why Jesus uses story to grow the
kingdom of liberation.
My father was a wise and kindly priest
who did not let people off the hook with easy answers. In fact, when I think of
my dad (who died in 2002, just four years after retiring as a vicar), it is of
someone who asked questions rather than gave answers. He asked me what I was
reading when I was a boy, but did not try to tell me how to read it. He
believed that the encounter with God was something precious and not hedged by
rigid answers, rather it was an adventure land, a spacious vista, opened up
only by questions.
So let us each wrestle with the kingdom
being like a precious pearl, a sown seed, a field of wheat and thistles or
yeast worked into dough. Let us not give up on questions. And perhaps you can help each of us with your insights... and insights often come in the shape of questions, not answers.
I’ve read the whole of Matthew many times, but always in bits. To read it now in sequence is appreciate the structure that Matthew gave to it. We are nearly half-way through and we get the third of the five ‘sermons’, and Matthew introduces us to the parables – a new insight into how Jesus presented the truth of his message.
ReplyDeleteJesus relates that truth to the everyday experiences that his hearers might have had. Most of them would have sown and weeded and had to scare off the birds. The fishermen around the Sea of Galilee would have been used to sorting out the good fish from the bad, and even those who did not fish would have seen them do it. All his hearers would be familiar with mustard seeds and the size of the full-grown, mature mustard plant. All the women would have watched the yeast make the dough rise. Few of his hearers would have owned a field or traded in pearls, but they would know about those who did.
Jesus is saying the kingdom of heaven, and our experience of it, is like all these common situations. In some, he talks about the nature of the kingdom, in others, about how we respond to the news of the kingdom. For John the Baptist and Jesus the main message was, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is among you’. Matthew seems to have collected together what Jesus said about the kingdom and how we receive it, and presented it as a ‘mini’ sermon delivered from a boat on a Galilean lake. Through the parables, Jesus presents the kingdom of heaven as being worth giving up everything to acquire, as growing from small beginnings (both in the individual and in society), as being received with different levels of response by different people, as accepted by some and not others.
Jesus tells the disciples that they have been privileged with more knowledge about the kingdom than the crowds he was preaching to. They had been trained to go out on their mission preaching and healing – they had already done the ‘alpha-course’ (or perhaps in their case, the ‘alpha and omega’ course!). Jesus again introduces a glance forwards in the parables of the separating of the fish, or the wheat and the weeds, (or, later in the gospel, the sheep and the goats). They all present the idea that at some future time (the latter days) the righteous and the unrighteous will be separated. How much better to be chosen than discarded!
By implication, those who accept the kingdom can expect to live in the joy of the kingdom here on earth side by side with those who reject the kingdom and scorn it. This is just as true for us as it was for those who heard Jesus directly in Galilee. If the warnings about a day of separation at the second coming are accurate, than we should not expect to ever live in times when all follow God’s way of the kingdom. There will always be those who mock and scorn and turn aside among us, try as we may to make it otherwise. We will always have the role of salt or yeast, a small part of our worldwide community that brings hope and joy and compassion to a world that, as a whole, does not accept the Gospel. It is certainly our situation today – so we better get used to it!
The chapter ends with a little reminder that Jesus was not universally accepted in his own day. By now, he was used to the rejection of the religious leaders, and the scorn of the Pharisees (“It’s only by Beelzebub that he drives out demons”, c13, v24). But many of the crowds seem to be amazed and clamoured to hear him. Therefore, it must have been hard to receive the same kind of scorn and rejection at his home town, Nazareth (c14, 53-58). “Who does he think he is? He’s only the carpenter’s son – getting a bit above himself! Where has he got such ideas? And coming from such a nice family too!” This is a chapter that expresses the joys of believing, accepting and living in the kingdom of heaven; but it has a sting in the tail to remind us that we may find criticism, opposition, hatred, even persecution as a result. Jesus never promised it would be easy.
Last night, we were discussing the importance of prayer. My son said he found it boring, and the little one agreed. I asked them to recite the first commandment to me. That they promptly rattled off,
ReplyDelete" Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and all your strength..." .
" Do you love God? " I asked.
" Of course we do!"
" When you love someone, you want to be with them all the time. Do you agree?"
They nodded affirmatively.
" Then praying should be something you love to do. "
I went on to narrate the story of how Jess, Paul's dog, listens intently for the word " walk", and if I remember correctly, how she even recognises the spelling of it, so that the family have to find synonyms for the word.
" That's how we should be. Listen hard for God's voice."
" Ah, but He never speaks! " they shouted triumphantly.
"But he does" , I countered , recollecting the time when I had read them the story of the mustard seed. Jesus spoke of having faith as small as a mustard seed. After the story, the children had insisted on getting a little bottle and filling it with mustard seeds, from my spice cupboard,and placing it in their bedrroom; a visual reminder for them. This happened at a time when I had felt my own faith flagging. At the time , I had felt that I had received a nudge from God.
" Hmm, maybe ", they reluctantly agreed.
Is finding God's kingdom really a priority for us? How do we get our children to see this treasure. I struggle to share my faith with them in a manner that is meaningful to them. Maybe the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast are two that I can use to explain God's kingdom to them.
The smell of freshly made bread is wonderful. The homemade (not by me I hasten to add) bread has just come out of the oven and is cooling down on the wire rack in front of me. I can "smell' the Kingdom. Home and family life are where I can experience Kingdom life. Hospitality and sharing bread with friend and stranger are signs of the Kingdom. Feeding the hungry is fundamental to Kingdom building. The parable of the yeast speaks to me of finding God in the most ordinary thing of life as bread. But what about those without their daily bread? Providing for Foodbanks sows seeds of compassion and helps feed those in crisis, but building a just society when Foodbanks are no longer needed remains the goal.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate Jesus' realism in this chapter. Not everything we do will be successful or have the outcomes we desire. Not everyone will respond in the way we'd like or hope. But actually Jesus doesn't ask us to be successful but to sow seeds and leave the rest to God. Keep sowing, be faithful, continue in often unremarkable ways and God will harvest the Kingdom.
I found some hidden treasure 10 years ago when I had to clear my mother's house after her death. I discovered a box containing over 100 handwritten love letters written by my father to my mother. They are invaluable and irreplaceable. They are a priceless possession and a source of immense joy.
I have also found the treasure store of God's love through those who have sown Kingdom seeds in my life, who have helped water and nurture those seeds, through love and patience shown. And I've discovered more of God's treasure today when I was told that a group of more senior parishioners have been praying for my niece at their home Communion service. I wonder, where have you discovered God's treasure today?