The Kingdom of Heaven is like...

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. In the name of...

Intro

The Kingdom of Heaven. Is it in heaven, or is it here on earth? Yes.

Is it here and now, or some time in the future? Yes.

Does God, in His sovereignty build it all on His own, or does He tell people like us that we are responsible for building it? Yes.

The parables in today’s readings highlight, to me, that there is a partnership, albeit very lopsided, when it comes to The Kingdom. The kingdom invests 100% in us, we invest 100% in the kingdom, and the work gets done

Mustard Seed Kingdom

Matthew 13:31–32 ESV

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

The Kingdom is the seed. Do you put it up on a shelf? Do you acknowledge that it exists and do nothing with it? Do you plant it and are disappointed when it makes more Mustard and you wanted apples?

What do you do with a seed? You plant it in a place where it can grow. Do you make it grow? No. That is it’s nature, its design. It then makes more seeds to make more plants. You plant one seed and after some years more plants that make more seeds

Leaven Kingdom

Matthew 13:33 ESV

He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Wait, doesn’t Jesus also use leaven as a picture of pride? Of sin? Yes. But leaven wasn’t forbidden. The three measures of wheat is a reference to a fellowship offering, going all the way back to when God appeared to Abraham along with two angels, Sarah made three cakes/bread, and they ate.

Did she sprinkle some leaven on a pile of wheat and hoped it would turn into bread? The leaven, once mixed in, does its thing.

Both of these parables are interesting examples of faith plus works.

Treasure Kingdom

Matthew 13:44 ESV

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

If you found something really valuable in a field or a lot, what would you be tempted to do? Just take it! That’s stealing. The kingdom is acquired through honest means. If you own the field you own everything in the field. Full devotion. All in.

“Everything he had.” Joyfully! Even the things he loved, the things he thought were good. Your politics? Your morality? “But I believe I have God’s.” Maybe you do. But what if you don’t? Galatians 2:20.

Merchant Kingdom

Matthew 13:45–46 ESV

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

This time the Kingdom sold everything it had. Jesus. Romans 5:8. Now who owns the pearl? Whose property is it? Who does it belong to? Who can do whatever he wants with it?

Fishing Net Kingdom

Matthew 13:47–50 ESV

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The point of the net is to catch fish. “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” When are the fish sorted; before they are captured by the net, or after? After. God sorts them out. I have a lot of questions about this parable. One take away for me is simply this; I/we are involved in the casting of the kingdom net, God is the one who sorts them out. We don’t not cast the net for fear of gathering the wrong kind of fish.

Outro

The Kingdom of Heaven invested 100% of itself in you and me. We are learning how to invest 100% of ourselves. To continue to do so, not just once but ongoing, we need hearts and minds like that demonstrated in this week’s collect.

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and to give more that we either desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us of those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.