Wars have been fought over differences seemingly smaller than the contrasts we see between the five parables in this passage from Matthew’s gospel. There were riots in the streets of Constantinople during the 4th century over whether Jesus was of “like” substance with the father or “the same” substance with the father. In Greek the difference is one of only a single letter. Martin Luther and John Calvin fell out over the exact nature of Christ’s presence in the sacrament of Communion, both quoting Scripture to support their understanding. Today many denominations dismiss or accept one another on the basis of women’s ordination - both, again, quoting Bible verses which support these widely divergent views. My old boss at the Pillsbury Company, the one who opened my eyes to the intellectual validity and moral power of Christianity, cut me off his Christmas card list after my ordination. Some people have rejected the authority of Scripture altogether on the basis of discrepancies between one account and another of the same event - whether it’s creation itself, or David’s first meeting with King Saul, or the exact details of Jesus’ birth.
What on earth do we do with these differences?
Well, obviously I can’t deal with each one of them. But there are three basic principles that are helpful whenever we come upon what appear to be contradictions. One, don’t deny that they are there. Two, don’t ignore them: everything in Scripture is there for a purpose. And three, remember that Scripture rewards the most intense scrutiny - if the Holy Spirit is invited to be your companion and tutor.
Well, are the differences between these parables really that important? Perhaps not. As far as I know, no-one has ever killed anyone over them. But I think the fact that Jesus chose so many ways to describe the kingdom of God tells us as much about what that kingdom is than each description by itself.
A mustard seed. A bit of yeast. A hidden treasure. An businessman. A fishing net. What’s going on here?
The first two are really fairly similar, at first glance. The mustard seed, which is very small, when planted becomes very large. The image of yeast is also one of growth, of spreading, of gaining influence beyond its original quite modest appearance.
So the idea is, isn’t it, that the kingdom of God grows out of very humble beginnings, that God works secretly with our small contributions to make extraordinary things happen. He takes a single faithful act - like the refusal of one woman or man to bow to Ba’al or to Pharoah or to Caesar or to Communism or to segregation - and nations can fall from the ripples that spread from that single act. Nothing has fallen yet as a result of what happened two months ago in Silver Spring, Maryland, but it made headlines all over the country. After a fellow student objected, and the attorney general agreed that prayer, even by a student, violated the Constitution, graduating senior Julie Schenk’s plan to deliver an invocation at the graduation ceremony was turned into a 30-second moment of silence instead. Into the middle of that silence a man in the crowd began to recite The Lord’s Prayer aloud; virtually the entire 4,000 member audience, including many students, joined in.
So yes, great things coming from small beginnings is certainly characteristic of the kingdom of God. After all, who would have expected that a baby born in a stable would be worshiped and followed all over the world?
The other piece of it is that the seed has to be planted, and the yeast has to be added to the dough. God doesn’t do it all by himself. Even the smallest action taken on God’s behalf and in Jesus’ name will have repercussions far beyond what we can imagine. And our inaction is equally significant. Like the yeast, which usually symbolizes corruption, actions taken and words spoken which do not honor God - or which ignore or omit God - can corrupt society as surely as godly behavior can preserve it.
But what about the treasure? The “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.” How is a mustard seed a treasure?
Well, that’s not such a big leap, either, is it. It just takes us to the next step. That parable reminds us that the full flowering of the kingdom of God is still hidden from us, even though truly present. Jesus tells us to focus on the future, the promised inheritance, and urges us to cash in all our other assets to get in on the ground floor - even though to the unseeing eye what we take home with our purchase has no more value than a mustard seed or a bit of yeast. It’s not a glamour stock, so to speak.
Those of you who are interested in the stock market should find this principle very familiar. If you’re in it for the long haul, go for growth, not income. And there’s no capital gains tax when you cash in on these investments, either!
But if the kingdom of God is a treasure hidden in the field, how can it be the merchant saving up for that spectacular pearl, as well? Is Jesus mixing his metaphors, or do the two parables really mean exactly the same thing?
Well, aside from the fact that my theology doesn’t have quite enough flex to think that Jesus was confused about the nature of the kingdom, I think the two are pretty closely related. But the second parable adds something to the first. The kingdom of God isn’t just something off in the future, something external that we get like a new car. The kingdom of God is also us - it’s you and me, the people of God, growing and grown into the likeness of Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God is characterized by fulfilled relationships, complete fulfillment in our restored relationship with God, and finally in harmony with one another and with creation. But our capacity for being fulfilled in any kind of relationship doesn’t come by magic, or automatically. It has to do with choices we make along the way, the kind of character that has grown in us out of the values that we have pursued. C. S. Lewis points out one of the consequences of eternal life:
"There are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only 70 years. But which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live forever. Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy are gradually getting worse - so gradually that the increase in 70 years will not be very noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a million years."
So the kingdom of God is made up of a lot of things: the little actions that have great consequences, the ultimate reward of choosing God, the people of God themselves...
But a net? What does a net have to do with seeds and treasures? This parable is really pretty much a retake on the more familiar parable of the wheat and the tares: that is, the one about grain and weeds growing up together, and the owner issuing orders not to get rid of the weeds until the harvest, when the wheat will be gathered up and the weeds burned. Again, the meaning is fairly clear: the righteous will have to co-exist right alongside of sinners right up until judgment day - and what’s more, it’s not so easy to tell them apart, so don’t go around trying to do any weeding of your own just to help God along. The dragnet can’t discriminate between good fish and bad fish, it pulls in everything in its path.
The big difference here between the agricultural and fishing motifs seems to be that the disciples are fishers of men, and Jesus is probably telling them to be careful how they view the people who respond to their proclamation of the Gospel. Some will respond immediately and yet fall away, others will look unresponsive but in the long run turn out to be more faithful and committed. It’s a return to one of the original themes of this series of parables, the theme of hidden-ness, the recognition that things are not yet clear. It’s a reminder to take the reality of the kingdom on trust, even amidst all the chaos of our present circumstances.
And lastly we have the image of the master of the household, bringing out both new things and old from his storehouse. That is not, strictly speaking, an image of the kingdom itself. But it reminds us not to be too hasty to embrace a new theology, a new program, a new fashion in worship or outreach or whatever. Again, there are Scripture verses that encourage innovation - the one about not putting new wine into old wineskins, for instance; but there also ones that remind us that our roots go deep and that God hasn’t changed. “Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it,” says Jeremiah [v. 6:6]. Radical change isn’t something we’re much given to, here in Clayton; I think we’ve balanced old and new very well, retaining a solid, classic Biblical worldview with really innovative ways of presenting and living the Gospel, such as the Counseling Center, our drama programs, and Summer Art Camp. The Kingdom of God is both always new, and never new. Again, C. S. Lewis has the right phrase: “Anything that is not eternal, is eternally out of date.” Actually, it’s not quite right. It should be, “Anything that is eternal, is never out of date.”
So what is the kingdom of God, anyway?
The kingdom of God is both now and not yet, past, present, and future... and they’re all connected in ways that we can only barely begin to imagine.
The kingdom of God is us - what we do for God, and what God does in us and for us and through us.
The kingdom of God is BIG. It’s bigger than we are, but it’s still mostly hidden from us - partly because the time isn’t right yet, and partly because we can’t see very well, or maybe because aren’t looking in the right places.
The kingdom of God is REALLY BIG. It’s like a wall, like a tree, like a rope, like a spear. (Ref the Indian parable of
the blind men and the elephant.)
The kingdom of God is like a farmer who shared his award winning seed corn with his neighbors. One year a newspaper reporter asked him. “How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?” the reporter asked. “Why sir,” said the farmer, “didn’t you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.”
The kingdom of God is like a man who looked in a new way at a food grown and eaten only by poor folks, the peanut, and developed over three hundred by products from it: cereals, oils, dyes, soaps, and food substitutes. It turned out that the crop restored the soil which had been exhausted by over cultivating the cash crops of tobacco and cotton.
The kingdom of God is like a seed which a woman planted in her garden, and when the time came for the harvest, the tree branches were groaning under the weight of hundreds of large and beautiful pearls when rained down upon everyone who had taken shelter there, and they all became rich beyond imagining; while those who had scorned her shelter found their hands and pockets and safety deposit boxes full of dust.
Every act that you perform is a seed of one kind or another. Something will grow from it. What will your seeds produce?
