July 30, 2023
Pentecost 9
Lectionary 17
Epiphany, Winnipeg
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
You know how it is when you get that first taste of your favourite season coming near? If you’re a winter person like me it’s that first chilly breath from the north, some time in late September, and I breathe in and it feels different in my nose and my lungs and right away I can feel what it’s like to be bundled up, or to be somewhere on skis, and I can hear snow crunching underfoot. It might still be hitting the mid-twenties outside, but a single little breath of cool wind comes along and I know that winter is near.
OK, so now I’ve made some of you depressed, so I’ll try it the other way for the summer people. It’s April and maybe there’s even still snow on the ground, but it’s been above freezing and the spring thaw means business and you can smell the damp air; it’s the smell of warmth on the way. Those first whiffs of warm air, and the sounds of a few more birds, and the sight of water trickling and then flowing down the gutters…. It’s like summer comes along, and you can feel the sun on the balcony on a warm July day already, even though it’s months away. Or you can feel the boat rolling with the waves underneath you even if rivers and lakes are still frozen, or you almost see the wildflowers even if only in your imagination, but they seem real already. It’s like summer brushes by, announces its presence, and then slips away. And you know it’s there. It’s here. It’s coming near.
Think of something like that when you hear Jesus talk about the Reign of Heaven. Right from the start of his ministry he’s been saying, “Repent, the reign of heaven has come near. It’s right here, close at hand.” It’s not a place where you’ll go. It’s coming right here; you can almost touch it, like that whisp of wind or a hint of change in the weather, that first hint of warm summer air. The reign of heaven has come near.
And one more thing to try, just for now, when you hear Jesus talk about the reign of heaven: Remember that there is another kingdom, another empire at work all around while Jesus speaks. What we now call Israel and Palestine was then a Roman colony, so Jesus and all the people around him live under the reign of the Roman Empire. Rome was big, the empire was strong, people talked about the Emperor like they talked about a god. Rome wanted money from the places and the people it ruled, people mattered only because the Empire could make money off their backs. Rome wanted power and control, and Rome could be brutal. Think crucifixion, which was a common way for the Roman authorities to punish criminals and encourage the people to behave. That’s the way the reign of Rome could be.
When Jesus talks about the reign of heaven, he’s talking about a reign that is different than the reign of Rome, or the reign of the Emperor.
So he says things like this: “The reign of heaven is like a mustard seed that starts out tiny but it grows into a much bigger something that provides shelter and a home for birds…” And the reign of heaven sounds like hospitality and welcome and shelter and safety. It’s a picture of a different reign than the reign of the emperor and his governors and armies.
Now we don’t live under an empire like the people in first century Palestine did. But all over the world, even here, we seem to live in systems and structures and societies that think it's OK if there are just people around with no homes; birds with no shelter. Even at our best, we haven’t figured out how to change that and make sure there’s a home for everyone. Or maybe we know, but for some reason we just won’t do it…
But Jesus talks about a different realm, that’s small like a seed and maybe we can’t even see it. But it’s there, and it will grow, and in the realm of heaven people matter and their lives matter and there’s home. There’s shelter. You and I might have had a taste of that shelter ourselves. Have you travelled and stayed with friends on a trip? They’ve got a mustard bush where you can find shelter. The reign of heaven is near. I was once a stranger in another country and a stranger there welcomed me into their home. For a brief time, just twenty-four hours, the realm of heaven came near to us, and there was shelter for whoever needed it. Have you experienced shelter? Under your own roof? Under someone else’s roof? Maybe when you had no way to provide your own shelter? The reign of heaven is like a seed that becomes a tree so that the birds of the air have shelter.
Then Jesus says more: “The reign of heaven is like a woman who mixes yeast in the dough and the dough grows and becomes food.
We don’t live under an empire the way that first century Jews and other Palestinians did, but we seem to live in systems and structures and societies that seem to think it's OK if there are just people around who don’t have enough food. We act like it’s just one of those things, or we blame the ones who have no food, as though it’s their fault, or we decide that it’s bad for the economy to provide too much for too many. Or honestly, we just haven’t figured out, or maybe haven’t wanted to figure out, or we know but we’re afraid to try, how to make a world where nobody is hungry.
But the reign of heaven is different than that. It’s like yeast, and you can’t see it, but it’s there, and that realm of heaven is all about leavening, and growing, and making the stuff of life, the bread of life, food, more food than you’ve seen. All coming along from what looks to be nothing. Just a little yeast.
Maybe we’ve seen that too. We see something like that realm of heaven coming near when a meal is delivered to the Urban, or homemade muffins to the school next door. Some ingredients in a cabinet at church and cupboards at home, all come together to make a meal. Or have you ever just had something to eat when you’ve been so hungry, and you’re filled for awhile and it feels so good? The reign of heaven is like something you can’t see but it becomes food. Or when you have a dinner party with friends there’s this little taste of the realm of heaven, where life tastes good and the company is great and the food is always enough and more. Even a Whopper or a Quarter Pounder or sushi from Safeway speaks of the same thing: the realm of heaven is like something small that becomes food, taste, the stuff of life for all. It’s why we eat here at a communion table, like we have for two thousand years. We eat together, bread and wine – things that need yeast! - that’s what the realm of heaven is like. We might not even see it…but then a meal breaks out. The reign of heaven is like that, you know….
It is like yeast that you can’t see but it becomes food…. It’s like a mustard seed so small, but it becomes shelter, a safe place; the reign of heaven is like that. And even if we can’t see it, sometimes we can feel it, like that first breath of a changing season.
That’s the reign of heaven.
Jesus takes one more stab at it. Well, two. First, the reign of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. It’s worth everything, it really matters!
And then he goes on: The reign of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value the merchant went and sold all that they had and bought that pearl of great price.”
Did you notice? The reign of heaven isn’t just like the treasure that someone finds and buys; it works the other way too. The reign of heaven is like a merchant who has found the pearls.
So maybe the reign of heaven is like this: you are a fine pearl, a pearl of great price. You are a pearl of great price. Look at the people around you: They are too! So are the handful of people who have been painting the church these past two weeks. My neighbour who goes to Tim Horton’s on Saturday morning and comes home with two coffees for herself and her partner and a piece of bacon for their dog is a pearl of great price. Kids in a playground – pearls of great price. Whoever it is who stole the flowers from our patio is a pearl of great price. The person on the median with the cardboard sign that says, “Anything at all helps, God Bless!” is a pearl of great price; innocent and frightened citizens of Niger are pearls of great price, and so are the people who have overthrown the government there. The owner of the garage next door is a priceless pearl, and a CEO in a corner office who loves their work or who is just so tired from all those expectations and deadlines and targets is a pearl of great price, worth more than all of the money they could ever make or lose. Pearls of great price, everyone. The reign of God is like that.
So when you get any kind of message that you are something less than a pearl of great worth, stand up, put your hands on your hips and say, “No – I am a pearl of great worth.” And when we hear a message about someone else that says that person or those people or that country matter less or are a lost cause we can stand up and put our hands on our hips and say, “Nope, it’s not like that. That person, those people, that place, they’re all pearls of great price.” That’s how it is in the reign of God.
And you know, the reign of heaven is like this: God took a look and said, “I’ve found the pearl of great price, and I’ll give anything for them. Now that I’ve found them I’ll give anything for them.” And so a seed is buried in a tomb. God gives up everything. And on the third day a shrub, a tree, a vine, a loaf of risen bread, a life steps out of the ground to give life for us all.
AMEN.