A seed. Yeast. A hidden treasure. A pearl. A net full of fish. These are the things to which Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven.
Really? That’s the best that Jesus can do? And then we find that the disciples do, in fact, on occasion, lie to Jesus: do you understand this? He asks. Er….yes? So he gives them another: “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
I’m going to let you ponder that. So, as far as Jesus says today, if you think you understand what he’s said, it’s as simple as going through your treasure (whatever that may be) and separating it into two piles: old, and new.
Then what, Jesus? Where’s the punchline? Should we not keep what is old? The next time I visit my mother, should the 300-year-old cut crystal Macintyre christening bowl be given to my children?
Because the truth is, our treasure is both ‘old’ and ‘new’. Even the ways we interpret the treasure of Scripture: we find joy in Paul’s passages about the love of God poured out for us in Christ, but widely disregard the number of things that are labelled as ‘abominations’ by the various writers of the books: eating with Egyptians, leftovers, eagles, inaccurate weights and measures…the list is long. Jesus eats on the Sabbath, eats with sinners, looks for the lost…his treasure, too, is both ‘old’ and ‘new’.
So maybe that’s why Jesus picks such a diverse group of things to which he can compare the kingdom of heaven: old and new, small and big; unlikely things are made precious when God is involved. What’s most interesting about these little parables: Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom of heaven is NOT someplace we go when we die. He’s not telling a story about the halls of Asgard or
I remember coordinating a VBS one summer when one volunteer came to me. “I have a problem,” He said. Anticipating any number of things, I went running back with him to his area. There he unveiled his problem to me: it’s not big enough! I need to find another, a better one! It’s got to be bigger!
Do you wonder what his crisis was? It was simple: he’d looked for a picture of a mustard tree, and had found one. To his dismay, he found that this ‘mightiest of trees’ was about three and a half feet high. He was trying to trace it onto the wall of his room, but had found the picture too puny. He was expecting a redwood; not a shrub.
And I remember the first time I thought I’d help my mother and make bread while she was out getting groceries. I put all the ingredients together, but one thing didn’t make sense: 8 cups of flour and one freaking tablespoon of yeast? Had to be a mistake. So I used 1 cup of yeast.
We never did get the dough out of the cupboard, and that house probably still smells like a distillery.
Something so small that we overlook its significance – that’s the kingdom of heaven.
And then there are the people Jesus talks about: a treasure-hunter, a merchant, a fisherman. Are we them? Are they us? I don’t know. I don’t think so.
I think Jesus uses those stories to show us just how passionate God is about seeking us and finding us. Think of God grubbing through the dirt and mud of a world in search of us, finding us, and then running out and buying that entire world just to make us his own.
Or God as the merchant of fine pearls, seeking high and low. And finding one pearl of great value, rushing out sell all that God has to redeem it.
Or God as the fisherman, bringing up the great harvest of ourselves, patiently winnowing through us until he has cast all that is empty and dead and sinful away and has left only what is good and right and perfect; only what is mindful of God’s Son.
I think Jesus tells us stories about the kingdom of heaven so that we stop thinking of it in terms of something we can sneak into if we’re good enough, and instead start living like it’s right here, within, and amongst us – as he says later in the gospel of Luke, chapter 12.
Today, we get a sneak peak of that, as Gabriel Micha is brought by God into the kingdom of heaven through the sacrament of holy baptism. Gabriel is born into this world; a world that doesn’t work the way it should – a world of sin and death. But today, he is becomes part of much larger story, a story were trees and bushes mean that God loves him more than life itself; that God was willing to die so that little Gabe can live forever.
And today Gabriel joins a rather exclusive family, too – a family of pearls, of great treasure that has been uncovered - as everybody here today on this great occasion is caught in the great net of God’s love. Because – and I’m sorry if I didn’t make this clear when we did baptism prep together – today Gabe is caught. Caught in the love of God, who through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus -- purchased the world.
And as the apostle Paul promised, and he saw in his world how people quickly corrupted the gospel of Jesus, and then how those who believed were persecuted – if God is for Gabriel – if God is for us – then who can stand against us?
Nobody. Nobody is a better seeker than God, nobody is a better fisher. And what’s better – what’s even more important than that – is that God is a keeper. For he keeps what is his. In our baptism, we become the pearls of great price that are purchased at such a high cost, as God gave himself so that we may be become members of his body; and nothing can separate us from that grace and love of God in Jesus Christ.
I am convinced of that: neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let the people of God say amen.
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