I speak in the name of God, the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. Amen. So as I promised in my
sermon from last Sunday, this Sunday we get the
conclusion of this section of parables from Matthew
13. Just in this one chapter of Matthew over
the past three weeks, we have heard eight different
parables. all of which are designed to reveal
for us more about what God's kingdom will be
like. Unlike the last two weeks where we got
one parable on each Sunday, we were able to sort
of focus on that one parable. This Sunday we
have six additional parables from Jesus about
what the kingdom of heaven will be like. Sadly,
we can't break down each one of these parables,
so we'll have to look at them as a whole and
sort of draw out from them these important details
that Jesus is trying to teach us about what God's
kingdom will be like. And these stories have
so much to teach us about who God is and what
God values. In the parable of the mustard seed
and the yeast, we see a God from whom great things
are possible in all types of situations. With
God, things are not always what they seem. Even
though we have limited imaginations, we can rest
assured that God does not. From the mustard seed,
the small mustard seed, God bring forth a large
tree big enough for birds to come and make homes
in. And in this parable, we learn that even our
humble offerings are enough for God to create
something big and lasting and good. In the parable
of the yeast, we sort of have the opposite side
of the coin from the parable of the mustard seed.
In this parable, a single woman takes three measures
of flour. And I think we might have this image
of sort of like three cups of flour. But what
three measures really equals is 60 pounds of
flour. This woman takes 60 pounds of flour. And
she herself mixes in yeast until the whole thing
is leavened. So in this story, we have an idea
of God as one who deals in abundance, extravagance,
generosity, with whom there is plenty, with whom
there is always enough. We also get the sense
that God is one for whom no amount of mess, no
amount of chaos, no amount of too much is so
much that God can't do something good with it,
can't make something fruitful and whole out of
it. In the parable of the merchant and the parable
of the field, Jesus teaches us about a God who
loves us, but also how we respond to that love.
In one parable, the merchant is actively searching
for something, looking for those pearls of value.
In the other, we have a man simply working a
field. Both of them stumble upon something incredible,
and both of them realize that what they have
found is so precious that it is worth their dire
action to acquire it. In these parables, we learn
that God comes to each of us in a variety of
ways. Sometimes we're looking for God's voice.
Sometimes it breaks into our busy lives. But
these parables remind us that when we are blessed
enough to hear God's voice, that call of God
in our lives, it is worth everything we have
to follow it. These parables also work in reverse
when we think about how precious we are to God,
how time and again throughout the entirety of
the scriptures, God is shown as letting nothing
stand in the way of God's plan for reconciliation
and salvation for us. In the scriptures we see
a God who will go to any and all lengths to reach
us and to save us because God loves us. In sending
God's own Son to die for us, God shows us just
how precious we are, how God will do anything
and risk it all in order to bring us home. In
the face of the knowledge of that kind of holy
love, we are reminded that nothing in our lives
is worth as much as responding deeply and holy
to God's love. In all of these parables, both
the ones from this week and the ones from the
last few weeks, we see God more clearly as one
who seeks justice, but deals in mercy, one who
values goodness, who brings forth joy and light
and life out of everything that we go through,
a God in whom there is plenty and whom there
is an abundance, not just for us, but for all
of God's creation. All of these parables help
us understand greater truths about God and by
extension what God's kingdom will look like.
But even as we listen to these parables about
what the promised kingdom of God will look like
on earth in the future, we have to hear these
parables in a world that does not yet resemble
the one that God longs for us to inhabit. You
know for yourselves how very far this world is
from God's perfect kingdom. We are so often inundated
in our lives with pain and with grief and with
loss. We are buffeted around by greed and selfishness,
by pride and hypocrisy and fear, both from within
our own souls, but also for the people in the
world who wield power. Longing for God's perfect
kingdom in the midst of a world that is so far
off course is nothing new. In Paul's letter to
the Roman that was written some 2 ,000 years
ago, we also hear that we've been hearing from
over the past few weeks. We hear this desperation
echoing through those centuries of Christians
in all times and in all places who have felt
this sort of need to make the world that we inhabit
just a little bit more like the one God wants
for us. In last week's reading from Romans, we
heard about how all of creation is waiting, longing.
The word that Paul uses is groaning for a time
in which our world will mirror God's. And in
this week's reading, we have this beautiful sort
of poetic line about how the Spirit intercedes
for us when the world becomes too much. And the
word is really beautiful with size too deep for
words, but the Greek word is the same as creation.
The Spirit sits inside and groans for us when
we don't have words to express how far off course
the world is, how much we want it to look more
like God's kingdom. All of God's created order,
humans and creatures and the earth and the water
and the plants and the rocks and the sky, all
of it is longing for a time intensely, immensely
when God will set it all right. As we learn more
about what God's perfect kingdom will be like,
we are invited to live fully into the hope and
the promise that it will one day arrive. But
we must also remember that the work of building
up that kingdom is the work of now, the present.
God's kingdom is both the promised future and
the worked -for present. Until we can look at
the news and see the world around us mirroring
exactly the one that we read about in Scripture.
the one that we pray for every Sunday in the
Lord's Prayer, I will be done here on earth as
it is in heaven. There is still so much work
for us to do. We who have learned about the kingdom
of God, of what it should look like, we are the
ones that God is inviting to make that kingdom
as much reality as possible. God is calling each
of us. God calls us to care particularly for
those for whom the kingdom seems even further
away, the hungry, the tired, the lonely, the
forgotten, the oppressed, the marginalized, those
who are without hope. There are so many people
in this world that need to feel and hear and
see the promise of God's coming kingdom now.
And God is calling each and every one of us to
take up that work. You have gifts that are essential
for the kingdom of God. You have gifts that God
has given you, talents that are essential for
building up that kingdom now. So what are those
gifts? How are you called to use them? When you
sit down and you listen to that quiet but insistent
voice in your heart, what are you being pulled
towards to? What are you being pulled towards
into? When you watch the news, what kind of injustice
will just not let you rest? If you need help
finding what that is, come talk to me. We can
discern together. We have so many things that
you can get involved in right here at Ascension,
but I guarantee you that if you pay attention,
you will have people and things and ministries
that God will put in your path. each of us unique
work in the world. If we do a tiny part, we can
build up even more the kingdom of God here on
earth. Throughout the Gospels and especially
in these parables over the past three weeks,
Jesus tells us what God's kingdom will be like
and what the hallmarks of that kingdom will be.
Things like mercy, and joy and hope and kindness
and love and compassion and welcome and justice
and reconciliation and peace. But even as God
invites us to look toward that future with hope
and believe firmly in the promises of that assured
salvation, we know that the goal of the kingdom
isn't just about tomorrow. It is also very much
about today. It is about working with God right
now to bring about that kingdom in the present.
And until the world around us looks like the
one that God promises, there is so much work
for us to do and so ministry set for us to accomplish.
Amen.