The Kingdom of Heaven is like
Part of Jesus’ spiritual genius comes from his use of parables, these short, simple, stories that stick. You hear them, and you’re hooked. They begin to weave into your heart and capture your imagination. They sit with you as your subconscious works on them, and they on your life—you chew on them, until they begin to chew on you.
Some spots in scripture get used as proof texts, not so parables—instead they are truth texts, they speak truth into being.
Let us pray.
Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like… a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
The Kingdom of heaven is like… an apple seed planted in a soil packed toilet paper roll by a grandma and grandson as a science experiment for school. The seed sprouted and grew, and eventually they planted it outside, where it grew still more, and look, it provides shade on these hot days and tart green apples for all who hunger!
Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like… yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
The Kingdom of heaven is like… a family who watched a YouTube video about creating a sour dough starter. One night, the daughter snuck into the kitchen and took a pinch of it from the mason jar and hid that little bit in 50 pounds of flour… The family spent the next two days baking—it was enough bread for the entire block and then some to spare!
“The kingdom of heaven is like… 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.
The Kingdom of heaven is like… a scientist rushing out the door for a two week vacation, and leaving his lab a mess. When he returned he found one of his petri dishes fuzzy with mold, and upon closer inspection, he discovered the mold had destroyed the bacteria that causes a staph infection. From this discovery came penicillin, and most other antibiotics we use to this day.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like… a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The Kingdom of heaven is like… a virologist, who came out of retirement because she had an idea for how to treat the virus, and to her nothing else mattered. She moved to Atlanta to be closer to the CDC, she moved into a Motel 6 room just off site, and sought nothing but a cure. And, after much searching and great sacrifice, she found it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like… a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out 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 furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The Kingdom of heaven is like… an ax working its way through a forest filled with trees of every kind. The lumberjack separated out trees that were good for building and trees that were good for kindling. So too, it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate evil from good, and in the end all shall be made right.
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore 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.”
Echoing Jesus’ words to the disciples, my challenge to you this week, is to let his parables rumble around in you, be curious about the world around you, and, when it strikes you, re-tell one of Jesus’ parables—re-mix Jesus words in such a way that they speak to today. A+A
