Parables of the Kingdom

         I love parables
—good ones wake us up at midnight 
and beckon for us to think them through just one more time
—to dream the story 
until it is real!
To chew on it until every dribble of flavor is tasted.

         Yet, parables are tricky things, 
we chew on them, 
until they start to chew on us… 
transform us, 
bring us into the story.

 

         Today’s parable, 
the Parable of the Sower, 
is Jesus’ parable, 
about his parables 
(kinda meta right!).

         Jesus is explaining what is happening 
when he tells these many tales about God’s Kingdom, 
when he seeds the crowd’s imaginations, 
sowing them with stories 
that touch upon the ephemeral something that happens 
when we experience the presence of God.

 

Prayer

         Imagine this great crowd listening to Jesus, 
bunched up all the way to the shore line, 
gathered from the sand dunes to the water’s edge.

         Now, he regularly does this
—tells them about the Kingdom of Heaven using parables
—Words of the Kingdom.

         This day though, it is a little different
—it is a description of what is happening
—what he’d doing to the crowd 
as he is doing it!

 

         Jesus regularly tells crowds stories about 
The Kingdom of Heaven
—the reign of God
— when the universe flows as it is created to
 –when you know that God is present…

         To quote Luther from the Small Catechism: 
“God’s Kingdom comes on its own… 
but we ask that it might also come to us.” 
With these stories, 
Jesus is preparing the crowd 
so they don’t miss it!

 

         The Kingdom of Heaven is like! 
(and for the sake of brevity, we’ll stick to what Jesus says in Matthew) 
The Kingdom of Heaven is like!

         Discovering secret treasures! 
There is nothing more important!

         A wedding feast with unexpected guests! 
Chaos and celebration, 
gathering and a long night.

         A person making a vicious power play, and it comes back to bite them. 
The balance between forgiveness and judgment.

         The budding of a field, revealing what was planted. 
It all gets sorted out in the end.

         A fishing boat making a good catch
—some of it stinks but wow, what a haul!

         Siblings hashing it out. 
They can finally name where words and deeds align and diverge.

         Workers in a vineyard. 
The owner’s generosity is overwhelming and even offensive.

         Being reminded of forgotten good works. 
It is always a surprise when you find out that you once entertained angels unaware.

         

         Jesus tells all of these parables
—these words of the Kingdom
—and they have an effect. 
They do something to these folk on the shore, 
straining to hear over the sea’s whooshing. 
Mesmerized by these stories he has sown in their hearts.

 

         Some hear these parables and are like a tight packed path
So long walked upon that nothing can catch, 
and the devil snatches the story from their heart.
         Others internalize the parable, 
make it their own, 
they understand that there is a meaning in it for them. 
They now know the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

         Some receive Jesus’ words with joy,
it sprouts up like unsupported tomato plants
and crash to the ground
and bake in the sun
and they are alone.

         Others welcome the seed down deep
it can grow in a community 
where those stories are true,
where the joy of Jesus can be cultivated.

 

         Some see this good thing, 
named experiences of the divine
as a thing among things.
Idols, like funhouse mirrors, 
make the remembrance of God coming near
so impossibly hard… fleeting, 
compared to worry and wealth
…a crown of thorns.

         Others are so moved by the truth of Jesus’ words 
that they make the Kingdom of Heaven 
their primary concern,
the center of who they are,
and they chase after it, 
whatever the consequences.

 

         Meaning, connection, a clear center… 
truly that is good soil.

         Good soil, from which can spring much fruit!

-Generous hearts and grand celebration. 
-Community gathered in joy and in sorrow. 
-Repentance, forgiveness, rejoicing. 
-Wakeful watchers for the Kingdom come.
-Treasuring and caring for all who experience grand reversals.

 

         That is what happened on that rocky beach in Galilee.
You’ve heard of life imitating art.
In this case it was parable interpreting life interpreting parable.

         There, Jesus sows parables into all kinds of imaginations, 
some compact, 
some rocky, 
some thorn filled, 
some good soil.
Telling a story about their experience of Kingdom Words…
rejection or transformation, 
fruitfulness or withering.

         Let anyone with ears listen.