Parables are stories containing truth,
that reveals itself gradually,
then with a big ahah!
They are like a tea bag,
they steep in you until you are transformed.
They sit with you until they become part of your story.
You chew on a parable,
until it starts to chew on you.
In order to help you digest today’s parable
—I’m going to tell you version of it 6 times,
to help you hear what it is saying about the Reign of God as:
-A Gift,
-An experience to be shared,
-A reality more pressing in Christ’s absence,
-Always a surprise
-An unconventional relationship with God,
-The answer to a riddle
—What increases where it abounds and diminishes where it is absent?
Love.
Let us pray:
The Kingdom of Heaven is not, but is like,
a pension managed.
A lifetime of work and savings entrusted to another,
to good stewards,
good managers.
Like the life of Jesus,
his life’s work,
given and entrusted to others.
His life,
given to those disciples,
given too, to us.
They were ministered to by the Messiah
—they got to follow after him,
experience the generosity of God found in him.
It is God acting first,
sharing his son with them,
with us.
Generosity and trust,
so far beyond our comprehension
—poured out in the person of Jesus.
The Gospel
—God’s love for the whole world,
embodied in Jesus
—blessed by him,
the beatitudes busting forth
upon the miserable many,
Many made whole
by the God we find in Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not, but is like,
fruitful commerce,
each time it circulates in the community
it becomes more than it was before,
touching and touching again
hands and hearts.
Like the community entrusted with the Gospel,
God’s most precious gift.
They’ve been ministered to by the Messiah,
now they are tasked to go out and be merciful…
The mission is mercy.
Be salt,
bring out the flavor already present,
preserve that which is good.
Be light,
so we can see the colorful myriad of wonders
that is the spectrum of God’s love.
So we can navigate this blessed world well.
Be fruitful in a Beatitudes kind of way
—so that your witness:
-names the poor as possessors of the Kingdom,
-and the meek inheritors of the earth,
-brings comfort to the mourning and persecuted,
-fills those who hunger for righteousness
and thirst for justice,
-Makes mercy,
-shows God to the simple of heart,
and peace to a world
that has forgot that we are all God’s Children!
The Kingdom of Heaven is not, but is like,
the MacArthur Genius Grant
—said to be cursed…
its given to a younger person who does something amazing in their field,
transforms the world in some way
—they’re given a couple $100,000
to do an equally amazing thing as a follow-up,
sort of start-up money, for a second act…
and to a recipient,
each one fades into obscurity
—they can’t replicate their earlier success…
they fear failure,
they get cautious,
the pressure is just too much,
the accolades make them afraid…
Like those who wait for Jesus,
and that waiting warps something in them
—makes a mean Messiah out of our loving Lord.
They get cautious when they ought to be bold,
they try to bottle the Spirit when it is meant to be freed,
the pressure of being a community of God’s people, gets heavy.
Somewhere along the line
they have forgotten one of the watchwords of Matthew’s Gospel
—Jesus won’t be around,
but he’s among us.
They seek to find him in strange places,
but miss him in places stranger still
—on a cross,
beside criminals,
executed.
They seek the executioner,
when their Lord is the executed.
They wait,
and grow tired,
burn out,
drop out,
forget…
forget that he is faithful.
They cannot stay awake with him,
even one hour.
They are afraid.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not, but is like,
a father fretting about his daughter,
who he has not seen for many years,
she’s been abroad
—he is waiting at the train station,
will she come,
what will she be like?
Like expecting a lion,
and finding a lamb
—like calling for a King,
but he does not wear your crown,
he kneels and washes your feet.
The stunning surprise of a Savior
who does no damage,
instead he heals.
He does not conquer by
breaching the walls of Jerusalem
and slaughtering Caesar’s men,
instead,
he is slain outside the walls,
outside the walls,
with all of us.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not, but is like,
a dopy billiards player
who turns pool shark
when the stakes get high enough,
and uses the proceeds to pay for the orphanage.
Like this ner-do-well, Jesus
that the religious leaders foam their mouths at.
He expands the table
to welcome all the people of the land.
The rules of the game are purity and righteousness,
and he imputes purity and righteousness
on roughhewn humanity…
he goes out and reaps among those who are unacceptable,
he gathers from among the least, last, and lost.
Look at those who follow him
—revolutionaries and tax collectors,
a clutch of women and fishermen,
the scattered,
are drawn in by him.
He pays the interest
with strange coin
—the self-righteous
will call it dishonest wealth
—his very self.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not, but is like,
mustard seeds
—small grown large,
and yeast
—as transformative as salt and light,
bread enough and more
for the joyous feast…
The Kingdom of Heaven is LOVE.
A precious gift,
doubled when shared.
“Here is my love twice over
—share it and it overflows.”
“Here is my love, five times over
—share it and it is overabundant.”
“Here is my love,
and you roughly shove it
into the ground,
bury it…
bury it
because you assume the worst of the Lover,
you decide I am a frightening and ungracious Master…
that kills love.
That is hellish,
a closed lonely room,
where teeth are ground down to the gums
and there is much sorrow.
But even that
—love buried
—shall be love raised from the dead.
The Kingdom of Heaven is a gift, shared and spread,
felt more insistently after Christ’s crucifixion.
It is head twistingly surprising and breaks with religious convention.
It is Love.
A&A
