Pentecost 6

Pentecost 6 (Matthew 13:31-33,44-52) The Kingdom of heaven is like

The Bible says little about heaven.

The purpose of the Bible is to reveal the problem confronting humanity and the solution God offers.

From time to time people ask me about heaven. Usually the people who ask this question are very young or very old. The young want to know such things as whether their pet dog or cat will be in heaven. I normally give them the answer Billy Graham used to give. If you want your pet in heaven it will be there. The very old want some assurance that heaven is real and that they qualify to enter into it.

In Jesus’ day, virtually all people understood the Kingdom of Heaven to be here on earth. Jews and pagans alike believed heaven was the realm of the divine, earth was the place for human beings, and the underworld was the place of the dead.

When people in Israel heard Jesus proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven they had a very specific and detailed understanding about what that meant. They understood that the Messiah would crush the enemies of Israel, destroy Rome, establish Jerusalem as the capital of a new world empire, enslave the nations and bring wealth and prosperity to the faithful. They also believed the Messiah would select the one true expression of Judaism and then violently suppress all other sects and religions.

Jesus knew this story very well. He had grown up hearing it from his friends, neighbors, teachers and priests. He also knew it was simply not true. He knew it was not true for two reasons. He studied the scriptures and he immersed himself in the love of God the Father through worship and prayer.

Jesus knew the Kingdom of heaven was not a military, political, and economic structure. The Kingdom of heaven is the steadfast holy unconditional love of the Triune God made manifest to us and for us in Jesus Christ.

This was not what the people in Jesus’ time expected. It is still not what most people most of the time in our culture expect. Popular culture in the first century was looking for the right leader who would usher in the right government in order to establish the right religion. Fundamentalists in many religions in our time share this understanding.

What the mainstream culture seems to expect in terms of the Kingdom of Heaven is self indulgent entitlement. Some one once said that how we view God reveals how we view ourselves. Our image of the Kingdom of Heaven reflects the culture we live in more than the transcendent reality of heaven. We can test this idea by examining popular TV shows, movies and books that deal with the subject of the afterlife.

Jesus’ first century teaching about the kingdom is ideally suited to challenge twenty first century cultural assumptions. The parables in today’s gospel passage are drawn from ordinary life. They don’t use religious jargon or abstract philosophical concepts. The parables are short and to the point- well suited for the limited attention spans of modern people.

What is important to hear is the introduction to each of the parables. Jesus says: the Kingdom of heaven is like. This is a comparison of a transcendent spiritual reality to an ordinary aspect of our lives here and now. The Kingdom of Heaven is not a mustard seed. The Kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. It is like a mustard seed insofar as it starts small.

When Jesus teaches what the kingdom of heaven is he states: the kingdom of heaven in within you. The kingdom of heaven is the steadfast holy unconditional love revealed to us and made real for us in Jesus Christ. The kingdom of heaven is made manifest in us through a personal relationship Jesus Christ.

Like a mustard seed, the kingdom starts small, almost imperceptible at first. It seems insignificant in comparison to the arena of politics, economics, law and war. Yet, like the mustard seed it contains the fullness of the pattern, plan and purpose of God. It grows and develops and transcends all expectations.

Like yeast, the kingdom works unseen and yet without fail to effect an amazing transformation in the lives of those who embrace it.

Like buried treasure it is a hidden wonder that we rejoice to discover.
Like the priceless pearl it is a treasure of worth and beauty for which we willingly sacrifice our time, attention and money.

Like a fishing net, the invitation to the kingdom is universal. All are welcome. All will be included who truly value and desire the gift.

The gift is the personal relationship God the Father offers us in God the Son, Jesus Christ, by the invitation of God the Holy Spirit at work in the world.

The great question is: do we value this treasure? Are we willing to devote our time and attention to the relationship as the treasure hunter and the gem merchant were willing to devote their time to acquire what they valued? Are we willing to grow in grace as the mustard seed grows slowly and surely into the greatest of shrubs? Are we becoming the treasure fit for the King’s house?

The kingdom of heaven is within you. It is the divine love, the agape, you choose to receive, value, cultivate and bring forth in your thoughts and words and deeds. It is not something we can earn. It is a gift. It is not a basic human right. It is the very pattern of the universe. It is not a religion or a ritual or a book, as important as they may be. It is a person. The Kingdom of heaven is the love that emerges from the personal relationship our heavenly father offers us in his Beloved co-eternal Son.

The Kingdom of Heaven manifests in our lives here and now as we hear the invitation from the Holy Spirit and make a real choice to receive the gift God offers. We manifest the kingdom of heaven in our lives as we choose to immerse our minds, hearts, and wills in the three forms of Love God offers.

The three forms of love are worship, service and transformation: love of God, love of others, love of our true self.

Do we value these three forms of love? Do you trust that these three loves will grow and develop like the mustard seed? Do we trust that these three loves infused into our souls produce a healthy nourishing benefit like the yeast in dough? Do we organize our time and resources around the principle of divine love?

The test is clear. The parables show us that the test is the action produced by our faith. The sower, the baker, the treasurer hunter, the jewel merchant and the fishermen all share one common trait. How they choose to act reveals what they value and what they believe.

Jesus wants us to consider carefully the amazing benefit from the choice to immerse ourselves in his steadfast holy unconditional love. He yearns for us to experience his love as a priceless treasure beyond imagination. He pours himself out to us in the blessed sacrament of the altar to infuse us with the richness of infinite blessings. Jesus is seeking friends who want to spend time with him, learn from him, and transform in him.

The Kingdom of heaven is like the seed, the leaven, the treasure, the pearl and the net. It is small yet powerful. It is undervalued in all human cultures. It is the reality of God present to us in the small choices we make. The small choices accumulate in this world of cause and effect and produce a result.

For those who hear the invitation and receive the invitation as Good News, the gift of a personal relationship with God the Father through God the Son, Jesus Christ, is beyond price and worthy of our highest priority. It is a new life and a new way of living.

Is this what you want? Are you willing to ask God the Holy Spirit to help you immerse yourself in this gift? Do you want a life transformed in steadfast holy unconditional love?

The Kingdom of heaven is not in Rome, or Jerusalem or any other city on earth. The Kingdom of heaven is within you. As you choose to bear the image and likeness of God in your life so you bring forth the blessing of the Kingdom in your thoughts, desires and actions. Heaven is a transcendent reality that we can enter into and experience in the here and now of our lives as we choose.

The Bible reveals that the Kingdom of heaven is like so many of the ordinary aspects, events and objects in this world of choice, cause and effect, and consequence. It is not those things. It is like those things. The very pattern of the divine nature is woven into the world. Jesus selected only a few examples in order to stimulate our curiosity and to encourage our questions. Perhaps the most important question we can ask ourselves: Is the Kingdom of heaven like me?