All In

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

July 30, 2023

 

            The story goes that he was just the weird, eccentric old man of the village. Every day at dawn he would go into the hills with his shovel, and he would not return until sunset. He never told anyone why he went up there or what he did. He just went, day after day, year after year. One day the strange old man did not wake up. He died peacefully in his sleep. After he was buried, the villagers decided to go up to the hills and see if they could find what he had been doing all those years.

            This village was in a remote location on one side of a steep hill. To get to the closest city that had a hospital, you had to take the road which wound its way around the hill. It took hours, and someone could die in route. That is how the old man’s wife died. She was sick, and he was trying to get her to the hospital for treatment. But the road around the hill was too long. She died before they could reach help.

            What had this old man been doing all those years? He was digging a road through the hill. He was digging a road through the hill. It was wide and smooth, and it shortened the journey from the village to the city from hours to one, from many kilometers to four. The strange old man was not so strange after all. He did not want anyone else to suffer what his wife suffered. He did not want anyone else to lose their loved one so needlessly, as he had lost so needlessly. So, he took his shovel and dug a road through the hill.

            No one knew what he was doing. They assumed he was just eccentric and strange and went off by himself to do whatever eccentric, strange old men did. No one apparently asked him, or if they did, he did not answer. But he took a small thing and made it large. He did something in secret that became a visible blessing. The kingdom of heaven just might be like this strange old man.

            Sometimes when I start a sermon, I struggle because it feels like I don’t have enough to work with. But these verses caused me to struggle because there is so much information to contend with, it’s hard to know where to begin. Jesus told these parables in rapid-fire succession. The first two, the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast, Jesus told to the crowds gathered around him. The last three Jesus shared only with his disciples.

            The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that grows from its infinitesimal size to a large and flowering bush that welcomes birds of every kind. The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who hides yeast – yes, that is the literal translation. She is not “mixing in” yeast, she is hiding it – into three measures of flour. That is an enormous amount of flour. It’s estimated to be about fifty pounds! That would make enough bread to feed an entire community. I imagine that looking like that scene from I Love Lucy when Lucy attempts to make bread, and a gigantic loaf bursts out of the oven and pushes her across the room.

            After Jesus left the crowds and was gathered with his disciples, he told them that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that was hidden in a field. When a person finds that treasure, he joyfully goes and sells everything he possesses to buy that field and obtain that treasure. The kingdom of heaven is like a pearl of great value. A merchant, when he finds that one magnificent pearl, sells off all his other wares just to own that pearl. And the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that hauls in fish of every kind. When the dragnet was full, it was hauled to shore, and the fish were sorted. The good fish were kept and put into baskets. The bad fish were thrown out. That will be what happens at the end of the age. The good will be kept. The bad will be thrown into the fire, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

            When Jesus finished telling these parables, he asked his disciples,

            “Have you understood all this?”

            They answered, “Yes.”

            In previous sermons, I’ve read the disciples response as “Yes!” Yes, with an exclamation point. But this time around, I wonder if they didn’t respond more like this,      “Yeeesss?”

            As though the disciples were trying to understand what he was saying, but weren’t entirely sure, and they were going to have to discuss it later when he wasn’t around. It would be like someone asking a question that you don’t understand, but you say yes until you have time to google it later.

            I’m not convinced that the disciples fully understood what Jesus was telling them about the kingdom, and I know I’m struggling to understand as well. Because these parables seem to cause more confusion about the kingdom of heaven, rather than less. The kingdom of heaven is a plant that will grow fast and quickly overtake all the other crops that have been planted? The kingdom of heaven is something that is hidden? Why did the woman hide the yeast? In other passages in scripture, yeast has a negative connotation. Beware the yeast of the Pharisees. It can be a corrupting influence. But for bread to rise, yeast is necessary. Unless that bread was supposed to be unleavened, like matzo bread. Finding yeast hidden in that dough would be quite a surprise indeed.

            Why is the kingdom of heaven like a treasure that is hidden in a field? It seems kind of dubious. It makes me uncomfortable to think of the person who found the treasure buying the field from the owner and not telling that person about the treasure. It makes me think of all the people who live on land that is rich with minerals of various kinds, only to have the land bought by others for a fraction of what the land is worth.

            The kingdom of heaven sounds like it caused someone to make a bad business decision. The merchant sold everything he had in order to own that one pearl. That pearl was splendid, but if you sell off all your merchandise, you are no longer a merchant, you are a collector.

            The dragnet seems the most familiar to me because it hearkens back to what I learned about God as a child. God is the God of fire and brimstone. Be good or watch out!

            All in all the kingdom of heaven as Jesus describes it sounds unlike anything I would ever expect. Where are the angels? Where are the perfect people wandering around in robes with halos and harps? Where are the endless blue skies and the perfectly green, green hills and the fluffy white clouds, outlined in gold? Isn’t the kingdom of heaven supposed to be about perfection? If so, then what Jesus describes seems far from perfect.

            But Jesus was not describing a geographical location that we reach only when we die. Nor was he describing utopia. What I think Jesus was describing was a kingdom that was already in their midst. And although it might have started small and hidden, it would grow and flourish, and spread with abandon.

            One other possibility to ponder in these parables is that Jesus was not only describing the kingdom of heaven, but he was also describing the response to the kingdom of heaven. One member of our lectionary group said that the behavior of the person who bought the field or the merchant who sold everything off for one pearl is almost like describing people with addictions or obsessions. The only thing that matters is that treasure or that pearl. While on the surface, this kind of behavior seems troubling to our modern ears, maybe what Jesus wanted the disciples to understand was that if you are going to work for the kingdom of heaven, you have to be all in There is no room for halfhearted response. There is no time for lukewarm. You have to be, you must be all in.

            And as we know, we who know the rest of the story, the disciples will struggle with this until after Jesus’ death and resurrection, until after the coming of the Holy Spirit. They will struggle to be all in as his followers, even though they have left family and livelihoods behind. They will wrestle with Jesus’ teachings about what being the Messiah means. They will argue amongst themselves. They will vie for power and position in their ranks. They will misunderstand and mishear and just miss the point more often than not. Just as we do. Right?

            But just as the kingdom of heaven starts small and grows, just as it begins hidden and is suddenly revealed, the disciples will also grow and discover more in themselves than perhaps they believed was there.

            Maybe that is what Jesus’ final admonition to them in these verses is hinting at. One day, you will be the teachers of this kingdom, and just like the head of a household has to discern what part of their treasure is old and new, what should be kept and what should be let go of, you must do that as well. The kingdom of heaven requires those who will follow to be all in. It requires a complete giving of one’s heart, mind, body, and soul. It seems to me that when Jesus tells these parables about the kingdom, he is not just describing he is asking. Are you all in? Are we?

            The kingdom of heaven is unlikely and weird and unexpected. The kingdom of heaven is like stories that seem to have no end and music that seems to have no resolution. The kingdom of heaven does not provide answers, only more questions. The kingdom of heaven requires a wholehearted response, and a willingness to follow based on trust rather than on seeing the end of the journey. The kingdom of heaven requires us to be all in? May it be so.

            Let all of God’s children say, “Alleluia.”

            Amen.