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"Kingdon Stories"
05-Feb-2012“Kingdom Stories”
Robert M. Thompson, Pastor
Corinth Reformed Church
150 Sixteenth Avenue NW
Hickory, North Carolina 28601
828.328.6196 corinthtoday.org
(© 2012 by Robert M. Thompson. Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptures quoted are from The Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright 2011 by New York International Bible Society.)
You can’t take Jesus for a test drive.
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46
February 5, 2012
Kingdom ideals
There is no shortage of expressions these days for what an ideal America would look like. You probably have your own ideas. So do the presidential candidates.
President Barack Obama envisions an America where “where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”[1]
Mitt Romney plans to “rebuild the foundations of the American economy on the principles of free enterprise, hard work, and innovation.”[2]
Newt Gingrich wants to move from a “bureaucrat-dominated status quo to an innovative (educational) system that emphasizes accountability, transparency, and parental choice.”[3]
Rick Santorum will defend “the dignity of every human life, especially the most vulnerable among us.”[4]
Ron Paul advocates “limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency.”[5]
Somewhere between amusing and annoying is the unspoken message that a human candidate and his party can lead us to Utopia in four years while his opponents are sure to lead us straight to a national hell.
When Jesus stepped on to the public stage in Palestine almost 2000 years ago, he announced the arrival of “the kingdom of God.” (Matthew uses “kingdom of heaven,” probably because it was less distracting to his Jewish readers.)
There was widespread consensus on what that ideal kingdom would look like. God himself would intervene and transform the current order. He would judge the wrong and save his people. He would bless Israel with peace and security.
Jesus made no such campaign promises. He and his forerunner started their message not with what he would do for them, but with what was required of them. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near,” John said (Matthew 3:2). Confess your sins. Get washed up. Be ready.
When Jesus came, he preached the same message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17). It soon became apparent that the kingdom Jesus wasn’t there to intervene in the way they expected. His kingdom would be different.
Jesus gathered his closest followers and gave them an orientation to kingdom life. Part of his training was in stories – parables that illustrate kingdom truths. This week we take a look at four of those stories and the kingdom lessons they teach.
Mustard seed
Lesson #1: “God’s kingdom is not obsessed with bigness.”
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches (31-32).
All of Jesus’ parables seem open to critique and misunderstanding for the wrong reasons. This one creates conversation about whether the mustard seed is biologically the “smallest seed” or what the birds in the branches represent. None of that is the point. The mustard seed was proverbial for its smallness, its insignificance.
The point is the contrast between the size of the seed and result of the growth. The parable reminds me of the Mexican Red Heirloom tomato plant Caroline Sineath gave Linda and me last year. I don’t know how big the seed was, but the seedling was a tiny thing that soon reached almost to the gutters on the side of the house.
For Jesus to compare his kingdom to a mustard seed is appropriate. A carpenter from Nazareth and a dozen Jewish men ranging from a despised tax collector to a few fishermen don’t look like world-changers. Israel is hardly the center of the globe. Even today, it’s sometimes hard to understand why God would launch his kingdom-building in Palestine instead a more influential or larger power such as Rome or India or China. The kingdom is a mustard seed.
Some things don’t change. We 21st century Americans are impressed with size – portfolios, crowds, circulation data. Even Christians are known for drooling over preachers who can draw a TV audience, idolizing authors who sell the most books, or envying congregations that expand their budgets and buildings. We like big.
The cover article in this week’s American History magazine is on the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic April 15, 1912. The subtitle on the cover is “the night we learned bigger is not better.” I wish we had learned that.
The world was awed by the maiden voyage of a ship that was unparalleled in its size and flamboyancy. It was the Texas Stadium of the 19th century, with every detail designed to impress and overwhelm. When it sank, it was like New York City’s Twin Towers crumbling into a massive cloud of dust and a vast heap of rubble. How could a “technological leviathan” succumb to an iceberg?
A contemporary writer said the passengers on the Titanic “to the last moment put their trust in mere bigness.” The American History article adds, “In bigness, as it happens, there is no salvation.”
The kingdom of God is not anti-big. The ultimate goal is that the knowledge of God will fill the earth. But Jesus wants his kingdom people to remember you can’t be deceived by small beginnings. It’s not what is – it’s what can become. God’s kingdom is not obsessed with bigness.
Yeast
Lesson #2: “God’s kingdom grows mysteriously.”
The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough (33).
Once again, the details can be distracting. Don’t get lost in the yeast which is often a symbol for evil. Don’t worry whether your version says “yeast” or “leaven.” The difference is not important, any more so than the exact measurement of flour, which is relegated to the footnote in the NIV. The amount of flour the woman used would have provided bread for a hundred people, not just her family. But that’s not the point.
I’m not even sure the point is the contrast between the small amount of yeast and the large amount of flour. Many interpreters see the same point in the parables of mustard seed and yeast. But I see a difference. The mustard seed grows slowly but visibly into the mustard tree. The effect of the yeast is hidden in the dough.
To most of his contemporaries, Jesus was like that yeast. He could easily be ignored. He spent the first thirty years of his life sawing wood and banging nails. Blue collar to the core, Jesus never sought or was sought by the universities of his day. His popularity was brief and localized around the Sea of Galilee, far even from the center of power in his own tiny nation. When he died, nobody thought his legacy would matter much. But what has happened since?
This is a parable that gives encouragement when you think what you’re doing is not making a difference. It’s out of sight. It’s not just that you invest yourself in only a few people. It’s also that you can’t see that you’re making any difference. Your children don’t seem like heroes in the making. Your students don’t seem to get it. Nothing’s happening that encourages you to keep praying, keep knocking, keep seeking.
Take courage and don’t get weary in well-doing. As R. T. France says, “The way of God is not that of ostentation but of ultimate success.” Don’t be disheartened by what you can’t see. The kingdom of God grows mysteriously.
Treasure
Lesson #3: “God’s kingdom makes sacrifice a joy.”
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field (44).
Do I need to say it again? There are important aspects of this story and irrelevant details. Personally, I would like to know more of the story. How did the man stumble on the treasure? What was it? How long had the treasure been in the field? Why did he rebury it?
None of that is relevant to the story. Nor is it relevant that this story seems to make a hero out of a materialistic, opportunistic pirate. Our questions about this man’s ethics would never even have occurred to any of Jesus’ listeners. What the man did was both ethical and legal. Had he been a crook, he would have taken the treasure without buying the field. If you get caught up in that part of the story, you miss the point.
The point is his joy as he sold all he had. The possessions he had accumulated through a lifetime of saving and scrimping – his house, his equipment, his donkey, his clothes – he was ecstatic on the inside as he sold each one.
Sometimes, all of us focus on what we’ve given up to follow Christ. It looks like those who place no boundaries around their lives, who make no sacrifices for the kingdom, have it much better. Don’t they? They have more money, because they don’t tithe. They have more time, because they don’t serve. They have more fun, because they don’t abide by the rules. I give up so much to follow Christ!
No, Jesus says. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure. When you find treasure, you don’t think about what you’re giving up to acquire it. It is sheer joy to collect everything you have and sell it so that you can have the treasure that is worth all your “stuff” – times a hundred. There is no comparison. In God’s kingdom sacrifice is joy.
Pearl
Lesson #4: “God’s kingdom is all-in.”
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it” (45-46).
At first glance, the parable often titled “the pearl of great price” looks like it’s the same lesson as the one about the hidden treasure in the field. There are parallels, of course. A man gives up everything else to possess something of great value.
But the two parables are also quite different. One is about a man who stumbles on a hidden treasure without looking for it. The other is about a man who is a pearl collector and goes looking for the finest one money can buy. The first story would have likely brought to mind a peasant tenant farmer with meager possessions having a yard sale to scrape together barely enough money to buy a plot of land someone else wanted to unload. The second is about a successful merchant-trader who is so passionate about having the best pearl he will liquidate his considerable assets.
The biggest contrast, though, is that in the first Jesus says the kingdom is like treasure. That’s why it brings joy. In the second, the kingdom is like a merchant. The focus this time is not on what he found – a pearl – but on him.
During this study in parables I have become indebted to a New Testament scholar named Brad Young who believes the life and teachings of Jesus can only be understood in their Jewish context. His book on the parables was recommended to me by Adrian Holtzman, one of our new members here at Corinth.
Young pairs the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl in a chapter titled “The Find.” He notes that both these stories have numerous parallels in Jewish literature of Jesus’ time. In one story, a rabbi is approached by a foreigner from a “city of sages and scribes,” who says, “If you are willing to dwell with us in our place, I will give you a thousand golden dinars and precious stones and pearls.” The rabbi answers, “Even if you were to give me all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not dwell anywhere but in a home of the Torah” (210).
The Law was to the Jews the pearl of great price. Studying the Law was worth forsaking money, pleasure, and even family. Nothing rivaled the Law of God.
Jesus is affirming that passion, but extending it and applying it to his kingdom. When you follow Jesus, you have to be “all in.” You can’t be part of his kingdom by dabbling in it. You can’t experiment with Christ by giving him an hour every other week at church, a token offering in the plate, and an occasional recitation of the Lord’s Prayer when you’re in trouble. You lose your job or your marriage stinks or you get sick and you’re not happy and you say, “This Jesus thing doesn’t work.”
You never tried it! You never tried him! We treat Christ like we treat relationships. Let’s cohabit and see if it works. I’m amazed at how many young couples come to me having bought into the myth that living together is a good test for marriage. I ask them if they realize how much data there is that living together significantly increases your chances of divorce. I don’t push them out the door, though – I want them to get married. I just want them to shed some myths and begin with Christ.
But we treat Christ the same way. You can’t take Jesus for a test drive. You can’t experiment with him and if it doesn’t work out, go your way. If he’s not worth giving up every other loyalty, detaching yourself from every other passion, exposing every false god, throwing away every other crutch, he’s not who he said he is. All in, because God’s kingdom is all-in.
Decision
These are the kingdom lessons in Jesus’ orientation class. They are not the only lessons, but they are today’s lessons. That’s probably enough to absorb and act on for today. This kingdom may look small to you, and its growth may be less than obvious. But go all in, risk everything, and you’ll find a surprising joy.
Brad Young pointed out to me the tension in these kingdom stories. The tension in the first two is the delay of visible results. You plant the mustard seed and nothing happens for a while. Then the tree takes over the garden. You work the yeast into the dough, and the immediate effect is underwhelming. There’s tension as you wait for results.
Young especially emphasizes the tension in the two parables on “The Find.” These short stories bring the main character in the story to a place of decision and action that must be taken immediately.
Some of you are at a critical point of decision right now. This is the moment to admit your addiction and choose the way of escape. This is the moment for faithfulness to your marriage vows. This is the moment to decide if Christ will be Lord of your finances, your priorities. This is the moment to humble yourself before Christ and confess him as Lord. You have an unparalleled opportunity to serve Christ in a unique way. This fork in the road may never appear again. Go for it.
Elijah asked the Israelites on Mt. Carmel, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him. If Baal is God, follow him!” The time for decision is now. Is Christ worth your “all in” or not? He is. Amen.
