July 30, 2023 – 9th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12)
You may have noticed that the Gospel readings in Matthew 13 over the past three weeks have all been split apart. Two weeks ago, we heard the Parable of the Sower. Last week, we heard the Parable of the Wheat Among the Weeds. Today, we started with the Parable of the Mustard Seed, which is actually inserted between the Parable of the Wheat Among the Weeds and its interpretation. And since I love Scooby Doo so much, let’s tie that show back into the sermon today…
Imagine if you were writing a story, and someone retold your story, but moved portions of the plot around. It’d be like finding out whodunnit before finding out what the crime was or the details on how they could prove that the person did it. In a way, that’s what we have here, and I wonder how much of the context of the Gospel gets lost as a result of that splitting.
Now let’s add in the Parable of the Mustard Seed from today’s Gospel reading to what we know from before. We have a farmer who plants his fields, and then sows a mustard seed in the midst of the crops. Although the seed itself is small, the mustard plant grows large, much larger than any of the crops.
Today’s Parable of the Mustard Seed ups the ante of the previous parable, portraying a farmer who sows weeds into his field on purpose. This is what God has done in Jesus Christ. Jesus is sown into the world as one who willingly lets himself be treated as a weed in order that we might finally see how deadly our misperception of knowing good from evil can be – how wrong we could be thinking that we are God’s servants by weeding the evil out of the world. It is through suffering, weakness, and vulnerability that God is present with us and saves us.
Matthew throws in some more parables today for good measure. You know, those disciples weren’t the quickest on the uptake. And sometimes we’re the same way – one way of saying something will grab us more than another. Continuing in today’s reading, we have four more parables:
- The Parable of the Leaven
- The Parable of the Treasure in a Field
- The Parable of the Merchant in Search of Pearls
- The Parable of the Dragnet
Now we could spend minutes or hours delving deeply into each of the parables… but given the response I received to the brevity of my last sermon, I don’t think you want that. Let me make a few points by first looking at the parable of the leaven and then grouping the treasure parables and then concluding with the parable of the dragnet.
The Parable of the Leaven is full of surprises, kind of like little Scooby Doo mysteries. Surprise 1 – the main figure is a woman. Surprise 2 – THREE GALLONS of flour. That’s enough flour to make over 100 pounds of bread! Surprise 3 – the leaven itself. Leaven was a negative image in the time of Jesus, and was often compared to corruption, as just a little bit could spoil the whole thing. Surprise 4 – the woman puts the yeast in the loaf, mixes it in, and it disappears.
Now those of you who have made bread don’t find this to be a big surprise, because you know that the yeast is critical to the bread rising. It disappears into the loaf, and puffs up little pockets of carbon dioxide. The yeast becomes so thoroughly a part of the loaf that it can no longer be detected, but it makes the bread what bread is.
Think of this whole story as an image of creation. The kingdom of God is integrally part of the creation of the universe. It was made in the beginning and has always been – and will always be – a part of the bigger picture. John states it this way in verses 1-3 of the first chapter of his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.”
Moving on to the parables of the treasures… Someone has hidden a treasure in a field – not uncommon in Jesus’ time – and someone else has found it. The merchant finds a valuable pearl, and at finding this treasure, he sells everything and buys it. Unlike the seed scattered all over the place and the leaven which is mixed throughout the whole loaf, this treasure exists in only one place. The treasure is in the world, and it gives the world its value.
The parables of the treasure emphasize joy and commitment. At finding the treasure or the pearl, the person sells all that he has and buys it, even if it is but a small portion of the whole (as in the treasure in the field).
Finally, we come to the Parable of the Dragnet. The type of net referred to in the parable is pulled through the water and takes in everything it can. Just like Christ, it gathers up everything in its path, including not only fish, but also turtles, seaweed, trash, and even old tires. When the net was hauled onto the shore (which must have been a very labor-intensive process considering all the discarded tires they had in Jesus’ time), the fishermen sat down and gathered up the good into a container, and threw out the bad.
In my first reading of this parable, I must admit I began to wonder if the point wasn’t really about usefulness. We are not told what makes the fishermen throw some items out and keep other items. But notice that the fishermen didn’t make the absolute final judgment – the angels make a sudden appearance. It’s not for the fishermen, or for us, to ultimately determine what is useful or not, or even evil or good. That distinction is made only at the end of time by angels, who are directly in the service of His kingdom.
Christ died and rose for everyone – not just white married folks living in Buffalo – but for blacks, single people, gays, farmers, organists, refugees, Sister Alma, senile Aunt Bethany, grumpy old Grandpa Mike, and even those who are deaf and mute. The mysterious kingdom of heaven is drawing all of creation.
Looking at the connection among the parables over the past three weeks lets us see the big picture. From the view of the wide angle lens, we can make sense of why Jesus’ message of the Kingdom was resisted and rejected. Jesus was never interested in being pure. Maybe he liked the image of leaven because it was reminiscent of the criminals and the prostitutes, those who were the special focus of his attention. Jesus welcomed all into his kingdom – even those who hadn’t repented in the way the Jewish law required.
We will all die. Someday, each of us will give everything we have. Christ demands our whole life, and that is exactly what Christ will get. Someday, we too will pay everything to get that field with the treasure. It’s reassuring to know that the treasure of the death and resurrection of Jesus is right there and has been with us all along.
Scooby’s story began with the kids and a dog traveling along the countryside and running out of gas. It’s a tragedy for them, but it’s really nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Jesus’ final story begins with Jesus alone – on the cross – rejected and abandoned. It starts out small and grows into Good News, a treasure worth giving up everything else to get. Our old ways relied on a false god who punished people, who justified that we punish one another. But in Jesus, we meet a God of grace, a God of forgiveness, a God of unwavering love for all. And we meet Him again this morning as we partake in the meal of forgiveness and grace.