Show Notes
Genesis 29:15-28 | Psalm 105:1-11, 45b | Romans 8:26-39 | Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
Chapters
- (00:00:01) - The Odyssey and Its Connection to the Gospel
- (00:10:03) - The kingdom of God is within you
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Good morning.
[00:00:05] I went to Movie Works the other night and I saw the Odyssey.
[00:00:09] It's a good movie, it's fun, and it is indeed a spectacle. It's got all the stuff we expect from a summer blockbuster. Big stars, great visuals, rousing soundtrack, and a couple different plots that are interwoven in a way that keep you engaged enough to sit through a three hour runtime.
[00:00:36] It's a big epic story that most everybody knows or thinks they know, or pretends that they know.
[00:00:44] The critic in me thinks that maybe the movie takes itself a little too seriously and doesn't let Matt Damon or the character he plays, Odysseus, play enough.
[00:00:57] Because Odysseus was a player.
[00:01:01] He was crafty, he was witty, a master storyteller, a hero, and sometimes a liar, which is this mix of humanity is what makes him so fascinating.
[00:01:15] And he's a complicated person who is trying to find his way home.
[00:01:24] Much like the Hebrew Scriptures, the Odyssey began as an oral tradition told by poets to rapt audiences for generations, handed down, embellished over generations before it was eventually written down in the form that we have them now. And much like the Hebrew Scriptures, the Odyssey has been taught, translated, embellished, commented upon, parsed, owned, appropriated and repudiated ever since they were written down, which was a long, long time ago. And today we're still talking about them, which speaks to the truths that they both contain.
[00:02:09] They're both foundational to what we call Western culture.
[00:02:13] And you should see the movie, if you haven't already. It's worth the price of admission and it's worth three hours of your time.
[00:02:20] At least it felt like it was worth three hours of mine.
[00:02:24] It's really entertaining, which is the point of a summer blockbuster anyway.
[00:02:30] And unless you never look at the Internet, you know that the Odyssey has blown it up with commentary about the merits of the movie.
[00:02:38] And that's been almost as entertaining to watch as the movie itself was.
[00:02:44] And I've got nothing against entertainment.
[00:02:48] I'm glad I saw the Odyssey when I did, because it was about a week before I started working on this sermon.
[00:02:55] Both the Odyssey and the gospel reading today were swirling around in my head. And as I tried to decide how I was going to approach this gospel reading that we heard.
[00:03:08] Chris.
[00:03:12] Jimmy, who is our deacon today, which we heard Jimmy read today. My name's Jimmy. I've worked here for a decade.
[00:03:26] But anyway, the movie caused me to ask myself, what did I just see?
[00:03:33] What kind of story was that? And the Gospel caused me to ask myself, what have I just read.
[00:03:40] What kind of story is this?
[00:03:43] Well, it's several little stories, right within a story.
[00:03:49] Within an even bigger story.
[00:03:52] Jesus tells his listeners six short, somewhat cryptic parables in rapid succession, and these are embedded within Matthew's Gospel.
[00:04:03] The story of the life of Jesus and Matthew's Gospel forms a part of the story of the faith that we followers of Jesus have come to know as the New Testament.
[00:04:15] And there's a fourth story in which all these stories are embedded.
[00:04:21] And that's the story of our lives here and now, which in turn are informed by the stories that make up each one of us.
[00:04:31] Our pasts, our present existence, our hopes and fears and dreams about the future, everything that comes with being human.
[00:04:42] Much like the Odyssey, much like this parable, our lives are layers of stories all the way down.
[00:04:51] Every good story leaves much to the imagination.
[00:04:55] That may be the real power of story.
[00:04:58] It fires up something in the listener that is either unknown or perhaps known and forgotten.
[00:05:08] Usually surprising. Any good story says more than it says, and this is what I love about Jesus parables.
[00:05:17] They are so specific, so grounded in the real world, and yet so cosmic and so wide open, kind of like a field, or like dough rising, or like pearls, hard little jewels, round and luminous, kind of like the kingdom of heaven, which Jesus tells us is a mustard seed. It's tiny, and it contains everything necessary, given the right conditions, to grow into a tree.
[00:05:54] A tree with a purpose.
[00:05:57] The purpose is to provide a place where birds of the air can build their homes.
[00:06:07] And isn't that what we all want more than anything?
[00:06:12] A place to call home.
[00:06:15] The kingdom of heaven is like yeast.
[00:06:18] It looks dry, looks like ordinary material, maybe like the dust that we all come from and to which we shall return before the breath of the spirit animates us.
[00:06:31] But wait, it's not just like yeast until.
[00:06:36] Or rather, it's not only yeast until a woman mixes it with flour and water, and then, voila.
[00:06:48] No one knows how.
[00:06:50] Well, today we have a scientific explanation of how, but that misses the point of this mystery.
[00:06:57] And with her loving care, fire and an oven and baking for just the right length of time, it becomes bread.
[00:07:08] The ordinary, extraordinary bread of life, to nourish her family, her friends, a hungry stranger.
[00:07:20] But wait. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone, let's say you and me, have found and hidden there in a field that certainly wasn't ours to begin with, maybe not even for sale. A field that we are willing to give up every material thing that we have worked so hard for to accumulate, just so that we can lay claim to the field and the treasure that is already ours.
[00:07:56] Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant. Again, let's say, like you and me.
[00:08:02] Merchants.
[00:08:03] What are we in search of?
[00:08:06] Pearls.
[00:08:08] Pearls of wisdom, pearls of beauty, pearls of meaning. In a world that seems to have lost all meaning, friends, if you found one, would you sell all that you have, all that you hold dear, to obtain it?
[00:08:27] But wait, there's more. Because the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, into the deep, where the fish live, those mysterious, ordinary, extraordinary little beings that God created. On the fifth day, the same day that those birds of the air were created and now live in a mustard tree, these creatures from the deep are caught in the net of the kingdom and drawn ashore, where they're sorted out.
[00:09:03] The ones that provide nourishment are kept.
[00:09:06] The ones that aren't good to eat are thrown out.
[00:09:10] Then there's yet another story embedded within that story, which I almost missed, about the end of the age, the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[00:09:23] We may or may not get to that part today.
[00:09:27] The sixth and final parable is almost always, is also almost hidden.
[00:09:35] Because first Jesus asks his listeners, have you understood all this?
[00:09:40] And they answer, yes, really, if they're being honest, if they really understood these little pearls that Jesus is offering them, they must have understood them in their hearts in a way that is difficult perhaps, for us to access today, rational beings that we are.
[00:10:03] Here's the sixth parable.
[00:10:06] Every scribe again, you and me, scribes, who has understood these stories is like the master of a household.
[00:10:16] We've got our treasures, and we generously bring out what is old and what is new elsewhere. And it's not in Matthew's Gospel, it's in Luke's.
[00:10:30] Jesus makes an extraordinary claim.
[00:10:33] He's being interrogated by the Pharisees. And they ask him, when will the kingdom of God appear?
[00:10:42] What will we see?
[00:10:44] How will we know?
[00:10:46] And he tells them, you're missing the point.
[00:10:50] Don't look outside.
[00:10:52] Don't wait for a portent or an apocalypse.
[00:10:57] Don't wait for the end of time.
[00:11:00] It's already here.
[00:11:02] The kingdom of God is within you.
[00:11:09] And friends, the kingdom of God is within every one of you.
[00:11:15] The thing is that we forget that.
[00:11:18] Or sometimes when we remember, we don't believe it.
[00:11:22] And even if we believe it, it can scare us.
[00:11:26] Because embodying the kingdom of heaven comes with the responsibility to love one another.
[00:11:35] The kingdom of heaven. In me?
[00:11:37] Yes, in you.
[00:11:40] And in every one of God's creatures.
[00:11:44] God's love is the thread that holds this whole created cosmos together.
[00:11:50] It is primary.
[00:11:52] It is the first and the last.
[00:11:55] And that thread runs right through all of us.
[00:11:59] It weaves us into the tapestry of creation.
[00:12:05] Lest we forget, because we do forget.
[00:12:09] Jesus reminds us beneath all the layers of everything that life throws at us, beneath these individual identities that we hold so dear and hold so tightly, beneath our failures and our accomplishments, beneath the roles that we take on and the roles we have thrust upon us, there it is, the kingdom of Heaven.
[00:12:35] The mustard seed waiting to be planted and tended to.
[00:12:40] Pure potential awaiting its purpose to provide safe haven for God's creatures.
[00:12:50] It's within you.
[00:12:52] Plant it.
[00:12:54] Water it.
[00:12:55] Tend to it.
[00:12:58] Yeast.
[00:12:59] It may look like dust. It may appear insignificant, dead.
[00:13:05] Be the woman who knows the miracle contained in the yeast.
[00:13:10] Mix it with flour and the water of the world and watch it rise.
[00:13:17] Bake it, and it will become a beautiful loaf, the bread of life.
[00:13:23] It's within you, waiting for you to unlock its power.
[00:13:28] Treasure hidden in a field.
[00:13:31] You know it's there.
[00:13:33] You put it there because you wanted to keep it safe for yourself.
[00:13:40] It's going to cost you. Maybe it will cost you everything that you've stored up.
[00:13:45] But if you're willing to, you will own that field.
[00:13:49] And then the treasure will be yours to do with what you will.
[00:13:54] It's within you, so I hope you can own it. And once you've owned it, that you will have learned that you can give it all away.
[00:14:04] The merchant, the seeker, the discoverer.
[00:14:08] The kingdom of Heaven.
[00:14:11] It's all within you.
[00:14:13] Keep searching until you find that pearl which is the Kingdom of Heaven too.
[00:14:19] You're already every part of this story.
[00:14:23] You are the seeker. You are the search, and you are the prize.
[00:14:28] You are the pearl of great price again. You may have to let go of everything you think you own.
[00:14:35] And I don't think Jesus was only speaking of material things here.
[00:14:42] The kingdom of Heaven is within you.
[00:14:45] You are the net woven from the net of God's love.
[00:14:50] You are all the fish, the good, the bad, swimming in the deep, waiting to be gathered up.
[00:15:00] You're also the fish that got away, still swimming.
[00:15:05] There will be another opportunity.
[00:15:07] And another net.
[00:15:10] Is this the end of the age?
[00:15:12] Sometimes it feels like it.
[00:15:17] Sometimes it feels like it.
[00:15:19] But Jesus warns us against reading too much into the state of the world.
[00:15:26] Regardless, you are the angels sorting things out.
[00:15:32] You are the furnace. You are the fire.
[00:15:35] And you are the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
[00:15:40] The kingdom is within you and me and here we find ourselves today.
[00:15:47] Have you understood all this?
[00:15:53] I do know that I want to stay awake and listen for the kingdom of heaven that stirs inside all of us.
[00:16:02] It's old. It's as old as the Odyssey. It's as old as the Hebrew scriptures. It's as old as Jesus walking through Palestine teaching and healing and feeding people.
[00:16:15] The kingdom of heaven was already there when the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep.
[00:16:22] And it's right here, right now, in these church walls, outside of these church walls, permeating everything.
[00:16:33] So let's listen to the ancient stories.
[00:16:36] They go all the way down.
[00:16:39] Let's listen to the parables that are our own lives.
[00:16:44] They're mysterious messages to be heard when we listen to our own lives and there are lessons to be learned.
[00:16:54] Let's listen for the kingdom that is within each one of us knocking, waiting for the chance to bloom.
[00:17:04] Amen.
