As Plain to See

Proper 12A; Matt. 13:31-33, 44-52; St. Paul’s, 7/30/2017

Jim Melnyk: “As Plain to See”

Have you ever walked all over the house looking for your keys only to have someone point out that they’re in your hands?  Ever look for your glasses only to discover them on top of your head?  Have you ever stood staring at one of your oldest, dearest friends while making an introduction and found yourself totally blanking on his or her name?  If you haven’t yet, don’t worry – as Yoda used to say in Star Wars: “You will – you will!”

Now I’m sure these sound like crazy questions to ask as part of a sermon dealing with a bunch of parables about the kingdom – or what I sometimes call the kindom – or communion of heaven.  Surely the kingdom of heaven isn’t like a person who wanders through the house looking for the keys she has grasped, or “hidden,” in her hands – or like the person who searches diligently through the house for the reading glasses perched, or “hidden,” on his head.  Or is it?

“Thomas Merton once said, that when it comes to the Kingdom of God, ‘we are like [someone] riding on an ox looking for an ox.’  It is there in front of our noses.  How simple,” claims another theologian, “which is probably the reason Jesus said that we had to become as a little child if we were to enter the Kingdom’s power and glory” (H. King Oehmig, Understanding the Scriptures, Year A, p, 128).

The disciples – and the people of God in every generation since – search for the coming Kingdom of heaven, and if we can believe Merton, or Jesus, the Kingdom is right there in front of our noses – or in our hands – or under the seat of our pants – or perched upon our heads. 

The Kingdom is hidden, like the tiny mustard seed in the ground or the yeast in the lump of dough, and yet it is as real and obvious as the growing shrub or the rising dough, the treasure or the pearl, the net teeming with the morning’s catch, or even the keys in our hands, the glasses perched just inches above our eyes, or the name on the tip of our tongue.

Part of the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven is that it is hidden, and yet at the same time in plain sight; it’s the tiniest of things, and yet it flourishes beyond our imaginations; it’s realization that the promise of God – that the gift of God – is worth more than anything we have ever owned, and that it is completely beyond our command as to who gets caught up in its wonder and who does not.

As Jesus says in other places, “The Kingdom of God has come near” (Mark 1:15), and “The Kingdom of God is among you” (Luke 17:21), that is, “God’s reign is already on display in [your] midst” (New Interpreter’s Bible, footnote for Lk. 17:21).  And it is a good and wonderful gift from God.  Theologian, author and priest Robert Farrar Capon points out that not only is the reign of God among us, but Capon insists that the parables of Jesus can be heard to say the reign of God has always been among us – if we have ears to hear and eyes to see.  [The Kingdom’s] progress through history is not a transition from nonkingdom to kingdom; rather,” says Capon, “it is a progress from kingdom-in-a-mystery to kingdom-made-manifest” (Capon, emphasis mine). 

And when Jesus “talks about heaven in terms of farmers and fields and women baking bread and merchants buying and selling things and fisherman sorting fish, [Jesus means] to be telling us that the kingdom of heaven has to do with these things, that our treasure [isn’t] buried in some exotic far off place that requires a special map – but that "X" marks the spot right here, right now, in all the ordinary people and places and activities in our lives” (Barbara Brown Taylor, Synthesis Today, 7/27/2017).

If that’s the case – that God’s reign has always been a part of this creation – waiting with “eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:19) – as Paul writes in last week’s passage from Romans – then our calling is to be focused on the challenge to respond to the reality of the reign of God already in the world, and seeking ways in which to help the world live into that promise.

Evangelist and teacher Brian McLaren speaks to a vision for the church that embraces the mystery of the Kingdom and its pervasive presence in the world.  “What new, unimagined capacity could be stirred up in the church,” he asks, “if we rediscover and re-prioritize our outward mission to be the hands and feet and eyes and ears, the presence of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need?  What would happen if we turned that outward mission into the good news of hope?”

Indeed, “the work [of the church] is about more than just reaching out. ‘And if [the people around the world who are wrestling with how the church can be meaningful in their lives] do come into our churches, we ought to ask ourselves, what Gospel will they hear?  Will it be the gospel of evacuation voiced by so many evangelicals – focused solely on getting to heaven after death’” – focused solely on the love of God being made know in some distant future time and place?  “’Or will [they hear] the gospel Jesus proclaimed, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God [upon us and around us even in the most ordinary of people and things – in the most day-to-day realities of life – a] message that brings reconciliation, hope, of transformation and engagement [now, in this part of eternity]?’” (Episcopal News Service, quoting and referring to McLaren, paraphrased)

McLaren tells us that people who are seeking something in the church want to see “how we treat marginalized people” and how “Christians love one another [even – or perhaps especially –] when [we] disagree” (ibid).  That seems to be a tall order for all too many people in the church and in the world today!  In other words, we don’t just invite people to come to St. Paul’s, or any other faith community just to fill a pew – we invite folks into a relationship – into a relationship not only with us, but with the rest of the world around us, and with the living Christ.

Now we could all trot out long laundry lists of things the church can say and do that will make clear God’s message of “reconciliation, hope, transformation, and engagement.”  We can all trot out lists of what the church can say and do that shows we are willing to treat every human being as someone created in God’s own image. 

In the end it’s as simple as whatever moves us to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and [to] respect the dignity of every human being” – which should sound familiar, being a part of our Baptismal Covenant (BCP, p 305).  It’s as simple, and as complex, as choosing to love our neighbor as ourselves – recognizing that there is no one in this world who is not our neighbor in terms of the gospel imperative.

And at the same time, most of us know in our heart when our thoughts and actions leave little room for reconciliation or hope – when our thoughts and actions leave little room for engagement and transformation.  We know when the actions of society or the church engender marginalization and create outcasts, rather than encourage hope, and work for justice – work for mercy and peace – the very hallmarks of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Most of us know when we need to seek forgiveness from one another, when we need to seek forgiveness from the sojourner – the stranger – among us, and seek forgiveness from God.

It is good news – marvelously good news – that the life-changing wonder of the Kingdom of God, although as hidden as a tiny mustard seed buried in the soil, is also as plain to see as the glasses perched on the top of our heads.  All we have to do – and this is easier said than done – all we have to do is open ourselves to the mystery that is the reign of God. 

It is good news – marvelously good news – that although the earth-shaking, life-shaping wonder of the Kingdom of God is as hidden as the yeast in a lump of dough, that kindom is also as obvious as the set of lost keys dangling from our hands.  Either way – ancient parable or modern – the Kingdom of God is just as real.  Is it a reality we’re willing to live?