A friend of mine refers to today as “Simile Sunday.” You know what a simile is, of course. “The kingdom of heaven is like this. The kingdom of heaven is like that… The kingdom is like a mustard seed. The kingdom is like yeast. The kingdom is like a hidden treasure. The kingdom is a pearl of great value.”
Similes. Parables.
Oh, there’s more: The kingdom is like a banquet. It’s like a party! It’s like a gathering in the wilderness with thousands of people and no food, except somehow, miraculously, everyone eats and is filled, with baskets of leftovers.
The kingdom is like a debtor who owed his master 10,000 talents, a huge fortune, and was forgiven his debt.
The kingdom is like a man going on a journey who was attacked and beaten and left for dead. Several of his own kinsfolk, leaders in his own community, passed by without even stopping to see if he was dead or alive; but a Samaritan, a member of an opposing tribe, a people who speak with accents and who practice a different sort of faith, stopped and offered aid, caring for the man, going above and beyond to make sure he was restored back to health.
Over and over again, Jesus described and presented the kingdom, each time in a different way. One would think that, after awhile, he’d get tired of the topic, and move on to something else. In Algebra we move on from 2x=4 to the quadratic formula. In science we move from simple observation to the study of quantum physics and dark matter. In grammar we move from nouns and verbs to prepositions and dangling participles.
But Jesus kept returning back to the same topic, over and over again: the kingdom of God – or, as Matthew likes to call it, the kingdom of heaven. Either his followers just didn’t get what he was talking about, or this was one really important lesson that they had to learn.
In fact, both are true. Many in the first century anticipated the coming kingdom of God, but what they had in mind was a military overthrow of the Roman Empire led by God’s own anointed one: the messiah. The kingdom as Jesus described it was an alternative to Rome, and yet it was very different from what most were expecting.
And it was very important. Jesus’ entire message is summed up in the scripture with this one sentence: “The kingdom of God is at hand.”
So Jesus taught what the kingdom was like. Then he did it again, in a slightly different way. And then, again, and again. Mustard seeds and yeast and hidden pearls and banquets.
And when Jesus taught his followers to pray, he taught them a prayer which really is a kingdom prayer. Every week, when we pray that prayer, we say, “thy kingdom come.”
Well, first we pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” We pray that God’s name may be holy. And God’s name is holy when God’s kingdom is present. So after we pray “hallowed be thy name,” we pray, “thy kingdom come.”
And when is God’s kingdom come? When God’s will is done. So, after praying “thy kingdom come,” we pray, “thy will be done.” God’s kingdom is present when God’s will is done.
And when is God’s will done? When all people have their daily bread. When no one goes hungry, not even those who live in poverty. You probably remember what Isaiah said: “You who are thirsty, come to the water; and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat. Come, be satisfied, and delight yourselves in rich food.”
That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like. It’s like 5,000 people in the wilderness in no food, and yet they are all given their daily bread. That is God’s will.
It is also God’s will that debts be forgiven. In the first century, debt was a form of slavery, and one could argue that it is the same today. Right now, there are nations in such great debt that they can’t even feed their own people, because they are too busy paying off their debt. Some think we should alter the words of the Lord’s Prayer by saying sins instead of debts, because it seems silly that God would be concerned with something so trivial and profane as monetary debt. But it’s not trivial. It’s life-and-death.
That’s what the kingdom is like. It’s like one who was in great debt but was forgiven of that debt, and set free.
It is also God’s will that we do not give in to temptation. It’s tempting to seek our own will. It’s tempting to justify means by the ends that are achieved or hoped for. It’s tempting to overlook injustice, to force people into debts they cannot repay, to deny people their daily bread. It’s tempting to seek our own self-interest, and to use violence to ensure that our self-interest is upheld.
Of course, it’s not just our own self-interest we say; it’s for the greater good. But acting violently, ruthlessly, and without compassion is never the will of God.
That’s what the kingdom is like. It’s like a person who resists the temptation to do harm, no matter what the justification.
When we act with compassion, making peace instead of war, working for justice and loving our neighbors, then we are doing the will of God… then, God is present… then God’s name is holy.
To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
“The kingdom of God is peace, justice, and joy.”
To what shall you compare the kingdom of God?
Amos had a vision of justice rolling down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Isaiah saw a lion and lamb lying down together. A later prophet, speaking in Isaiah’s name, saw a new creation in which the sound of weeping is no longer heard, where people are able to live in their own homes and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
To what shall you compare the kingdom of God? What simile or metaphor would you use?
Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of an oasis of freedom and justice where formerly there was injustice and oppression.
To what shall we compare the kingdom? Jesus said that the kingdom exists among us. The kingdom is present, right here, right now. Can you see it?
Jesus said that the kingdom belongs to those who have faith like a child. Can you see the kingdom? What does it look like?
No comments:
Post a Comment