Repository of
Sermons
/ Calendar of Events /
Activities
Second Sunday
after Pentecost
June 18, 2006 Sermon
by The Rev.
Bill Van Oss
Readings
I want to invite you this morning into
the world of your religious imagination. You may want to close your
eyes.
I invite you to put yourself in the place of a member of a very large
crowd that is following a man named Jesus.
You have heard that this man Jesus is the Messiah, the one you have been
waiting for – his is a great teacher and healer, and so you seek him
out, and you join with many others this morning, and Jesus is teaching,
sitting in a boat on the sea, telling parables.
Today, He’s teaching about the kingdom of God.
“Oh, good,” you think to yourself. “The kingdom of God, that’s when the
Messiah will come as a great military leader and overthrow these awful
Roman oppressors. He will crush them with military might, and we, the
oppressed, will be lifted up – we will become the rulers – the powerful
– for God is on our side.”
And, with this in mind, you listen – and what do you hear?
A parable, that says the kingdom of God is like a sower scattering seed,
and it’s like the earth making the seed grow, and it’s like the
harvester with the sickle.
It’s like a mustard seed, the tiniest of all, that grows into a bush.
That’s the image you are given – the picture of the kingdom of God that
Jesus has painted for you does not include force or might of any kind.
Jesus has painted a picture of a beautiful field filled with glistening
wheat gently swaying in the breeze – under a golden sun. And in the
middle of the field, a mustard tree.
A mustard tree? You think to yourself. Why that’s nothing more than an
overgrown weed, it’s a noxious plant, the only reason it gets into the
field is that its seed is so small, the farmer can’t sift it out – it’s
a nuisance – it’s not wanted – it takes over and gets out of control,
and birds come to nest in its branches. No one wants birds in a wheat
field. They eat the grain. No one wants a tree in a grain field. Animals
are attracted to its shade! They will trample the wheat!
“What kind of kingdom is this?, you and I ask of the man sitting in the
boat. It’s not what I’ve expected. It’s not about winners and losers and
God favoring certain people and smiting other people.
It’s not rewards and punishment and power. It’s a great, golden field –
a field where every stalk of wheat, every person, is given life and
nourishment as a free gift – the soil, the sun, and the rain, give life
and growth to everyone in the field, every stalk, even though we know
not how.
There’s even room in this “kingdom field” for a noxious weed – a mustard
bush – he’s the one who’s not wanted, who’s uncontrollable, who attracts
undesirables, but he’s part of the kingdom, too, SHE’s the prophet ,
this mustard tree, SHE’s the one who challenges the status quo, and
questions the powerful and self-righteous, she makes us uncomfortable,
but she has a place of prominence in the picture of the kingdom that
Jesus has painted, she is a voice in the wilderness.
And now your head is spinning. Your hopes and expectations of the
kingdom being about power and military might – of those who are a threat
being crushed and the oppressed rising up to take their place has been
erased, and a new picture now has been drawn.
The kingdom as field of wheat with a mustard tree right in the middle –
a field where mother earth and sister sun and brother rain nourish, so
that the wheat might grow and produce an abundant harvest – that all
might be fed – that all might have life.
Jesus has challenged our expectations of what the kingdom of God is
like.
• It’s not rewards and punishments
• It’s not victory over enemies
• It’s not some being on top and others below
• It’s not about striving to be good so as to win an eternal reward
• It’s not “pie in the sky when you die”
It’s the here and now. It’s a field where all are nourished and fed and
where there’s a prominent place for the prophet. It’s the vision the
prophets have preached from the beginning of time: It’s justice and
peace and mercy – today.