30 th July: 8 th Sunday after Pentecost

Seeing Where Hope is Hidden

Today’s parables are balm and reminder for all of us who get distracted by the big; who think if it’s not measurable, it’s not meaningful; if it’s not apparent, it’s not excellent; if it’s not visible, it’s not valuable. Jesus reminds us that God’s kingdom is about faithfulness, not flashiness. In God’s kingdom, sometimes in the small is the substance, in the hidden is the hope.

Why did Jesus tell these parables of seeds small as specks, yeast confusable with dust motes, treasure buried in muck, pearls that have to be sought and sifted before one of supreme value is found? Why did his disciples need these images of the kingdom? What aspect of their vision needed refocusing?

It had all been going so well. It had all been so obvious when the crowds were following, when Jesus was healing everyone brought with every disease and every illness, when he was feeding all the hungry. No one could mistake the fact that God was doing something in Jesus, something impressive, something worth paying attention to, signing up for, getting on board with. When Jesus brought the dead girl back to life, ¹ when he cast out demons, giving speech to the mute ² and sight to the blind, ³ who could fail to see that Jesus had divine power and promise? Following Jesus meant being part of something great. Being identified as a follower of Jesus meant getting noticed. Jesus even gave his disciples the authority to do the same noticeable, noteworthy things he was doing.

But even as the crowds still gathered, still packed in around him in throngs, still shouted acclamations like, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’ ⁴ still wondered and marveled and praised, something else was starting to happen: Jesus’ enemies were starting to notice too.

The Pharisees saw Jesus eat and drink and thought they saw a glutton and a drunkard. ⁵ They saw him forgiving someone and thought they saw a blasphemer. ⁶ They saw him cast out a demon and thought they saw him aligned with Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. ⁷ They saw him heal a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath and thought, Jesus must be destroyed. ⁸

It wasn’t that they hadn’t seen correctly, but they misinterpreted what it meant.

And it wasn’t just Jesus’ enemies who got it wrong. Jesus’ own disciples saw Jesus beating the powers of evil and asked for seats at Jesus’ right hand and left hand in his kingdom. ⁹ They saw Jesus do great things and argued about which of them was the greatest. ¹⁰ They focused on what was big and apparent about Jesus and missed the point of their own need for humility and attention to the least and the small. They were in danger of becoming ladder climbers instead of kingdom seekers.

Jesus needed his followers to know God’s kingdom and those who inherit it aren’t the apparent ones, but the ones we might overlook; that the kingdom is like things tiny, but growing; hidden, but sought. So Jesus pointed at the small around them. He welcomed children and said, it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. ¹¹ He blessed and broke five loaves and two fish and said this is enough to feed everyone. ¹² He told parables where a handful of tiny seeds can plant a forest of bushes with room for flocks of birds to nest; where small spores of yeast can cause a whole bakery of bread to rise; where people poke around in dirt and market stalls and netfuls of fish, and find treasure, an extraordinary pearl, and keepers. The kingdom of God is like these things. It’s not just the brand new state-of-the-art hospital wing, it’s also the tiny room at the end of the dark hall in the old age home. It’s not just the botanical garden’s orchid collection, it’s also the dandelion pushing up through the crack in the concrete. It’s not just the diamond necklace in the jewelry shop window, it’s also the ruby brooch discovered in the junk bin at the flea market. It’s not just the megachurch with the big parking lot and state-of-the-art sound system, it’s the handful of believers meeting in the coffee shop or around the hospital bed.

The disciples need to look for the kingdom of God in the small, the overlooked, the invisible, and the buried, because Jesus would be the sort of savior who wouldn’t come down from the cross, who would be crucified, dead, and buried.

He would be the sort of savior who would be raised, and appear to his followers, not to Pilate to tell him, ‘See?’ He would show up to faithful women leaving a tomb, not at the palace to say to Herod, ‘I told you so!’ He would show up on a mountain and accept both the worship and doubt of disciples, not at the Temple to strike fear into his enemies. He promised his disciples he would be with them always, to the end of the age.

He is here, with us. His kingdom is already, although not yet fully, present. So we too need to know where to look and what to look for. Some day the tree full of chattering birds will be unmistakable. Some day the smell of baking bread will permeate the city. Some day the treasure will be unearthed and the pearl seen by all. Some day the fish will be separated.

In the meantime, Jesus is still training scribes for the kingdom, still calling us to look, listen, discern, and trust that Jesus and his kingdom are exactly where he said they would be.