Sermon for July 26, 2020 8th Sunday after Pentecost House of Prayer Lutheran Church
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52; Romans 8:26-39 Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
Where do you look for the presence of the kingdom of heaven? Would you look for it among two little kids fighting over a balloon? Our Sunday morning bible study group recently started reading the book One: Unity in a Divided World by Deidra Riggs, where the author tells just such a story, of when her husband Harry was only 3 or 4 years old and his mother took him to a birthday party. Harry met another preschool-aged boy at this party named David, who looked bigger and tougher. David was holding a helium balloon, so Harry walked up to him, looked David in the eyes and said, “I’m going to take your balloon.”
David replied, “I will beat you up if you take my balloon.” Harry decided he didn’t want the balloon, after all. But he did tell his mother about it later. She listened and wisely realized that the best way through this conflict would be for the two boys to play together. Harry’s mom gave David’s mom a call, they got together for a play date, and soon they were best friends!
On the surface this was a child’s conflict over a balloon, and it could have ended in different ways. If Harry hadn’t backed down in the beginning, the two boys might have started fighting, hurt each other, and perhaps had a permanent wedge driven between them. Since Harry did back down, they might have simply gone their separate ways and never had anything to do with each other again. Instead, Harry’s mother, in her wisdom, helped find the kingdom of heaven hidden within the situation. Perhaps seeing their common interest in the balloon, she figured they might have other things in common, too. And they did. Not only the boys, but the two families, became close. And Harry and David? Well, they are still close friends almost 50 years later!
As Deidre Riggs sums this story up in her book [p23-25], “In her great wisdom, Harry’s mom knew more was at stake than just a balloon. What mattered most was the relationship between these two boys, and the impact a friendship could have on them both.” There’s the kingdom of heaven at work!
If we were to re-write this story in the style of the brief parables Jesus is telling in Matthew 13, what might it sound like? Maybe something like: “The kingdom of heaven is like a party with a balloon that two little boys wanted. Instead of fighting over the balloon and popping it, the boys’ mothers had them play together. They forgot about the balloon, and gained the treasure of friendship.”
That’s what the kingdom of heaven is like--a better, wiser, deeper, fuller, richer reality than how we often experience life. Yet ironically, this great reality is hiding in plain sight; it is always all around us, waiting for us to discover when we look beneath the surface, just like in the examples Jesus uses. A small seed. Yeast. A field. A merchant. A fishnet. Small stuff. Ordinary stuff. Yet look beneath the surface, and all of them have the potential to open up to something wonderful and life-giving.
Let’s just look at the Parable of the Mustard Seed. We could dismiss the mustard seed as a tiny insignificant speck. Even if we planted it and it grew to full stature, we might look down on it for what it’s not. It doesn’t produce the ready-to-eat fruit of an apple or cherry tree. It doesn’t provide the cooling shade of the maple or birch. But it does provide seeds that can be crushed and used to flavor other dishes--and besides, the birds of the air nest in it’s branches. The mustard seeds becomes a home and refuge for God’s creatures. Look beneath the surface of the tiny mustard seed, and it contains within it the potential for much greater things than it’s humble appearance. All of that good stuff is hiding in plain sight.
Where will you look for God to be hiding the kingdom of heaven? Where have you seen God at work in places you maybe never expected? Have you ever thought of a parking lot as holy ground before? I don’t know about you, but I always thought of them as strictly utilitarian--the necessary infrastructure so you have a place to leave your car while you do what you really want to do--like go to church! Yet this month, on two successive Sundays, we consecrated our House of Prayer parking lot with the Word of God. While we sat in our cars in the parking lot, we sang our praise. We offered our prayers. We shared Christ’s peace. The kingdom of heaven had “left the building”. Of course, it was never limited to a building to begin with. So to paraphrase Jesus, “the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a parking lot, where people drove on a Sunday morning. In their joy, they parked their cars, and gathered with God’s people, and heard the word of God.” It’s the presence of the Word of God that makes a place holy--and through FM radio waves, combined with the gathering of God’s people, the Word of God spread to every corner of the parking lot, and then drove off to every corner of Franklin, Oak Creek, Greendale, Milwaukee, South Milwaukee, and Racine. Our parking lot is a treasure that was hiding in plain sight.
Or how about the kingdom of heaven present in your home? This is something the pandemic has allowed us to take a fresh look at--the idea growing out of the Reformation, and 1st century Christianity, that our homes are the first church. Our homes are the churches we spend the most time in. And our homes are made holy by the presence of the Word of God and prayer. It’s not that our homes weren’t holy before the pandemic hit us. But since March 15th, many people all around the country and around the world have become more intentional about making our homes sanctuaries of the Word of God--because we’ve been worshiping in them, and we’ve been asking God to support us through all the difficulties of this time.
Does the presence of the Word of God and the kingdom of heaven make a place perfect? No. The parking lot still has a few cracks and weeds growing in it. Our homes still have dirty dishes and chipped paint and all the regular challenges of domestic life, plus the added stresses of the pandemic. But in all them--like a mustard seed--or like the cross of Christ holding on it’s humble beams the salvation of the whole world--the kingdom of heaven is present in what is ordinary and humble, just waiting for us to look beneath the surface for a greater potential than what we see at first glance.
What would you add to the list? If you could take your stories and experiences of the kingdom of heaven and re-write them in the style of Jesus’ brief parables, how would you tell them? Where have you found God to be present these past few months where you didn’t expect? God has hidden the kingdom in plain sight all around us. Why? To infuse in us a sense of God’s holiness in all the world. Because we have a God in Christ Jesus who loves us too much to ever leave us alone. We have a God in Christ Jesus who is always praying for us, and stooping down to help us in our weakness when we turn to him in faith. We have a God in Christ Jesus who takes what we think is insignificant or humble and turns it into treasure to be used for good purposes in the world. Amen.