Proper 12 (A) Kingdom Building
Proper 12 (A) Kingdom Building
I grew up in Winnetka, Illinois. “Winnetka” was the Indian word for “beautiful land.” Winnetka is located on the shores of Lake Michigan and it truly is a wonderful place to live. If you were a kid growing up in Winnetka, you could consider yourself fortunate indeed!
I was a member of the Christ Church Winnetka Men and Boys’ Choir. Over the fourteen years of membership in that choir, I heard a lot of sermons. The one text that really troubled me was our Lord saying, “If your enemy strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek.” That, I thought to myself, would be a very hard, dumb thing to do. That is not how things work in the real world.
However, as it turns out, turning the other cheek would be easy compared to additional expectations for citizenship in God’s Kingdom. Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” What kind of love was that? As our Lord lived it, it would be a forgiving, understanding, serving, selfless kind of love.
Now, considering our human tendency to have things our way, building God’s Kingdom turns out to be a WHOPPER of a challenge. Our Lord’s disciples were human. They knew how things worked in the real world. And, like little Ernie singing in the choir, they must have had their misgivings. Our Lord taught them to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Have you ever stopped to think about the gap between God’s way in heaven and our struggle to simply “get along” here on earth?
I believe that it was in the face of our Lord’s disciples’ doubt that He told the parables of the “mustard seed” and the “leaven.” The little……that goes a long way.
Consider their situation. They lived in an extremely hostile world. (A far cry from the safe, pleasant environment of Winnetka.) The rule, “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” was considered highly civilized in comparison to the usual treatment of one’s enemies. Jesus himself would suffer the consequences of a ruthless society. Yet, He taught His disciples to “turn the other cheek,” “Walk the extra mile,” and to “Pray God’s blessings on their enemies.” If they were anything like us, I’m sure they had doubts.
Jesus could see their misgivings. He says, this new way of living that I’m showing you probably looks about as insignificant and helpless as a mustard seed against the mean, cruel, destructive ways of the world. But look what happens to this tiny seed when it is planted. It grows into a bush of significant size. Birds can nest in it; it changes the way things look on the horizon.
When we live a life that can forgive, that can dialogue for understanding, that is willing to serve, and, if necessary, sacrifice, it is like leaven in a lump of dough. When it is kneaded in, you don’t even know that it’s there, but that little leaven works its effect on every part of the whole.
The meaning of the parable is this: Small, seemingly insignificant changes in the way we participate in our daily lives can, and will, produce a more understanding, caring world. And the results are PRICELESS!
Life in the Kingdom of God is the pearl of great price. It is the treasure of infinite value.
Over the past 44 years that I have served as a priest in the Diocese of Spokane, I have enjoyed a close relationship with our church camp on Lake Coeur d’Alene in Idaho. The property was purchased for one dollar ($1.00), 85 years ago. Since then, because of its prime location, it has experienced a dramatic increase in value. I have heard offers between twenty-five and thirty million dollars. But its real-estate value is nothing compared to the thousands of lives that have experienced “Kingdom Moments” on that beautiful property with a Christian community.
Then, like leaven, those campers move out into the world as witnesses to God’s Kingdom and we all benefit. One year I wrote a letter to all my counseling staff thanking them for the experience of living together in God’s Kingdom.
It’s easy to have doubts about the value of what we do as Christians. We have our faults and the world can be relentlessly critical. But our job, like a successful farmer, is to work the ground and sow the seed. Sowing the seed is the farmer’s only hope for the harvest.
Listen to the parable of the “Patient Farmer” from Mark 4:26–29:
“This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain: first the stalk, then the head, and then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
Some time ago, I overheard this conversation at a Rotary meeting.
First Man: “Boy, all this rain could ruin the wheat crop!”
Second Man: “How long have you lived in this valley?”
First Man: “Thirty-five years.”
Second Man: “Have you ever seen the crop ruined in those thirty-five years?”
First Man: “No.”
Second Man: “Then what are you worried about?”
One old-time farmer in our Bible study was sure that if he didn’t worry, his wheat wouldn’t grow. We all laughed.
The world worries a lot and it’s hard to keep ourselves from getting caught up in the fear and despair that the media digs to find. We can’t live in the world and escape its influence. But we do not have to dwell on evil…. or live in despair.
Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. We don’t have to “forward” the negative “junk” that people who don’t understand the destructive power of words send to us on the internet.
From 1st Kings—God speaks to Solomon in a dream and asks, “What should I give you?” And Solomon replies, “Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil.” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind.” Pray for the gift of discernment.
The good we choose and the good we do, may seem of little consequence. A mere “mustard seed” but empowered by God’s Spirit it has the potential to become something of infinite value. Throw a pebble in a pond and the ripples reach out in all directions.
Every time we enter the room, we make the world freer or more enslaved, nobler or more degraded, kinder or more indifferent.
And here is the good news; no one can be immunized against us.
And, here’s the bad news; no one can be immunized against us.
Lord, help us all to be the leaven that turns kindness and words of encouragement into a way of life that would cause Our Lord to say, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
Resources for further study:
Lectionary:| Track 1 | or | Track 2 |
| Genesis 29:15-28 Psalm 105:1-11, 45b or Psalm 128 Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 | 1 Kings 3:5-12 Psalm 119:129-136 Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 |
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