Kingdom of Heaven Mattheew 13:1-13; 14-23
“HOW'S YOUR HUMUS?”
God sure has a great sense of humor. I’m reminded of that every time I see otters at play, or see a doc on birds mating, or get squirted at by a clam on the beach, or look in the mirror, for that matter! And God must be having a good giggle watching me try to explain a story involving growing things.
After all wasn't I the guy who killed his raspberry bushes trying to prune them? Or how about that time I walked into the Lawn and Gardens section of Walmart, picked up a bag of bird seed, and asked...: “So, uh, how deep are you supposed to plant these...and what kind of birds do they grow?”
When I was in second grade we planted lima bean seeds in a Petri dish. Later I asked my teacher, “Miss Gibbs, why is everybody else’s lima bean plant so green and mine is so…brown?” She told me that wasn’t a lima bean plant. It was a weed. My lima bean plant had died and now it looked like the weed was dying as well. I couldn’t even grow a weed!
Make no mistake: I may be all thumbs but none of them are green. But I don’t need a green thumb in order to get this: Parables like the one Jesus told of a farmer sowing seed were told to help us grasp what the kingdom of heaven looks like as it takes root within and through us.
Jesus told such parables so we’d perceive what the world cannot. “You're permitted to under-stand the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven that others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given... That is why I tell these parables.” (Matthew 13:11-13)
Jesus told such parables to inspire us with glimpses of what God’s kingdom looks like as it arises around us and so that we’ll take root in it as it does. The kingdom of heaven draws near when people truly hear the message about the kingdom, (Matt 13:19) and in full grasping it, relishing and blossuming through it, in turn produce an abundant harvest.” (Matthew 13:23)
I don’t need to have a green thumb in order to see that what comes out of the ground does not resemble what was planted in it. The plant doesn’t look at all like the tiny seed from which it came. What happened? It's called photosynthesis, a kind of transformation that occurs when light brings growth. This is what Jesus is all about – to change us from the inside out – that we’d stop being so wrapped up in ourselves and would open up, like a green shoot, stretching, reaching out for the light of the Son – the Son of the living God – and like him, towards those in a world of hurt or confusion!
But Jesus’ parable of a kingdom of scattered seed isn’t limited to seeds that land on fertile soil. Jesus says some seed fell on a footpath, (Matt 13:4), representing hearts hardened by the enemy.
Feeling trampled by loss and pain, or the hurtful actions of others, we're prone to hardening our hearts. Intellectual objections, unresolved anger & church baggage hinder our hearing the Good News as good.
Other seed fell on shallow soil and never really take root. The excitement of something new wears off and having never really plugged in we disconnect when hard times or distraction come.
(Matthew 13:5)
Still others wind up being choked by the thorns of busy lives and self indulgence. Who among us hasn't seen that at work in our own lives or those close to us? Jesus’ parable suggests that all of us are at risk. Once again Jesus tells a story of good news with a warning attached. (Matthew 13:22)
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Jesus’ parable of sowing seed presses the question: what kind of soil best describes you? It's ironic that the word soil sounds so much like the word, soul? His parable asks, how healthy is your soul? Or to word that another way: What's the status of your humus – if it's not a personal question?
(How much more personal can you get?!)
Of course it is! Jesus' parables are nothing if not personal and provocative. His stories are told to engage, to inspire - all for the purpose of presenting us with an urgent challenge.
The challenge is two-fold – one, to make sure your relationship with God gets planted in fertile soil. Second, to compel you to live a spiritually fruitful life, that is, to plant or invest in those around you. Notice that the good soil is celebrated not because it’s more respected or religious but because it reproduces! “The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God's word and produce a magnificently abundant harvest – way more than was originally planted!” (Matthew 13:23)
That brings us to a crucial observation. Jesus planted his love in our hearts not simply so we'd feel good about ourselves and our relationship with him, which in and of itself is a wonderful thing to be sure! Jesus also planted his love in our hearts so that together, in partnership with the Holy Spirit, we may do some planting of our own in his kingdom, keeping in mind a farmer can plant and water but without sunshine a plant will never grow. “It’s not important who does the planting or who does the watering,” Paul wrote. “What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose and both will be rewarded” (1 Corinthians 3:7-8)
That is to say: The one who witnesses to someone outside the community of faith by loving on them and meeting their needs partners with others who share their faith or invite them to worship, or Alpha or whatever. The idea is to help others experience God's love, point to Jesus as the embodiment of that love and help them come to a sense of belonging whether they’re believing yet or not.
There once was a boy whose parents loved him. They cared for him, nurtured him and provided for his Christian education. He came to know and believe in Jesus but as he grew older, influenced by his wayward friends, he sowed his wild oats. He indulged in the ways of the world. Though he never stopped being a believer he was less and less a follower of the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Years later he was offered a position at a Bible Camp. While there still others invested in him, and his faith grew. He had a fresh longing for God and but there was little fruit. Sure enough it wasn't long before he began to wither. Over the years more and more Christ followers prayed for him, kept planting seeds & partnering with each other... Thank God for that or I wouldn't be standing here today.
What if the Holy Spirit was on the move, going before us touching hearts, provoking curiosity, convicting some and awakening others, and then offering us nudges and clues how we can plant seeds and water them in prayerful cooperation with others and with the Spirit of God himself?
The message that he’s entrusted us with is not about who’s in and who’s out, who’s right and who’s wrong, but an opportunity to start afresh in life no matter where we are, that we come to see that we are either moving toward or away from the purpose for which we were created, to connect with God in a loving, ongoing relationship. That's what Jesus came to demonstrate and to declare. As those entrusted with this Good News, we come along side others to embody God's love, point to Jesus and declare his reign in and among us: “The kingdom of God is at hand, it's come near”. (Matthew 4:17) “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while He is near!” (Isaiah 55:6)
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As Pastor Robby Dawkins puts it: “It's not about accomplishing what we want to see or about our version of success; it's about saying, 'I'm willing to be used by God in this moment, and the results are up to Him, not me.' One way to think about it is that we are meant to be nickels in God's pocket, like loose change He can spend any way He chooses. He can spend us on big things or small things.”
(Robby Dawkins)
Robby shares about a time he took a group of teens to a New Age shop in Fort Collins. The manager had things like tarot cards, wee-jee boards and such on display. Robby asked if they could be of service, to bless her and pray for her to prosper. As some of the teens cleaned the toilets others prayed for the manager: “Lord, bless this manager. Overwhelm her with a sense of your presence and love for her.” As some prayed and others scrubbed, the manager was shaken to the core. “What's happening to me?” she asked. They told her: “The Father loves you and you're feeling His presence.”
“Several months later Dawkins returned to the shop and was told that the manager had quit and was now working at a local Christian Book store. “Offering to serve people in some way often leads to spiritual conversation, which can then lead to seeing the Kingdom break into someone's life.”
(from Robby Dawkins' Do What Jesus Did)
The kingdom draws near as we collaborate with the Spirit of Christ, some times to demonstrate God's love, other times to give witness..., other times to welcome and encourage - all in hope of seeing lives transformed and reproduced by the love of God in Christ Jesus, again and again – “some thirty, some sixty, others even a hundred times as much as originally planted!” (Matthew 13:23)
Jesus describes there some phenomenal growth there - sixty to a hundred times as much as planted? That's some mighty fertile soil there! What kind of soul reproduces itself on that kind of scale? Such a soul comes to mind – well nourished and cherished as it was!
Max Lucado tells of one Punchinello, a young Wemmick trying to measure up to the other performance driven Wemmicks in town, where everyone hands out shiny stars to those excel and dark dots to those who do not. The competition is thick. It doesn't take much to get plastered with a bunch of unwanted dots and the comments that came with...
Punchinello agreed with those comments – he was not a very good Wemmick! One day he met a Wemmick who was unlike any he'd ever met. Her name was Lucia and she didn't have any dots or stars. It wasn't that people didn't try to give her does or stars it's just that they never seemed to stick. “That's the way I want to be”, thought Punchinello, “I don't want anyone's marks.” So he asked Lucia how she did it.
“It's easy,” Lucia replied. “Every day I go see Eli, the Woodcarver. I visit him in his workshop and we talk together there. His perspective helps me with mine.”
“You visit the wood carver every day? Why? Why do you go so often?
“Why don't you see for yourself?” That's exactly what he did! Soon he found that he cared more about what the Woodcarver thought of him than what the other Wemmicks did. So what was it about Lucia that caused Punchinello to notice her in the first place? It was her soul. Her soul was at peace with Her Creator. Her Humus was rich in God's love and grace, all because she sought him out and was reminded: “The Father loves you. Reproduce It”
“Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see!”
(Matthew 13:16-17)
Josie