Good Morning Friends,
Today we have the story of how big things come in small packages…we explore the way of kingdom growth and parables from Jeremiah and Jesus, and the wonder of how things that are not normally seen can change the world. We consider what changes our perception of reality and how we might influence that reality. So perhaps you have seen God at work and maybe you have been satisfied and maybe disappointed with that reality. But there is a deeper question than what the glowing promise of the Kingdom of God is like and what we will experience of it. When Solomon said that there is a time and season perhaps, he was prophetic about our time in the flow of a Judeo-Christian history that seems so fractured. Friends, we all have different hopes and fears so our image of God responding to them is very different, but at some point, there needs to be a collective response so others might taste the bread of life and not waste the opportunity we have been given. So, Are You Rising To The Occasion Of The Presence Of The Kingdom Of God?
Scripture: Thus said the Lord to me, “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth, and put it on your loins, but do not dip it in water.” So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins. And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “Take the loincloth that you bought and are wearing, and go now to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.” So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. And after many days the Lord said to me, “Go now to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there.” Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. But now the loincloth was ruined; it was good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord came to me: Thus says the Lord: Just so I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own will and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to one’s loins, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, in order that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.
Jeremiah 13:1-11 (NRSV)
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet: “I will open my mouth to speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Matthew 13:31-35 (NRSV)
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. “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. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Matthew 13:44-52 (NRSV)
Message: In today’s twin parables, Jesus rebukes our cults of bigness and noise. He is announcing that the Kingdom of God has come into the world silent and imperceptible, like yeast and is summoning people to that Kingdom.
We pray for it when we share the Lord’s prayer and marvel at it when we get glimpses of it but find it difficult to grasp. It is such an elusive thing, and few agree on exactly what it means for some of it is old and some of it is very new. We have different expectations and doubts. The Bible is filled with stories of captivity and exodus and partial restoration of Kingdoms in development. It has stories of separation for a purpose as well as dispersion into the world for a purpose as well. It has not exactly been a series of successes. There is so much failure of the people of God attempting through belief and practice to solidify the hope of the consummation of God’s purpose in the establishment of his Kingdom, it boggles the mind. The existence of the Kingdom frightens some people. However, today’s parables give us an answer to how we are supposed to respond during these bewildering times. And it begins with us acknowledging who we think Christ is and what he came to do and what we are called to do in response. Sure, most of the time we will end up being unprofitable servants but not always if we keep trying. In today’s scripture Jesus in giving us guidance about the Kingdom by connecting all the dots of the prophets with the law revealed in his life as a creation of something new but also honoring what is old. And it is this new thing, as part of a new covenant, sparked by the Holy Spirit that births community of service and its holy function until Jesus returns. Perhaps that is why finding the Kingdom is like finding a treasure buried in a field. We are surprised by the meaning hidden beneath the surface. And as we discover and uncover it, it produces delight in the reality that scripture has been fulfilled in Christ but if blessed can be a catalyst for its growth in our sowing of seeds as well. Still, we wonder what kind of Kingdom is it that the Messiah has set up and how good and evil seem to grow together prompting us to wonder, what will be left… what remnant will remain. Friends, some things will be thrown away. Some things will survive the test of time. But what we do know is that the Kingdom cannot be separated from the King. Thankfully we have been invited to join in the joy of it all. So, when you sense it, realize that it is priceless.
And So, the parables of Jeremiah and Jesus are in a special form that we need to understand if we are to get all the benefits they can provide. Parables are moral stories. They start off with a narrative about something that most listeners would understand, and it has to be something a little unusual, so it is memorable. Jeremiah physically acted out his parable. He puts on a pair of under shorts and wears them for a few days. Then he goes to the river and takes them off and stuffs them under a rock. After a couple of weeks, he comes back, and nature has taken its course. The shorts have been destroyed. But the meaning of any parable is always on a higher level. In Jeremiah’s story, God is trying to tell His people something about their relationship with Him. He is saying that their relationship is to be intimate. That is how close God was to His people, Israel. But because they refused to hear God’s word, stubbornly followed their own will, and lusted after the pagan gods of the land, God let them rot and then threw them away. It was their own fault that they were exiled to Babylon and Egypt. The parables of Jesus were often more subtle. In Jeremiah, there is a one-on-one relationship between the element of the parable, like the loincloth, and the element of the meaning, which would be the relationship with the people of God. In Jesus’ parables, we must read them as a snippet of learning, in this case about the Kingdom of God. For instance, when you take yeast and work hard to knead it all through the dough, the entire loaf then rises in ways the ancients could not understand. So, the kingdom of heaven grows, and it is a mystery how it does, given that so many are corrupt and incompetent. The thing is that the leaven does not work unless it is worked into the dough. Thankfully the Spirit of Christ is yeast in the world, and we get the opportunity to be His hands. So together these parables form an intimate reassurance and promise of abounding hope, but also explaining the mystery of why Christianity must be in the world to change it. Friends, your life is precious for a purpose so realize that Jesus is the only sensible option in living it to the fullest.
Pray we are catalysts for change. Pray we cling to God in the process of rising to the baking of bread as the body of Christ for a holy purpose. Pray we perceive the possibility of the Kingdom of God, seek it out and make it our reality. Pray we have an intimate relationship with God that is not wasted. Pray
we acknowledge Jesus as Lord. Pray we realize that the Kingdom of God’s power has already been released in the world and from its tiny beginnings a new age has dawned for those called to God’s purpose. Pray we realize that if we too sow a field with seed, we can set in motion forces which one day will inevitably produce a harvest. Pray we are heirs to the promise. Pray we seek and find the treasure of Jesus. Pray we understand that we must still walk in faith. Pray we seek victory but not be discouraged if it is not fully accomplished in our lifetime. Pray we face without fear the will of God for us and realize that the Kingdom of God is connected to the power and glory of the Spirit of Christ in us. Pray that the joy of the Kingdom becomes a priority in our lives. Pray our hopes are realized. Pray our fears are relieved. Pray we read the signs of the times and seasons. Pray we always choose Jesus. Pray we delight in the discovery of the Kingdom of Love that exist beyond time.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 