July 27, 2008 Message

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52; Romans 8:26-39
“The Best Part of Your Life”

Jesus liked to tell stories of ordinary people and the ordinary things they do so that people like us might look at God and God’s kingdom in a new way. He told stories about ordinary things to explain the extraordinary – such as God’s kingdom and power with us, filling every part of our lives, changing, informing, and transforming us – making this, if we allow it, to be “the best part of our life.” Imagine the stories he would tell if he were teaching those same lessons today, the images he would draw for our mind’s eye.

Growing up on a farm, there are generally cats – several cats – and usually, for many of us, there is a favorite. There’s a story of the time a young boy’s favorite cat was involved in an accident and was killed while the boy was away at school. His mother was worried over how her son was going to react to the bad news, so when he came home from school, she explained to him what happened and tried to console him by saying, "Don't worry son, the cat is in heaven with God now." To which the boy, without hesitation, replied, "What's God going to do with a dead cat?"

“So he told them, Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom." (Matthew 13:52) There are a lot of new treasures in each of our lives, even some in stories of small boys and “dead cats” that help us understand God and God’s kingdom. Iowa native Susan Werner in her song “May I Suggest” sings of “our beginning to see the thousand reasons that were just beyond our sight and of our being blessed by them - this time that is the best part of our life.” Whether she intended to or not, her words seem to echo those of Jesus concerning the kingdom of God.

Jesus has talked to his followers about God’s kingdom, the inbreaking of heaven on earth and the transformation in life that takes place with its coming. In our readings from Matthew this month, Jesus has added to our understanding that: 1) God is ever present in our lives and makes it possible for us to be present in the lives of others as well. The kingdom is definitely near. 2) God spreads the seed of the kingdom indiscriminately, in both good and not-so-good soil. 3) The kingdom is not yet complete. God is not through with us yet and will burn away the worst in us.

And today, Jesus gives us a fourth image of what “kingdom come” is like: a seed planted, yeast added, farmers farming, a merchant's selling and buying, fishers fishing – a hidden presence and power, already come, making this “the best part of your life.”

This is what he says we are to look for – and what is critical to our understanding – when it comes to the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, we are to look to the here and now, and find the kingdom in the present.

The kingdom of God is God's power and majesty and glory here on earth. But often God's kingdom lies hidden beneath our normal field of vision, and if we never look beyond the surface, we could very well miss it.

Some of us go through life like that, seeing only the surface of life and not the kingdom of God beneath the surface. We see the surface of the earth but not the hidden treasure that lies below, we see the surface of the lake but not the great catch of fish below. And so we look for something better than our life on the surface - a heaven (beyond this life), while never noticing what’s hidden just below the surface - the inbreaking of God’s kingdom, and never realizing “this is the best part of our life.”

God may be hidden, but God is not hiding. God is revealed in every moment of time and in every breath of life. “There is a world that's been addressed to you; addressed to you, intended only for your eyes; a secret world like a treasure chest to you of private scenes and brilliant dreams that mesmerize.” (Susan Werner, “May I Suggest”) But a treasure hidden in a field will not be found until we start to dig. Jesus describes the kingdom almost as a riddle. The kingdom can be found in mustard seed and yeast, a treasure hidden in a field, a merchant searching for fine pearls, and a net full of fish.

- Like a mustard seed and yeast, it starts out small but grows larger and larger, until it includes everyone.
- Like a treasure hidden in a field, it is to be desired more than anything else.
- Like a merchant searching for fine pearls, it is worth everything we have.
- Like a net full of fish, it includes the “keepers” and the “throwbacks” alike.

Jesus said, "Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom." (52)

The Kingdom is always associated with righteousness and like the wheat and weeds parable of last week today’s reading has Jesus separating the righteous from the unrighteous. “Angels will come and separate the evil people from the ones who have done right.” (49)

Last week I suggested that as individuals we might be both weed and wheat at the same time, exhibiting characteristics of both in differing degrees. That’s why to those on the outside the church appears to be a bunch of hypocrites. We don’t measure up to the teaching of Jesus – we are, each of us, at times more weed than wheat. Yet there is hope for all of us, as God will burn away our imperfections, allowing us to be righteous and among those “who have done right.” Whether we realize it or not, in fact, “this is the best part of our life.”

Walter Brueggemann suggests that one definition for righteousness found in the Hebrew language is ‘the power to give life”. (Hope Within History, John Knox PressAtlanta, pp. 27-28.) That is why only God is deemed to be righteous. However, God has shared his righteousness, or life giving power with the Church, that we might be a life giving community. This is part of God’s will, God’s plan for all of us.

Again Susan Werner writes in “May I Suggest”: “There is a hope that's been expressed in you, the hope of seven generations, maybe more. And this is the faith that they invest in you, it's that you'll do one better than was done before.” But how can we ever do what we are suppose to do?
In Romans 8, Paul says we are weak; we can’t do it on our own. We can’t realize the kingdom Jesus talks about on our own. We can’t ‘become righteous’ because of our own doing. We need help. That’s what the Holy Spirit does. And that is the good news. The Holy Spirit makes it all happen.

Paul says that “God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him.” (28) He also says, “If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” (31) And he assures us, “nothing can separate from God’s love.” (38)

That being so, this IS the best part of our life. (sing song “May I Suggest” by Susan Werner)