Sermon Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, July 24th

Sermon

Text: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

So, I'm a Twins fan, and my national league team is the Cubs. As such I start every spring training period with very high, hopeful expectations. As Wayne and Bob and probably a few others can attest that is dangerous as a Cubs fan. Usually my expectations are destroyed by mid-season. The Twins at least for most of the last few years have waited for the playoffs to truly smash my hopes and dreams into oblivion. Ok, it's never really that bad, but it feels like it sometimes, and it's always against the Yankees. As of this morning, Twins are in third place 5 games back, but have come back from being 12 games out at one point, so I'm feeling good about their climb. Cubs are well, the cubs, 39-60 and 14 games back. So everything seems to be on schedule.

Our texts for today deal with changed expectations. We see a collection of small parables. We sort of get all the extra bits from the rest of the chapter. There are 5-6 parables in our text today, and so we don't get lost trying to look at all of them let's look at the first two parables, which are grouped together before the split.

The first of the two is the well known parable of the mustard seed. The second is a tale of a woman making bread. At first glance they don't really seem that surprising. They both point to God creating a lot from a little, a tree from a small seed, and leavened bread from a little yeast, but they explode our and Jesus' hearers expectations.

Mustard is indeed a small seed, not really the smallest there is, but it's not large by any standard. But, it does not grow into a large tree. It is an annual that can get to between 2-6 feet high, sometimes up to nine or ten, but not what we would consider a tree. As an annual it dies off every year, the seeds fall and new plants come up the next year. Also in that part of the world mustard is a weed, you plant it and it's never leaving. It's seeds essentially germinate immediately. One plant can take over a whole field in a few years. But the shock of this planting goes beyond farming wisdom.

There is also some possibility that planting mustard in a field could be seen as a violation of the laws of Leviticus. In Leviticus there is a law that states that you shall not mix seeds in your fields. To make sure this is followed the Rabbis have created associated rules, one differentiates between what should be planted in a garden and what in a field. Mustard is a kind of plant that should be in the garden, not the field. So, up to now our expectation as the crowd is that this mustard seed is going to take over the field, break the law, and really become a nuisance. But, what happens is that instead it grows into a mighty tree. Normal mustard plants indeed grow into shrubs, but this one grows into a mighty tree. A mighty tree to rival the trees used to represent the empires of the world around them. A tree abounding in life. From the smallest, weedy, unwanted, law-breaking seed comes abundant life. Talk about flipped expectations. The kingdom of Heaven comes forth even more abundantly than we can imagine. God takes this little unwanted, uncontrollable seed that this man planted in the wrong location, and creates from it wondrous growth.

Now, the parable of the yeast. In this parable we find a woman who takes some yeast and hides it in 3 measures of flour. In our text is says mixes, but that almost implies too much movement, the Greek is simply hides, showing no action of kneading. So, that surprising, she does not do the work she should. Second, yeast, it's not the yeast we know. Yeast did not come in packets or jars that you keep in your fridge. It would be closer to a sourdough starter, but even stronger. In fact in other places in the bible yeast is referred to a corruptible thing. So out of this corruptible thing comes the kingdom of God, and not only does it give nourishment, but the woman mixes it with 3 measures of flour. That's about 10 gallons, enough to make bread for 100 to 150 people. And it all becomes leavened. From this small bit of yeast, through no work by the woman, but through God comes a feast. This woman seemingly does not add enough to finish what is started, and does not work it like she should, but God takes that little and works wonders out of it.

In these two parables our expectations are overwhelmed. We expect small, unnoticeable things, and God works wonders. How can so much come from so little, how can such a grand thing come from such a small tree, how can good come from corruptness, how can abundance come from a weed.

One more time it shows God working through mysterious ways, in ways that we do not understand, towards paths we cannot see. We would expect Jesus to describe the kingdom of heaven by showing a mighty imperial cedar tree being planted. And we would miss the small mustard seed. We expect that the coming of the kingdom would require much work, but it instead it occurs for us.

That's comforting for me. Knowing that my expectations no matter how small or even how grand are nothing compared to what God will accomplish. It is a similar situation that Paul's hearers find themselves in. They have grand expectations, that everything will flow before them, that they will see grand trees sprouting, see much nourishment from their work. But, instead they see persecution and turmoil. It has come to such a point that they cannot even pray, cannot even speak. And the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. Paul is writing to a people who are being condemned by the Romans around them, told that they need to do certain things, believe certain things, otherwise they will be killed. And Paul says to them.

“ ³¹What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³²He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. ³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶As it is written,

"For your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Our expectations tell us that we have work to do, that we have to plant the correct seeds, that we have bread to make, and we fail at those things. Our expectations are dashed, destroyed, devoured. And to that God tells us, I love you, nothing can take that love away from you. God takes the little that we are capable of doing, things so small that we cannot even see them, places where we think we have failed and creates abundance from them. God takes our expectations and exceeds them beyond our very comprehension.

Let us pray,

God of the small, bring forth the greatness of your kingdom to us here. Help us to see the seeds in this world, that we may attempt to assist them in showing forth your love. Help us to tell the world of your gracious love.

Amen