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| 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time |
July 26,
1999 |
The afternoon cook out was going great. The kids were playing in the yard.
The conversation had been light and lively. The cool lemonade quenched their
thirst under the scorching heat of the day. Neil was getting ready to light the
charcoal for the steaks. The only distraction was the party next door. The
Smiths had a rather large and rowdy group of people over for an afternoon of
swimming. The beer was flowing and the conversation kept getting louder and more
offensive as the day wore on.
After dinner, Neil and Ed began to talk about
the neighbors. The Thomas' had met the Smiths but were never able to develop
much of a friendship. The Smiths would always turn down any invitation to attend
a church function. Neil and Ed wondered how they could reach people like that
with the gospel. They began to brainstorm ideas. Neil speculated that if they
could get Bible verses into people's hands, it would convict them of their need
for Christ. Ed suggested that pieces of paper could be tied to balloons with
string. The balloons could be inflated with just enough helium to get them over
the city. When the balloons deflated the Bible verses would fall into the yards.
People would read them when they picked them up. That prompted an idea in Neil,
instead of balloons why not use a blimp. The blimp could circle the city and
drop tracs from the sky right into people's yards.
Neil and Ed knew that they had stumbled onto a great idea. They sprung into action. They recruited several friends who had a heart for evangelism and the business connections to finance the plan. First they found a small blimp that they could rent. Then they made their first pass over the city. They knew that they had made an impact by the number of letters-to-the-editor that were published in the newspaper. Jesus told his disciples to expect rejection and persecution. The angry tone of the letters indicated that people were reading the Bible verses and were being convicted of their sin.
The story of the gospel blimp was written by Joe Bayly as a prophetic
parable. He tired to point out that the Church spends too much time on outreach
methods that are highly visible, grandiose but often impersonal and ineffective.
Jesus said the same thing in a different way. He told two parables comparing the
kingdom of heaven to a mustard seed and yeast.
Matthew is also a very organized writer. He has five teaching sections. The first one includes the Sermon on the Mount. The second contains the commissioning of the disciples to their ministry and the third one is the parables that we will be considering over the next few weeks. Notice the progression.
The Sermon on the Mount contains the essence of Jesus teaching. It forms the foundation for his disciples. It introduces the basic ethical and moral teachings about the kingdom of heaven. In the second session, Jesus starts to get more specific for the advanced disciple. For those who are not satisfied with being mere by-standards but want to become active participants, they must know and do certain things. Now in this third section he introduces his advanced teaching. It is not intended for the crowd of curiosity seekers that are looking for a good show. It is not intended for the skeptics or the critics. They may listen to the words but they will not hear the message. These parables are for those who will hear and who do see. They were intended to include only those who were hungering after righteousness and thirsting for the pure life giving water of the Holy Spirit. "For those who are ready learners of the gospel, parables unlock the secrets of the kingdom..."1
In the next two parables, the theme shifts to the amazing growth of the kingdom from its small beginnings. This is a powerful message and we see examples of it in the business world. Apple Computer announced this week a new laptop computer. The earlier reviews have been very positive. It appears that Apple has come back from the brink of disaster. Who would have thought that two high school kids working in their garage could produce a multi-million dollar corporation? Jesus promises that from even a tiny seed of faith great things can happen - what a wonderful promise for a small church such as ours God. However, the text holds a much more profound message that is often missed in a casual reading of the passage.
Thomas Long, former professor of preaching at Princeton, suggests that Jesus probably had a twinkle in his eye as he played off the popular image of a kingdom. Throughout the OT, a mighty political kingdom is described as a great and strong tree. In the book of Daniel, Babylon is a tree standing majestically at the center of the earth, with a top that reaching to heavens. The tree is visible to the ends of the earth and abundant enough that "the birds of the air nested in its branches and from it all living beings were fed. (Daniel 4: 10-12).
We expect great kingdoms to look like massive cedars or towering sequoias, instead, Jesus offers the humble image of a mustard bush. The kingdom of God is like a mustard bush. This simple message of the text remains - great kingdoms grow from small beginnings - but Jesus presents an even more profound lesson. The kingdom of God is breaking into the world in a disarming and, for many, disenchanting way. We are more comfortable with images of strength and power. We want our nation's military to be the best in the world. We want our presidents to project an image of authority and superiority. We want our high school athletic teams to be number one, in their division at least. Think about it, we do not sing, "A mighty mustard bush is our God, A quivering twig never failing" We want a mighty God, who does mighty things.
So what does that mean for us?
For me it helps me appreciate the greatness of smallness. I confess, the struggles of a small church can easily frustrate me. We have limited resources, a limited number of people to do an unlimited number of things. The parable of the mustard seed reminds me that the kingdom is not about size. Large growing churches are fun. They can be very creative and use the latest technology to put on spectacular programs and ministries but they are not for everyone. The small church not only has a place in the kingdom of God but it probably serves as a more fitting image.
In a large church, you can always find a group of people that you like. People with similar backgrounds, similar interests, similar ways of talking about God but you will have a more difficult time finding those types of friends in a small church. The pool of people is smaller so differences are more noticeable. It requires much more energy to always be in talking with people who share a different perspective on worship, education and politics. You have to learn to get along with people who may irritate you. You must work harder at finding areas of common interest. But that is the power of the small church. We demonstrate each and every day the power of God's love that enables us to love one another, to serve together, to worship together. Our greatness lies in our smallness.
The shock of the image is intensified by the woman's actions. The NRSV destroys the meaning of the verb by translating it as "mixed." She did not mix it; she hid it in stealth-like secrecy. She must have been baking for an army. Three measures of flour would be the equivalent to about fifty pounds and make enough to feed a hundred people but for who she is baking, does not matter. The point is it only takes a small amount of yeast to make 50 pounds of flour rise. The parable pictures the kingdom of God as a small hidden force working in stealth-like secrecy to "corrupt" the corruption of the world. A country western song has a verse that reads, "You're gonna ruin my bad reputation." The fermenting power of the kingdom of God "ruins" the lifestyle and character of the world by transforming a person into a new creation.
This is a difficult message for the church to accept. We are more attracted to glitzy advertising and slick publicity. Sometimes this approach can be attractive. An anonymous sponsor is currently conducting a billboard campaign to grab people's attention and encourage them to consider the reality of the spiritual life. The message is contained in a few simple words and is always signed God. A few that I like read, "Keep using my name in vain, I'll make rush hour longer." Or "Need directions?" or "Have you read my #1 best seller? There will be a test." But my all time favorite is "Don't make me come down there" As clever as these slogans are, they can easily become what I would call a gospel blimp type approach.
The same holds true with our programming ideas. In September, a group of ministers will gather in one of the parks to sign a covenant on marriage. The covenant provides guidelines for performing marriages. There are many good things in the covenant. It calls for the clergy to model good marriages by serving and loving their spouse. It encourages the couple to be celibate prior to the ceremony. It also emphasizes the importance of extended counseling sessions. The covenant helps to highlight the sacredness of the marriage vows and the importance on establishing a solid relationship before the grand event. It will also prevent people from clergy shopping, to try to find a minister with the least requirements. Regardless, of whether I will sign the document I will not be participating in the public signing. I believe that such events contribute to changing the problem. They give the appearance that something has been done but in reality, nothing has changed. I will still get calls from people on Wednesday asking me if I will marry them on Saturday. People who have not been to church since they were children will still come to me asking me perform their wedding ceremony. Couples who have been living together will still ask me to perform the ritual to make the relationship official. Unless I share with them face-to-face the importance of celibacy prior to the service, it does not matter whether my name is on a document or not. It is too easy for the public signing to become a thinly disguised substitute for the real performance that must be done in private.
The same could be said for the Crop Walk. I am a strong support of the event and I deeply regret that we will not be having one this year. However, there is an inherent danger in events such as the March for Dimes or the Crop Walk. After the march, after the pennies and nickels have been counted everybody feels real good about having done something but children still die of hunger alone. Children with birth defects still struggle to walk and wonder why no one comes to visit them. It is a lot easier to march on a lovely fall afternoon for hunger than it is to serve in the soup kitchen. It is a lot easier to write a check supporting medical research to prevent birth defects than it is to read a story to a little boy whose hands are so crippled that he cannot hold the book himself.