The Kingdom or Reign of Heaven is like a Gorse Bush?
Ōtūmoetai – Year A - 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time -2026
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By Tony Wills - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61356567 |
What I want to say:
What I want to happen:
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
A couple of weeks ago
used Jewish author Amy Jill Levine
help us put these parables back into
- geographical
- historical
- sociological
- religious context
As a Jew
she sees gospels as written by Jewish authors
telling story of Jesus as Jewish rabbi speaking to poor Jewish peasants
who saw world through Jewish eyes
lived under Roman occupation
in what we now call Palestine-Israel
these short stories Jesus told
multiple settings
each time slightly different meaning
always absurd, shocking, provocative,
our problem with them is that they have become familiar, domesticated, safe
2. Kingdom of Heaven
people like Amy Jill Levine and another important author - Bishop N.T. Wright remind us both from Jewish perspective
- perspective early church
the biblical goal is not escaping Earth for heaven,
- but God bringing heaven and earth together in a renewed physical creation.
o humanity restored
o creation renewed
can be hard for us get our heads around
for along time goal Christianity has become getting into heaven
But for Jesus the Jew
- and early church
goal was fulfilment of covenants
establishment of God’s reign here on earth
- God bringing heaven and earth together in a renewed physical creation.
Really important keep hold of when we read today's scriptures, especially Matthew and Romans.
This week we hear the third set of images about the reign of God
- Jesus in Matthew calls the kingdom of heaven
- Kingdom of God – Luke and Mark
This is not about going to heaven after we die
But what it looks like when God’s will is done on earth as in heaven
How would we describe that?
• How would you describe the Reign of God from your experience of it?
• What images or stories would you tell?
3. Subversive images
Kingdom of heaven has been understood in all kinds of ways down the ages
- Crusader kingdoms in holy land
- Viking court in Kyiv (what we now call Ukraine) looking at which big religion to adopt – Islam, Catholicism, or orthodox Christianity
o Bedazzled by splendour of basilicas in Constantinople and wonder of services
o Chose Orthodox Christianity – how Russia became orthodox
Jesus could have used similar images
- worship at temple
- reign of David or Solomon
- power Rome
Instead of those kinds of image we have surprising series
- Less surprising for us as we so used to them
- Lost some of their shock value
4. The Parables
Last week - The parable of the weeds maliciously scattered among good seed.
This week have another 5 images, which are all weaved together
Jesus in Matthew using them help hearers
- Crowd in places
- Disciples in other places
grasp what he means by the “kingdom of heaven”.
using scatter-gum approach
raft - stories that allow people from wildly different walks life
- find image they can relate to
- speaks to them
- invites them deeper
For those first hearers,
- And for those who heard gospels in first centuries
These are strange stories
Instead of magnificent cedars of Lebanon
- Often used in scripture
Or wonder of throne of God – temple on Mt. Zion
We get stories of a sower sowing seeds
- Scattered foolishly and wastefully on all kinds of soil
stories of subterfuge – weeds sown among good seeds
- and allowed to stay and grow
- only at harvest will judgement occur
- turned into a cute story about little faith growing great tree
- really this weed like gorse
o rapidly growing invasive weed
o becomes shrubbery
- Who would do such a stupid thing
- How does that relate to story just told about weeds being maliciously sown
Then story about woman
- a woman doing women’s things in this male dominated world where only men’s stuff was important
- Woman hiding yeast in flour
- When holy bread of Passover is unleavened
- Don’t hide yeast in flour
- vast amount of flour
- ridiculous amount of flour
- it turns huge amount flour into enough bread feed whole village and more
- (and then Jesus feeds a whole bunch of people with vast amount of bread –fish and twice)
- In reckless joy sells all he has, which is not much,
- and buys the field, which is impossible
- legally pretty dubious anyway
It’s also like merchant looking for pearls.
- And on finding the one
- Joyfully sells his stock and buys it
- Rejoicing
- but now not merchant because he has no stock sell
Finally it is like lowly fisherman dragnetting the Galilee and dragging all they find onto the shore
- again there is a sorting
- but until the sorting all fish and everything else is in the net
- we jump to the sorting normally
- we overlook fact that until the sorting
o everything stays in the net – all mixed up together
- side note – we are the fish and not the sorter
- we don’t decide who gets to be in the net
- we don’t get to decide if gay people, or trans people, or any other kind of people share the net with us.
5. What then is the kingdom?
What then is the reign of God like?
not magnificent
not powerful
not like any kingdom and empires that human have established.
like
- weeds planted among wheat
- invasive weed deliberately sown
- crazy sower of seeds
- joyful, reckless, and slightly dodgy tenant farmer
- woman hiding yeast in flour
- joyful ex-merchant sells al his stock for the one pearl
- lowly Fisherman dragnetting all into one net
This is what Jesus lives out
eating and blessing and being with all kinds of people
- proper religious people
- poor people
- women
- people deemed outsiders by religious authorities
I wonder where we see ourselves in these stories
- As seed of weeds or good seeds?
- As one sowing – wastefully or with weeds
- As yeast
- Or woman hiding the yeast
- or are we the flour
- treasure or amazing pearl
- reckless ex-merchant or dodgy tenant farmer or dragnet fisher
- Or fish
All these contradictory images help us his hearers know where to look for the kingdom today,
to know when we are experiencing the kingdom happening around us and in us.
In light of that
What is kingdom of God like for you?
where does church fit into all that?
where do we as a church fit into that?
Where do we see reign of God breaking into our world today?
(A side note)
Paul
Reign of Heaven is found in fulfilment of the covenant
Today we hear that Spirit of God is yearning for us and within us, to restore humanity and renew creation through God’s people
As I have said this is at the heart of Paul’s theology.
the heart of what the reign of God looks life
When we are faithful to this (righteous) we find reign of heaven.
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