Can we be part of the Kingdom? Mt. 13 v 31-33,44-52

I suppose one of the hardest questions any Christian can be asked is ‘what is the kingdom of God like, or indeed what is meant by it?’ At first glance Jesus seems to be offering a number of different answers to that question in today’s Gospel reading.

How can the kingdom of heaven be like a mustard seed, yeast, hidden treasure, a pearl, or a net thrown into the sea? We might be left with the feeling why couldn’t Christ be more specific, after all he came from heaven to live on earth surely he must know what it is like.

But I suspect it is like describing anything which is truly spiritual, human words can’t do it justice. We just don’t have the vocabulary to do it, it is truly beyond words. And I suspect it is harder for this generation than for previous ones. We live in a scientific age when we expect everything to have an answer we are no longer a mystical people. I feel the church is far more interested in doctrine and rules than mysticism and wonderment, which I think is a tragedy.

I remember being taught as a child that as a Christian we have faith and faith doesn’t need proof. According to the dictionary faith is a strong belief in a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. Having said that historically there is much proof that Christ lived not just in Christian books but also in Judaic writings of that time. 

So what is the kingdom of heaven, what is the treasure?

If we look back at Christ’s examples it seems to be a mixture of the everyday, and the special, the small and the huge. We all know what yeast is like, and the growth from a mustard seed was widely understood by the people listening to Jesus. So they are known, I suppose they bring a feeling of security. Then we have a pearl and hidden treasure, something exciting, something beyond the reach of most and yet not beyond the dreams of many.

So the growth from both the mustard seed and yeast is a gentle but constant growth from something small. Christ’s message that the growth of both of them is like the growth of the kingdom, the beginnings of the gospel would be small but that it would continue growing until it spread across the world. But as in many of Christ’s messages there is also another meaning and that is the Gospel seeds sown in us may have small beginnings but if they are nurtured they too will become strong, and that is our role to nurture those who come to faith to ensure that they faith grows like a mustard seed.

But what about the treasure- is that something for us.

The treasure is Jesus, for in him there is an abundance of all that is good all that is worth having, and if we but search him out and find him we will have treasure far greater than any earthly treasure. The Gospel is the field the treasure is hidden in; it is lying there waiting for each and every one of us to find, to keep and to treasure.

As Christ says all people seek pearls seek treasure but for many they are unable to see beyond earthly treasure, material things. And this is where the church can show the way, show that joy comes not from being able to buy the largest diamond, having a safe full of priceless treasures that no one can touch. No, we have to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, show the way, persevere when people seem disinterested for seeds have and are still being sown in the most unlikely places.

We need to excite people about the treasure that is hidden in the Gospels, the treasure which is free for anyone who seeks the truth and turns to Christ. Earlier in Matthew we have the words of Christ ‘where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’

So as Jesus spoke to his disciples he was giving them images heading them into a deeper understanding of the mysterious reality of God’s Reign, the Kingdom of heaven. The disciple, today that is us, has to decide one way or another; and at the heart of this choice is Jesus himself, because he is the fullness of the Kingdom. He is the good seed, the Word the Father sows in the field of the world, which can transform that world from within, with all the hidden power of the mustard seed and the pinch of yeast. Christ is showing that he is the hidden treasure and the precious pearl to be sought and preferred above all other things. So we have to make room for him and him only, so as to avoid the danger of being swallowed up by weeds, becoming like bad fish.

In the Gospel the we find that the Kingdom is the beauty of divine grace, showing us the image of the Son.

It is the Good News to be brought to people who do not yet know Christ; it is loving faithfulness to family; it is vocation to the consecrated life; it is desire to do some good; it is the wisdom of heart that in the Old Testament Solomon begs and receives from God. It is a gift more important than long life, wealth or victory over enemies. It is what martyrs have given their lives up for other the last two thousand years.

In a word, we can say that the treasure is Christ, a gift  which is totally free; the fullness of the Kingdom is Jesus Christ himself, known, loved and proclaimed.

So if the Kingdom is Christ how do we describe him, where do we begin? And I think it is good to remember that Jews and Hindus regard him as a good man; Moslems like Christians are waiting for him to return.

So where do we begin? To finish I am going to read a passage, written as part of a sermon some eighty years ago by Dr James Francis, and which many of you may know called ‘One Solitary Life’.

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never had a family or owned a home. He never set foot inside a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness.

While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through

the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had --- His coat. When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today He is the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever sailed, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as this "One Solitary Life."