|
July 27th, 2008 – 11th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Genesis 29:15-28; Psalms 105:1-11, 45c or Ps 128; Romans 8:26-39;
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Have you ever read something over and over again and then one day you discover something you’d never seen in it before?
I had one of those experiences this week as I read over the gospel reading. I remembered very well the parable of the Weeds among the Wheat, I could quote you the parable of the Mustard Seed, the Yeast, the treasure hidden in the field, and the precious pearl. But the last parable in this series of stories is one I don’t remember ever hearing.
“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matt 13:52)
In Jesus’ day and in his religion people were used to folks coming around offering interpretations to their Scriptures. If the teacher was deemed to be speaking with authority he was called a ‘rabbi’ – and the followers who wrote down what he said were called scribes. A rabbi’s greatest challenge was to interpret the Torah, the law of God (found in the first 5 books of our Bibles).
“Different rabbis had different sets of rules, which were really different lists of what they forbade and what they permitted. A rabbi’s set of rules and lists, which was really that rabbi’s interpretation of how to live the Torah, was called that rabbi’s yoke. When you followed a certain rabbi, you were following him because you believed that rabbi’s set of interpretations were the closest to what God intended through the Scriptures. And when you followed that rabbi, you were taking up that rabbi’s yoke.” (Mark Bell, Velvet Elvis)
Jesus the rabbi is essentially offering a new ‘yoke’ – a new spin on an old concept – a message of the kingdom of heaven that was to be lived out and imitated by his followers. And his followers, like a good scribe, learn how to see the treasure in the old stories, and old interpretations, as well as the new. Jesus once said that his ‘yoke’ was ‘easy’ – and I think one way of understanding this is that Jesus’ teaching always got back to the ancient root of all the laws, commands, and great stories of the Old Testament. When asked by the ‘experts’ what the greatest command was, he says it’s to love God, and to love one’s neighbour – every thing is essentially just commentary – a working out of what the law of love looks like in every day life.
This last parable of the master bringing treasure from what is new, and what is old means that in God’s kingdom there is great value in the great stories of old and the truth revealed in them and there is also great value in new interpretations and expressions of that love:
I new expression of love might look like this one I came across this week: What is love? It is silence--when your words would hurt. It is patience--when your neighbour's curt. It is deafness--when a scandal flows. It is thoughtfulness--for other's woes. It is promptness--when stern duty calls. It is courage--when misfortune falls.
In the book of Genesis we learn of God’s love in creating humanity to enjoy his creation, though we would refuse this gift over and over again. Even when we disobeyed, God always provided a way out, and welcomed us back with open arms. We hear throughout the OT of God having special relationship with his people, first with individuals like Abraham, and later with families, and even a whole nation (Israel). God chooses these people to bless and to be a blessing to the whole world. We also have incredible love stories like to one we read today of Jacob working 14 years to earn the hand of the love of his life.
The good news is that God’s love story with humanity does not end in the pages of what we call the Old Testament. Jesus arrives and performs great miracles and tells perplexing and inspiring stories of the Kingdom.
He tells us that the kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field – and when found, the finder sells all that he has to buy the field. It is like a merchant searching for the finest pearl and once found, sells all his possessions to buy it. I’d always understood these parables as being stories telling of how precious and valued the gospel message was. It was worth giving up everything I had – it demanded total allegiance and brought about unspeakable joy in those who found it.
But I wonder if these parables have another meaning when seen in light of the ‘easy’, simple message Jesus calls people to. I wonder if they are not primarily about love. I wonder if God is not like the man who gives all that he has for the treasure hidden in the field? What would it mean if God was the seeker of the most beautiful pearl?
Maybe God is like the woman I heard about in this more recent love story:
During the 17th century, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, sentenced a soldier to be shot for his crimes. The execution was to take place at the ringing of the evening curfew bell. However, the bell did not sound. The soldier's fiancé had climbed into the belfry and clung to the great clapper of the bell to prevent it from striking. When she was summoned by Cromwell to account for her actions, she wept as she showed him her bruised and bleeding hands. Cromwell's heart was touched and he said, "Your lover shall live because of your sacrifice. Curfew shall not ring tonight!"
The love of one lover saved the guilty. Sacrifice brings life.
This is the message of the kingdom: that God’s love is so great for each one of us that Jesus would exchange his own life for ours. Christ went to every length to demonstrate God’s love to us: he worked and lived as one of us in obscurity, he then committed his every hour to meeting the needs of those grabbing for his attention as he taught and healed throughout Israel, he took the time to train a band of thick-headed young men in the ways of his kingdom to ensure that we today would still have access to his life & teaching, later he would suffer betrayal from one of his closest friends and would face public humiliation and excruciating suffering, and eventually he would die the worst death imaginable. Why?
Because he loves us. He loves you. Sin & Death are real powers at work in the world and Christ had to go through them on our behalf because we are incapable of facing them on our own. God’s gift to us is that when we trust in Christ, when we ‘join up’ with him, or ‘take up’ his yoke, we are given access to all that Christ has inherited on our behalf – everlasting life, love, hope. That’s why Paul can proclaim with boldness in Romans, “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (8:37)
All the battles we will face in life pale in comparison the victory Christ has one for us – a victory that bridged the gap between us and God and assured us that God’s love would always reach us.
Whether facing our own death, or the death of a loved one…
Whether just living is a struggle – providing for our family, putting food on the table, paying the bills…
Whether spiritual beings or powers would come against us…
Whether governments or nations and their wars and corruption would persecute and depress us…
Whether we are scuba diving in the deepest ocean or are flying high above the earth in a 747…
Nothing or no one in all of creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:39)
What Christ has done assures of this truth, and what he continues to do through the gift of his Spirit which he willingly pours out to us to assure us of God’s love. God continually seeks us out through his Spirit. He is like the merchant in the parable who sells everything he owns to pay the highest price for his most precious pearl.
You are that pearl. I am that pearl.
Loved, treasured.
|
