God’s reign is a treasure for you and the creation: all belong, all will grow into their fullness as God’s children, all will make an impact for God’s grace in the world.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 17 A
Texts: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52; Romans 8:26-39

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

What if you unexpectedly found a great treasure?

You weren’t looking or anything. You just came upon it, and there it was. What would you be willing to do to get it?

What if you’d searched your whole life for a treasure, spending time and energy and hope looking for it, and one day, you found it? What would you be willing to do to get it?

Jesus says God’s reign – a world where people live and love according to God’s will and desire – is a treasure like that. Some people find the reign of God almost accidentally, stumbling over it. Others seek for it earnestly their whole lives. But for all who find it, it is a precious treasure beyond imagining.

The women and men who followed Jesus found that treasure in him, in who he was, in what he taught, in how he treated them and others, in what he said about God. People dropped everything to follow, changed their lives and their futures.

But you see what this assumes: the unexpected finder and the lifelong searcher, the fishermen and tax collectors, the women of Capernaum and Bethany, they all recognized a treasure when they saw it, found it.

So there’s really only one question. Can you see a treasure in God’s reign that means the world to you?

Maybe Jesus’ parable about the dragnet can help.

Watching people pulling in nets on the lake, Jesus said, “That’s what I mean! God’s reign is like that.” A net pulls in more than fish, though. Driftwood, old boots, what some call trash. Only the Netminder gets to decide what’s worthy.

Now, Matthew’s extra interpretation added here says in the end the good will be kept and the evil thrown on the fire. But that’s not Jesus’ verdict. Jesus promised he would draw all things to himself at the cross. “Every single thing in this net, in this world, in this creation, is mine and loved and redeemed by this,” Jesus says. Nothing and no one is thrown out.

Paul agrees, saying that everyone God knew of before time – which is literally everyone – is called, justified, loved. Nothing in all creation can separate you, or anyone else, from the love of God in Christ.

Is the truth that you are caught up in the net of God’s love worth anything to you? That you’re drawn into the embrace of God by Christ’s arms on the cross? That you are in God’s heart, and no one can take that from you? Is that a treasure worth having?

But what if it’s hard for you to trust in God’s love, your faith feels weak?

Well, walking alongside a field, seeing a mustard plant, Jesus said, “That’s what I’m talking about! God’s reign is like that.” A tiny seed, hiding the whole life and future of the plant inside it, will germinate and grow and become a shelter for birds, a giver of shade.

Jesus says, that’s what you are! You might feel insignificant, unable to do much trust God’s love, but you have the glory of God’s love and grace already contained within you. Living in God’s reign, you will grow and thrive in that love, and give shade and shelter in ways you can’t imagine, be a blessing to others.

Is that worth anything to you?

But what if you think you’re not good enough, capable enough, to be effective as Christ in the world?

Well, glimpsing through a doorway a woman making bread, Jesus said, “That’s what I’m talking about! God’s reign is like that.” Just a few little organisms placed in a big pile of flour start to grow, eat sugars, and a miracle happens: a loaf rises out of that sticky lump, and once baked, is a delight to the eyes, the nose, the mouth, the stomach.

Jesus says, that’s what you are! You might feel insufficient, and the problems of the suffering world immense. But when you join with others and love as Christ in your little space in this suffering world, you change the chemistry of your world, giving nourishment for all, like beautiful bread.

Is that worth anything to you?

Now, Jesus’ parables of the treasures do raise a question.

Both the accidental and intentional finders sold everything they had to get the treasure. But the treasure Jesus is really talking about is yours freely, without your doing anything. You don’t need to sell all you have to be forever a part of God’s embracing love, or to grow into the fullness of being God’s child, or to work with others to transform the reality of the world. All this treasure is gift and grace, given through the Holy Spirit.

But you and I are invited to give everything we have to become part of the treasure ourselves. To be people who are visibly God’s inclusive net to everyone we meet, people who grow in stature as God’s children until we blesses all we meet, people who together create a new chemistry and life, transforming the world.

If you love this freely given treasure, you are invited to become the net, the mustard plant, the busy yeast, so others can find the treasure of God’s reign, too. So, Jesus asks, what will you do to be a part of this? What will you have to sell, let go of? How will you change?

I need to add one thing.

When I preach, I usually don’t end with a list of action items, detailed ways to live out Jesus’ words. Once in a while, folks tell me they wish I would give specific ways that they could live this out in their lives.

There are a couple reasons I don’t. First, Christ called individual people. Each of us has different gifts, experiences, struggles, families, worlds, and each of us might answer differently. How I envision living as God’s inclusive net might be different from how you do.

But Christ also did put us into community together. Like Jesus’ parables, sermons are never done when they’re finished. The Spirit takes God’s Word through the preaching and out the other side where we talk with each other, imagine with each other, encourage each other with what the Word is calling out.

So now the treasure leaves this sermon and is among us. If anyone here can’t see it, how can we all help? If anyone here doesn’t know what this means for their life, or our life together, how can we all help?

This reign God is bringing to the creation is the greatest treasure we could ever imagine. Let’s get it out of the ground and start sharing it.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

The Great Farmer’s plan for the harvest of good in the creation is that in the end, all will be transformed into life-giving plants, healed and whole and good.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Lect. 16 A
Texts: Matthew 13:24-30 (also Matthew 5:44); Romans 8:12-25

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Goodness is stronger than evil. Love is stronger than hate. Light is stronger than darkness. Life is stronger than death.[1]

Nine years ago on the Sunday today’s readings also appeared, I began and ended my sermon here with those powerful, hope-filled words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Each section within the sermon also began with those words. They were the bones that held together God’s promise to always be with us in the face of evil, hate, darkness, and death.

Nine years later, and three years after the last time we heard this parable while reeling from the death of George Floyd and separated from each other by COVID, now in the face of continuing evil, hate, and the shadows of death that pervade our world, now I hear something else in this parable.

I hear Jesus say to his beloved servant Desmond, “your words are grace and truth. But listen, and I will show you a deeper mystery beyond your imagining.”

And that mystery is this farmer’s idiotic plan.

If you’ve studied this parable, or heard sermons on it, you know the two plants Jesus refers to are virtually identical looking. It’s extremely hard to tell them apart, and anyone who tried to do the weeding might easily make mistakes. Of course you don’t want people who don’t know what they’re doing digging around when plants are first coming up.

But no gardener, no farmer in their right mind would let weeds grow up with the desired plants all the way to harvest. Weeds choke out the desired plants, and severely reduce the yield. Jesus knows this – he literally said it in the parable we heard last week.

Now, this isn’t the first or last parable Jesus told that sounds ridiculous. Jesus was a rural person, and spoke to lots of rural people. So, every farmer in his crowd would’ve said this parable’s solution was dumb. But every shepherd in his crowd would’ve said that risking the safety of 99 secure sheep in the wilderness to find one lost one was the dumbest thing you could do, too. And most parents in his crowd would’ve said that a father who lets his two sons walk all over him, giving them everything, loving them even when they reject him, was just foolish, and a bad parent.

But when Jesus tells you a parable that absolutely crosses the line into foolishness, that sounds ridiculous and naïve and wrong and you know it, that’s when you really need to pay attention. Because when you say to Jesus, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” that’s when Jesus says, “now you’re getting it. Now you’re really listening.”

And now you’re ready to hear God’s deeper mystery.

If your grasp of God’s love doesn’t ever make you think God is naïve, unaware of reality, you aren’t ready for the truth of God’s love. If your awareness of God’s love doesn’t ever make you say, “I don’t see how this can work,” or, “that would just be foolish,” you aren’t ready for the truth of God’s love.

The farmer is completely non-anxious about the servants’ rightful fears at his foolishness. Because the farmer is banking on a deeper mystery: evil isn’t to be destroyed. It’s to be changed. This is the farmer’s plan: by the time of the harvest, there will be no weeds to burn. All will be ready to share goodness for the life of all.

So today Jesus says to our brother Desmond, how about this? “Goodness will heal evil. Love will transform hate. Light will open up darkness. Life will raise the dead.”

In the wisdom of the Triune God, who came as one of us into a world sown deeply with evil, it’s not a question of who’s stronger. It’s a question of restoring the whole creation. All of it.

Jesus is always absolutely clear about this. But we don’t want to hear it.

Because it’s so foolish. So we say things like: It doesn’t take into account the real world. Evil needs to be destroyed. Some people are just bad. You need to do whatever it takes to end the power of evil.

Unless you follow the Son of God. Who, as God-with-us, engaged evil and hate and darkness and death at their core, by loving them. Offered forgiveness as he was nailed to the cross. Refused violence and the tools of this world, refused to take power.

Who commanded this: love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you. That prayer, that love, will heal evil. Transform hate. Open up darkness. Raise the dead.

Of course we stand against what evil does in this world.

It’s our job. We stand in solidarity with all who are crushed and oppressed by the evil and hate and darkness and death that has been planted in this world. We do whatever we can, with whomever we can, to dismantle the systems and structures that perpetuate evil and hate and darkness and death. We join hands in love and grace and witness to the healing power of God’s death-breaking love.

But we do not hate. We do not demonize any of God’s children. We do not ever use violence or authorize others to do violence for us. We do not relegate anyone to the scrap heap of the bad who need to be burned. We don’t overpower or try to win. We love our enemies and pray for them, and that will heal the world.

You don’t have to like the plan. But it’s the only one Jesus has. It’s God’s way.

And there’s more to this plan.

Years ago in a previous parish, I had a confirmation student who had serious attention problems. It’s not uncommon, lots of folks do. But over three years I would’ve said this one heard nothing that was taught. It was so hard for him to sit still, and his comments were often random.

But then in one class in eighth grade, this amazing kid asked a simple question: “Do you think Jesus is delaying his return hoping that even the devil might finally come back?”

This kid got the plan. He didn’t care if it sounded dumb or foolish. He had ears to listen.

Because if this Farmer’s plan comes to fruition, that’s exactly what will happen. Even the great Enemy who first planted the weeds will be healed. Even the great Enemy who first planted the weeds is welcome to the harvest. Even the great Enemy who first planted the weeds is beloved.

It’s not going to be easy.

Listen to Paul, who says it’ll involve a lot of sharing suffering with other people, that the whole creation is groaning in labor pains, waiting for the birth of this new thing. Listen to Jesus, who knew something about suffering and dying for love, knew what it was to set aside power and violence, knew what it was to love enemies and pray for them.

But it is a birth God is making, Paul’s right. And only goodness can give birth to goodness. Only love can give birth to love. Only light can give birth to light. Only life can give birth to life.

This is the plan that will heal all things. It’s absolutely foolish. So trust it with your life.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

[1] Copyright 1995 Desmond Tutu, admin. Random House, Inc. and Lynn C. Franklin Associates, Ltd. Used in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, hymn no. 721.