All at Once
The kingdom of heaven is like…a mustard seed, yeast, treasure, a merchant who searches, and a net. Jesus is trying to help his disciples know that what God wants for them and for us is to inherit that which is both hidden and abundant, unexpected and common and dazzling. It is all of these things all at once. It is both ordinary and extraordinary.
As Lutherans we are formed by a tradition that holds to the idea that more than one thing can be true. We are both sinners and saints all at the same time. We believe that in the Lord’s Supper, Christ is giving us his own body and blood and it is, at the same time, still bread and wine. How does that work? I don’t know. And my unknowing doesn’t make it any more or less true. My expectations as to how God shows up in the world are both very pragmatic and completely outside my tiny imagination. Yeast and pearls. Can you think of any two things with less in common?
Maybe that’s the point? The more we try to determine what is and is not of God, the harder God laughs. When we decide who is out and who is in, God moves the lines. When we think we have finally exposed all things to the light and there is nothing left to know, God burrows down deeper in the dark loamy earth and waits to germinate and sprout. God reminds us throughout scripture that our ways are not God’s ways and God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.
So, when Jesus asks us if we understand, we might want to take a beat and think before we are so quick to answer like the disciples, “Yes.” We are only ever just beginning to take hold of all the wonders of the kingdom of heaven that God is continually handing over to us.
Shalom,
Pastor Melissa