7th Sunday after Pentecost
July 27, 2014
Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Our
Gospel lesson this morning has Jesus giving five parables about the kingdom of
heaven. He says it is like a mustard
seed, yeast, treasure hidden in a field, a merchant in search of fine pearls,
and a net thrown into the sea. There is
probably no other category under which all five of things would fall, but Jesus
uses them to give us a picture of what his kingdom is like. The first two have a lot in common: mustard
seeds and yeast both start very small and seem pretty insignificant, until
something is done with them, and then they can grow into something quite large
and valuable. Likewise, the second two
items share some characteristics. Both
the treasure and the pearl have to be found; they are both somewhat hidden or
obscure, and someone has to seek them out and recognize their value. Then, that person sells all that they have in
order to be able to buy it. Although not
initially obvious, the treasure in the field and the pearl are extremely precious
and are worth giving up everything in order to attain them. The last parable about the fishing net tells
us that both the old and the new have their place among us, and we’ll talk more
about that one in a bit.
First,
though, I wonder if anyone identifies with those feelings associated with the
treasure and the pearl? Do you feel
hidden sometimes, or obscure? Does it
feel like very few people, if anyone, recognize your value? Or, feel that if someone were to recognize
your gifts, then you could do something big, like the mustard seed becoming a
large mustard tree? In case no one has
ever told you, or it’s been a while since someone has, let me tell you
this morning: You are of worth. In fact, a price cannot be put on you, you
are of infinite worth, simply because God made you and claimed you as his. In the words of last week’s psalm, “you are
fearfully and wonderfully made.”[1] God knows even the number of hairs on your
head, whether you can count them yourself or not! It may be that very few people recognize your
value or treat you as God’s child. I
certainly hope you treat everyone you come across as a beloved child of God, just
as you are. You are enough. And nothing can change that. Whether you feel more like a treasure buried
in a field or a treasure whose worth is recognized, either way, you are of infinite worth. Don’t let anyone try and tell you
differently. After all, today’s passage
from Romans says that nothing is able
to separate you from God’s love, and that includes other people and any
situation in which you find yourself. God
loves you, and nothing can change that.
While none of us individually is the kingdom of heaven, I think some of
us can identify with being like a fine pearl or a buried treasure, just waiting
for someone to recognize our value and our gifts. Let me tell you today, you are of worth.
Now,
I know there is some ageism in our society and some of you who are young at
heart, but not young in other ways, feel that as you age, you decrease in
worth. It’s like you’re the opposite of
fine wine! Well, let’s look at the last
line of that fifth parable about the fishing net: “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.”[2] God doesn’t favor the young or the old. Your value does not increase or decrease as
you age; it stays the same: infinite value.
And in the church we need both the
old and the new, the young and the old, old ways of doing things and new
ways of doing old things. In God’s
kingdom, we need all the generations,
all working together.
In
1997, a movie came out based on a comic book of the same name: “Men in Black.” The beginning part of the movie is about the
recruitment of a new, young guy, played by Will Smith, to replace an agent
ready to retire. Will Smith’s partner is
played by Tommy Lee Jones, and there’s the usual banter back and forth as Tommy
Lee Jones trains Will Smith, along with the quips about the twenty year age gap
between them. Near the end of the movie,
they’re chasing down an alien bad guy, who’s looking for a spaceship in which
to escape. Will Smith asks Tommy Lee
Jones and their superior office, “Hey old guys, do those still work?” while pointing
to the top of the World’s Fair towers in Queens; the tops actually being
spaceships and the towers being how they had disguised them years ago. It’s teamwork – something old, combined with
the knowledge about them, and then add in a new perspective, and Will Smith and
Tommy Lee Jones had the equipment they needed to save the day.
That’s the kind of teamwork we need in the church, too.
We need the institutional knowledge that some of you have about the
church and we combine it with new perspectives, which others bring to the
church. It’s not saying the old things
are bad or no longer of value, we’re just getting a fresh spin on them. We need the old and the new. Both have worth
in God’s kingdom.
There
was an article in last week’s newspaper about how Detroit “is poised to be the
greatest turnaround story in American history.”[3] Detroit is a city that would seem to have its
glory days behind it, from Motown music to the Motor City that needed
government bailout a few years ago and sections of the city without public
utilities available. It’s been one
disaster after another and the city’s population has drastically dwindled. However, taking what’s already there, the
automotive sector and some vacant buildings, there are venture capitalists
starting to invest in Detroit again and they’re already seeing results. Part of the point the author makes is that
“success is often erroneously viewed as a permanent condition.”[4] Once you’ve made it, you’re done. Once something works well, it will always
work well. But that’s not the case. Instead, running the same game plan on end is
a sure path to crashing and burning. And
that’s where the old meets the new. We
need to know what has worked before and what has failed before, and we need new
approaches to old things. We’re not
getting rid of the old things, unless they’re completely life-draining; we’re
looking to innovative perspectives on them so that they don’t get stale.
As
the Romans passage also says, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness.”[5] Whether our weakness is a lack of new ideas
or a lack of institutional knowledge, the Spirit often works through others who
are different from us and can fill in the gaps where our weaknesses lie.
What
this means practically, then, is that you have to use your talents. God has
given gifts to everyone. There is
something you are good at, something you are passionate about that God can use
to further his kingdom. If you’re not
sure what it is, let’s sit down and talk.
I’d love to discover with you the gifts that God has given you. And if you’re already aware of what they are,
then the question is: Are you using them for God’s kingdom? Or are you hiding yourself in that field,
waiting for someone to come find you and discover what you can do? If opportunities aren’t readily available,
the best thing you can do is go seek them out.
Don’t bury your talents, like in another parable Jesus tells. The man who buries his talent gets yelled at
and thrown out by the master because the man was afraid to use what had been
entrusted to him by the master. There may not be an obvious place for you to
plug yourself in, but that doesn’t excuse you from trying to find one.
My
family moved around a lot while I was growing up, including the summer before I
started high school. The church we
joined in that town didn’t have a high school Sunday school class, so I became
a teacher’s helper in my youngest sister’s class. Then we moved again in 11th grade,
and this time there wasn’t even a youth group, so I joined the choir. Now, don’t get too excited, I didn’t join it to
sing; I joined it to play my flute with it (which I haven’t touched now in at
least ten years). But I found a way to
get connected to the church when there wasn’t an obvious way, and that’s my
point. You may need to unbury yourself
from that field and find a way to serve, because otherwise who only knows how long
you may have to wait for someone to find you.
It’s up to you to take the initiative.
The
risk you run with using your gifts is that they might go unappreciated or unrecognized. Here we turn to another movie from the ‘90’s,
“Mr. Holland’s Opus.” Mr. Holland is a
high school music teacher who teaches in order to pay the bills while trying to
compose a musical masterpiece. It is a
rather thankless job and he feels quite unappreciated as a musician and
composer. At the end of his teaching
career, however, many of his former students return to thank him for the impact
he had on their life, which he had no idea of at the time.
You
may feel that no one notices you sharing your gifts, and that may be true, even in the church. You may think that sharing your gifts doesn’t
make a difference, but that is not true. God gave each of us talents to share, and
while some get more recognition than others, some are more visible than others, that doesn’t diminish the worth of
your contribution. God calls us all to
participate in bringing about his kingdom, in going in search of those hidden
treasures and fine pearls, in adding the yeast and planting the mustard seeds. We all have a job to do, both the old and the
new. We are each of infinite worth. And we are all called to use the gifts God
has given us to further his work in world, to the glory of his name. Amen.
