What’s It Like?
Grace to you and peace from God our Creator, from our Risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and from our Sustainer, the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The kingdom of heaven is like…”
A minister dies and is waiting in line at the Pearly Gates all decked out in clerics and robes. Ahead of him is a regular guy who’s dressed in sunglasses, a shirt, leather jacket, and jeans. Saint Peter addresses this guy, “Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?” The guy replies, “I’m Joe Cohen, taxi-driver, of New York City.” Saint Peter consults his list. He smiles and says to the taxi-driver, “Take this silken robe and golden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” The taxi-driver goes into Heaven with his robe and staff, and it’s the minister’s turn. He stands tall and booms out, “I am the Reverend Joseph Snow, pastor of Saint Mary’s for the last forty-three years.” Saint Peter consults his list again. He says to the minister, “Take this cotton robe and wooden staff and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” “Just a minute,” says the minister. “That man was a taxi-driver and he gets a silken robe and golden staff. How can this be?” “Up here, we work by results,” says Saint Peter. “While you stood up in the pulpit and preached Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, people slept; while he, Joe Cohen, on the hand drove his taxi, people prayed!”
Well, that is my attempt at humor – which I am not good at – which is why I deliberately stay away from telling jokes while I preach. On that note – let us try some Biblical humor! Our first lesson this morning is about King Solomon…so where was Solomon’s temple located? On the side of his head! What is the best way to get a message to God? Knee-mail! What animal did Noah not trust on the ark? Cheetah!
So…enough of me attempting humor. What is Jesus up to this morning? He is offering up another parable, but not just one parable, but 2, 3, 4, 5 parables. Five parables right in a row one after the other. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea. Five parables one right after another and at the end of this rapid-fire list, Jesus asks this impossible question to the disciples listening with wide eyes and mouths hanging open, “Have you understood all this?” And with their wide eyes and mouths hanging open, they respond, “Yes!”
Now, come on – really? Who believes them? Who can take their answer seriously? And maybe that’s the whole point. We shouldn’t take their answer seriously – because who can, after all? Who can possibly understand or know or imagine what the heaven is like? So let’s look at these parables and the disciples’ reaction to them in a different light – lite light, a not so serious light, in fact perhaps a humorous light.
Imagine this – a group of friends with Jesus gathering under the shade of a tree. Their shoes off, sitting on blankets, sipping some cool beverages – maybe some sparkling water or wine coolers or a cold beer. One of them, maybe while looking up at the clouds, casually says, “I wonder what heaven is like?”
And Jesus, after a pregnant pause, starts to share his imagination – Jesus’ own imagination – “Well, it’s kind of like this…or maybe it’s like…but then again, it might be better described as this.” After sharing several outlandish metaphors like mustard seeds, yeast, pearls, nets, treasures, Jesus turns to the rest of them and says, “Clear as mud, right? You got all that, right.” And his friends respond, “Yeah sure, if you say so. We get it.” Not really. Not even close!
The truth is that we don’t get it and that’s OK. We cannot begin to imagine what heaven is like. Instead, Jesus is being quite clever. It sounds like he is painting a picture of heaven with metaphors but he’s really turning the tables on us and giving us a glimpse of what it’s like to be close to God right now. What a difference it makes to actually feel and experience God’s love in this life not someday way off in the future in a place like heaven.
Take the mustard seed, for example. It’s tiny and for many that’s how God’s love affair with us begins – with tiny drops of water sprinkled on our head with some short, simple words. “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” But that tiny mustard seed grow into a huge plant. Those few words of love grow so large, so pervasive so all encompassing that God’s love becomes a safe home, a protective shield, a warm embrace of love forever.
Take the yeast used to bake bread. It does its miraculous, silent work of transformation to turn ordinary flour into nourishing, sustaining food. God’s love affair with us silently and miraculously transforms us time and time again as new children of God each and every day especially when we think we can’t possibly deserve God’s love yet again. We cannot possible wrap our minds around the good news that God forgives us yet again.
Can you imagine what it’s like to find a treasure – the joy it brings! I suppose an example is the lottery – something like a billion dollars now! Can you imagine the sheer joy (and terror) of such a discovery? Now imagine this – discovering that Jesus loves you just the way you are – warts and all, brings such tremendous joy and awe and wonder, that you go and bury the treasure because it’s not only the treasure itself but rather it’s the discovery that brings so much joy. Discovering the love of God for you is so mind-boggling and heart bending that you would hide it just so you could find it again! (Can you imagine doing the same with a billion dollar winning lottery ticket?)
“The kingdom of heaven is like…” Jesus paints a watercolor on the canvas of our lives of what, at first, is supposed to be what heaven might be like. Instead – and this is the wonderful surprise for today – instead Jesus gives us brush strokes of how we ought to live this life now, today and tomorrow. Being transformed, inspired, and awe-struck by God’s goodness. Being transformed, inspired, and awe-struck by the beauty all around us – in each other and in God’s breathtaking gift of creation. Being transformed, inspired, and awe-struck by God’s compassion that we spend our time and energy and resources lifting up those who have fallen. Being transformed, inspired and awe-struck by God’s passion for justice, that we devote our lives to righting wrongs and opening our arms, our homes, our community and our church to those who are broken and in need of healing, food, shelter, freedom, acceptance and unconditional love.
“The kingdom of heaven is like…” Listen to this quotation from a man named Clarence Jordan who was one of the founders of an intentional Christian community called Koinonia Farm. “The resurrection of Jesus (does not serve only as) an invitation (or promise) to us to come to heaven when we die, but as a declaration that God has now established permanent, eternal residence here on earth. God is standing beside us and is strengthening us in this life. .the good news of the resurrection is not (only) that we shall die and go home to be with Jesus, but that Jesus has risen and comes home with us (to our church and our actual homes on whatever street you live on). Jesus comes home with us bringing all his hungry, naked, thirsty, sick prisoner brothers (and sisters) with him.”
Remember that scene of Jesus and his friends sitting under a tree? One of them looks up into the clouds and ponders aloud, “Hmmm…I wonder what heaven’s going to be like.” And Jesus responds, “Just look around. Look at all this beauty. Look into each other’s eyes and see real love for each other. Look into each other’s eyes and see Jesus himself. That’s what heaven is like!” And Jesus goes on to say, “Don’t waste your time and energy gazing up into heaven wondering what heaven’s going to be like. Look closely all around you and wherever you see something that is not right… whenever you see someone in pain, use the glimpse of heaven, the light of heaven that’s inside you to transform, to embrace, to forgive, to love unconditionally.
By the way, what was Eve’s favorite food? Ribs! Amen.