The reign of God is like . . .
Sermon by Pr. Michelle Sevig on the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 11 + July 16, 2024
When I was a child, I watched The Wizard of Oz every year with my family when it was broadcast on TV. It was tradition, and I knew the story really well. Maybe you do, too. Is there a movie that you watch over and over again, knowing the scenes, the dialog, or even the songs by heart? For the Sevig family, it's The Sound of Music. We watch it at least once a year because it’s Julie’s favorite.
We know modern stories, like these movies, like the back of our own hands, and Jesus’ parables are no different. Many of us know these parables by heart or have at least heard them several times over the years. It could be easy to skip over the details or think we have them figured out, but each time we hear a parable of Jesus, we are invited to be curious and open to new understanding or insight depending on our experiences and circumstances.
In the first parable, Jesus shows how the kingdom of God comes. The gardener scatters the seed on the ground and then goes off to sleep. The seeds fend for themselves without any help from the gardener, and when the grain is ripe, the gardener harvests it. The farmer doesn't know exactly how the crop is growing, but he can see that it does, and he can tell when the crop has reached its full potential.
The second parable talks about the growth and welcome of the kingdom of God. Someone sows a tiny mustard seed in the ground, and it grows into a gigantic bush large enough to offer birds shelter in its branches. Jesus uses the mustard seed as an example because it would have been the smallest seed that his audience knew. [Side bar: The actual smallest seed in the world belongs to a certain subspecies of orchid, which is 75% smaller than a mustard seed!] Despite these seeds being so tiny, a certain variety can grow up to 30 feet tall and become a home for all kinds of critters and insects! God can do amazing things with something that seems so tiny and insignificant. When Jesus teaches in parables, the unexpected is revealed.
In the mustard seed parable, Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is like…” an invasive weed and a nuisance flock of birds. Not the kingdom of God is like a mighty cedar of Lebanon, as highlighted in the psalm. Not the kingdom of God is like a field with straight rows of sweet corn knee-high by the 4th of July, as we like to say in Minnesota. But God’s reign is like a messy, unexpected, invasive, uncontrollable weed that provides refuge and a place of rest for the unwelcome birds.
The mustard is a weed and a stubborn one at that. Farmers hate finding wild mustard in their fields. It’s hard to control and once it takes root it can take over a whole planting area. Can you imagine a gardener planting a weed in their garden? Would anyone ever plant dandelions in their lush green lawn? Of course not! Most of us consider dandelions a nuisance and spend a great deal of time, effort, and money to get rid of those pesky yellow flowers.
Yet Jesus uses this image of a wild plant overtaking the garden to envision the in-breaking of God’s reign among the people. I prefer to use the word reign instead of kingdom because too often Christians have used “kingdom of God” and “heaven” interchangeably. So it’s automatic to think of the kingdom Jesus speaks about in parables as something to look forward to in the afterlife.
Using the phrase “reign of God” helps us to not see it as a place but as a way of being. With what can we compare the reign of God? It’s as if it is breaking in right now among us in unexpected and ordinary ways. Sometimes it's so ordinary we don’t even recognize it. Sometimes, it’s growing and spreading so wildly that we cannot control it.
We’re invited to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary, to be open to the mystery of God’s work in this garden, and to see the unexpected gifts in our midst that are signs of God’s presence among us now. We are encouraged to reimagine what is beautiful and ask, where do we see the sacred? Where do we see God’s presence in our daily, ordinary, sometimes boring, maybe even complicated lives?
I asked these questions in a Lutheran Leader Moms Facebook group, and the feedback was fast and furious.
Maybe the reign of God is like someone showing up at an AA meeting and saying, “Hi, my name is…” and sharing their story of pain, struggle, and hope.
Maybe the reign of God is like a colleague who calls you after what he knows has been an intense few days simply to say, “Hey. Wellness check. How are you, and how can I support you?”
Maybe the reign of God is like the young, Spanish-speaking grocery store staff person noticing your daughter’s rainbow bracelet, showing her his own, and saying, “PRIDE! Yo también tengo una! (I have one too!) with the widest grin possible.
Maybe the reign of God is like the 8-year-old boy calling from his hospital room on his birthday after getting rods in his back because he wants to sing Jesus Loves Me with Pastor!
Maybe the reign of God is like The dark-skinned kid at the pool telling the light-skinned grown-up the rules and the grown-up thanking the kid for the correction.
Maybe the reign of God is like offering cold water to those who are thirsty on hot summer days; affirming the experience of and listening to the stories of sex workers, single parents, and those of the LGBTQIA+ community; giving children and youth leadership opportunities even if they do it differently than you would.
Maybe the reign of God is being with someone as they prepare to die, telling stories, singing beloved songs, and saying prayers, while crying a river of tears.
Maybe the reign of God is like __________. How would you complete the sentence?
If the reign of God is like an out-of-control mustard weed, we should be able to see it, but sometimes we don’t. We just don’t. So I’m going to invite us all to open up our imaginations this week and look for God at work in our daily, ordinary, sometimes boring, maybe even complicated lives. Would you take a spiritual walk through the garden with me, so to speak, and be on the lookout for God’s reign among us? How do you experience the sacred? Where are the places you see hope coming to life among death and fear? When do you sense God at work in the world?
Sometimes it's the tiniest of things, that unexpectedly grow toward a full and flourishing garden. Let’s help each other see what Jesus was helping his disciples to see, that God comes among us in the unexpected, that the reign of God is made known in the mystery of Christ among us. And as we’ll sing together shortly, “The reign of God is come in Christ. The reign of God is near. Ablaze among us, kindling hearts, the reign of God is here.”
