NURC Blog for Sunday July 26th 2020 (2)

The readings for today are listed below, I will be concentrating on the reading from Mathew.

1 Kings 3.5-12
Psalm 119.129-136
Romans 8.26-39

Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52
“Here we have six parables concerning the kingdom of heaven. The proverbial smallness of the mustard seed (about 1mm), sometimes contrasted to a sizeable mustard bush (typically 2–3m tall), and is referred to in other ancient writings (cf. Matthew 17.20). This comparison stresses that although the kingdom may currently appear insignificantly small, it will grow dramatically. Trees are used as pictures of kings and their kingdoms elsewhere (cf. Ezekiel 31; Daniel 4), and it is thought that birds sometimes signified non-Jews. Jesus’ use of the mustard seed as an image of the kingdom – rather than a more ‘majestic’ species – also draws attention to the unlikely beginnings of the kingdom: in Jesus’ ministry of service rather than the work of a warrior king.”

Have we found any nuggets during lockdown, I have found it very interesting to see how local communities have worked together, how my end of the road I live in are there for each other, the kindness of strangers, as some of you may know I am a member of the Huguenot Society, we were called “ strangers” when we first came to England, it was not plain sailing at all, we were despised by some, our ways seemed alien to a lot, we worshiped in French, we had our own Churches we worked all hours and were seen as a threat to workers in our field ( in our case Silk Weaving) but if you think of us as a mustard seed then I think you can say we have grown into a large bush, no more silk weaving, no more only speaking in French but our Society is involved in a lot of charitable work.

“Yeast in dough (leaven) had to be cleaned out of Jewish houses before 
Passover (Exodus 12). It is sometimes used to picture the spread of negative things from a small start (e.g. 1 Corinthians 5.6-8). However, here it is used to demonstrate again the way the kingdom starts small but has a mighty and wide-ranging effect.”

I first went to Church at the Vine in Ilford, it was a very large Gothic Church building with a very large congregation, during my time in Ilford the Church moved to a slightly smaller premises but the congregation remained large, I then moved to Hornchurch with a large congregation and Sunday School, we are now a much smaller church with a much smaller congregation but our task is more important today than it ever was, our message is the same – we can still have that wide-ranging affect.

The next two parables (vv.44-46) both convey something of the huge value of the kingdom in comparison with anything else life might offer. They also both echo, from the mustard seed and yeast, the idea of the kingdom not being easily noticed at first glance. Pearls were more valuable than gold at that time.

The parable of the dragnet that indiscriminately catches fish, both good and bad, comes with an explanation. It is similar to the parable of the wheat and weeds (last week: Matthew 13.24-30) in speaking of the separation of good from evil that will happen at the end of the age, and of the persistence of evil agency until then. It is not clear if the net signifies the whole world (in which case the separation is between those who accepted the message of Christ and those who did not), or if it refers to the kingdom (in which case it might suggest a judgement of those who consider themselves members of the kingdom).

Finally, Jesus tells a parable about teachers within the kingdom. Scribes were those who interpreted God’s instructions in the Scriptures in order that the people would know how to live God’s way. This parable may indicate that, in the kingdom, those who have been trained in kingdom ways (as the disciples have) will draw on their Jewish heritage of knowing God’s ways but also on the new things that Jesus is showing them”

Are we living in the way Jesus has asked us to live, we can take all the parables and dissect them minutely we can discuss debate and cross reference but at the end of the day we have to look at ourselves to establish what we can do in Christs name, I mentioned last time about carrying out random acts of kindness, that surely is a trait we can all follow; if we are the seeds it’s up to us to grow our Church – if we are the yeast it’s up to us to bake the loaf, we have gems hidden from site, some will rise to the surface, some have to be teased out some will remain hidden.