Eleventh Pentecost/Lectionary 17/Proper 11
Genesis 29:15-28; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
An old story. A classic car lover was perusing the classifieds and saw an ad that seemed to good to be true. A 1966 candy-apple red Corvette, a dream car, and offered for $100. One hundred dollars for a classic restored car in mint condition? He wondered if the car had been in a wreck. Surely the price was a misprint. Still, he had to find out, so he called. A woman answered the phone and assured him that the car was in excellent shape and that there was no mistake about the price. He dashed over to her house to check out the car. To his delight the car proved to be everything the woman reported it to be. Gorgeous! Immediately he told her that he would take it. $100. But as he was writing the check his conscience got the better of him and he said, "Ma'am, I have to tell you that this car is worth far more than $100. You have every right to get a much high price." "Oh, I know that," she replied, "but you see my husband has left me and run off with his floozy secretary. He said he didn't want anything from our marriage. That I could keep everything but the Corvette which he wanted me to sell and send him the money. Which is precisely what I am doing. $100."
This story appeals with a touch of humor to our sense of justice. There would have been a similar appeal in the Old Testament lesson for today when it was told almost 3,000 years ago. For five weeks now we have chronicled the progression of the Old Testament covenant, God’s promise of land, descendents and blessing from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob. We have followed the story of how God was able to take various human frailties and failings and find in them the hope and future for all humanity and creation. We witnessed Sara laughing in disbelief at the promise of a child in her old age. We watched Isaac try to pass his blessing and the covenant to his favorite son Esau but in his blindness be fooled into giving it instead to the other son Jacob. We followed Jacob as he fled into the wilderness to avoid his brother’s anger and dreamt about a stairway to heaven. In our lesson for today, Jacob is carrying that covenant while searching for a wife with whom he will have sons and be able to perpetuate the covenant to future generations.
The story that we heard read a few moments ago takes us back to the early tribal times of the ancient world. This was a time when women were the property of their husbands and multiple wives and female slaves were a proof of wealth and power and the promise of having enough children to take care of you in your old age. It was believed a good idea to marry relatives, even sisters, which guaranteed that property and possessions all stayed in the same tribe. The story that is retold today was probably a favorite around the camp fires because it is filled with romance and plot reversals. Jacob wanders back to his mother and grandfather’s home country looking for the safety of relatives and to find a wife. He almost instantly meets the shepherdess Rachel and it is love at first sight. He negotiates a deal with his uncle to acquire Rachel by working seven years. But on the wedding night, in the midst of all the partying and the veiled presentation of the bride, uncle Laban switches daughters and Jacob awakens the next morning to find himself married to the older sister Leah who, when compared to sister Rachel’s beauty, is said to have had lovely eyes. Jacob, who had tricked and deceived his brother to get his birthright and the blessing is now tricked and deceived. It would take another seven years of working for uncle Laban to “pay” for the woman of his dreams. There is little doubt that this story when told to the ancient tribal community had the appeal of a French farce or a modern television sit-com. Everyone knew where the story was headed but they all still enjoy the moment of discovery and the sense that the trickster has finally been tricked, the deceiver deceived.
To a modern audience this story is an entertaining footnote to the summer sermon but it is difficult to see how this story advances the faith. Unless we are able to remember what every Israelite hearing this story knew and that is that with the marriage of Leah, who comes with her female slave, Zilpah, and the marriage of Rachel, who comes with her female slave Bilhah, we have all the parents of the twelve tribes of Israel. Leah will have six sons and a daughter. Her slave woman will have two sons, Rachel’s slave Bilhah will have two sons and Rachel will have two sons. The beautiful and favored Rachel’s first son will be Joseph who was Jacob’s favorite receiving a coat of many colors that leads to his descent into Egypt. Rachel will die giving birth to the twelfth son, Benjamin. A story of tragically comical elements points us this day toward a God who works in the midst of a world that is not perfect or proper. A world where lies and deceits need to be redeemed and transformed. Where there are no neatly defined categories of good guys and bad guys, no chosen nation doing God’s will and evil empires to be destroyed. The complex nature of human beings and their messy relationships with each other are the stuff of scripture. The least favored wife produces the greatest hope for humanity. The faithfulness to God’s covenant and the self sacrificing service to another leads ultimately to God’s will and plan being revealed and fulfilled.
From our place this side of holy history as set forth in the Old Testament, we have no difficulty recognizing the many ways God enabled people to be redeemed in order that the divine plan of salvation might be advanced. We may wonder at the miracles of grace that kept the covenant alive but we know where the story is headed. Or at least we like to think we have a better insight to God then those folks living thousands of years ago who had to trust in a promise. We can claim to now know the Jesus of the promise and we can look forward to the kingdom he proclaimed.
Perhaps in this sense, however, we have more in common with Jacob then we are willing to admit. Jacob had the goal of finding a wife. He would ultimately work 14 years to achieve that goal. Many in our community know the importance of working hard to achieve a goal. But having a wife for Jacob was only the beginning. The covenant’s survival depended on having descendents. The covenant was not an end in itself but pointed the way to something more. Pointed the way that only by faith and God’s grace could be sustained. What was true for Jacob is also true for us. We were all baptized in the covenant of God’s grace. And in that covenant we are invited to accept God’s gifts of grace. At the time of our baptism our sponsors and parents were asked to commit themselves to providing for us opportunities to grow in that covenant. The promise was made to enable us to live among God’s faithful people; to hear the word of God and attend the holy supper; to learn the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed and the Ten Commandments; and to be nurtured in prayer and learn to trust God that we might proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace. This was the promise made that we might enter into the covenant of God’s grace. In the midst of the summer it is hard to believe that many people still remember the promise they made. But the power of this covenant is that God still remembers. What we sometimes forget is that the kingdom of God is not a destination or end point as much as it is a state of being.
That’s what Jesus was once again trying to communicate in our gospel lesson for today. People had come to believe that God and heaven were all fixed and rigid elements of the universe. Salvation was a thing to be achieved. Being good was the key to entering the kingdom of God. And Jesus came along saying you need to think in a new way. He told the people parables to challenge them to see God in the world around them. That’s also why Jesus used metaphors to give clues about God’s kingdom. While the images are familiar to those who regularly read scripture or attend worship, the truth is that the images Jesus used were not common or familiar in his day. A mustard seed, yeast and buried treasure are not the stuff of which God’s reign was believed to be made. Everyone knew that kingdoms were realms of power where might makes right. Kingdoms clash with other empires in battles for winners and lowers. The quiet passive image of seed planted had no heroics, no high energy. But Jesus loved to tell his parables. The Kingdom of God is like…Jesus said, look at the smallest of seeds and consider what God can make from it. Jesus said, look for a treasure that is worth all that you have. He did not say that we could purchase it or achieve it or grow it on our own. His images were metaphors. Again and again Jesus challenged people to realize that the kingdom of God is not the expected but the unfamiliar. There was no politically correct view of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is not what you expect. The seed produces a plant but the seed Jesus metaphorically plants produces a tree. The yeast makes the dough rise but in Jesus’ metaphoric hands this is enough dough to feed the thousands who hunger and starve around the world. For Jesus there is bread enough for all. We dream of the pearls and treasures with every lotto ticket we buy. Jesus says, what if…How much would you trade ? Your whole life? The kingdom images are intended to invite us to see the world in a new way. To realize that the covenant we share is a gift that is filled with unexpected blessings. That is why the apostle Paul in our lesson for today would assert that “we know that all things work together for good for those who love God.” This does not mean that only good things happen to faithful people. What it does mean is that from even the worst of moments, God can bring forth miracles of grace and blessing. Jacob was the no-good thief running for his life who gets suckered into working for his uncle for a wife he did not want. This story sounds more like the outline for a country western song then the plan for saving all creation. Yet, God found a way. There is a saying in the theatre that there are no small parts only small actors. Jesus teaches us today that in God’s kingdom there are no small deeds or acts, only people who see smallness apart from the whole. The kingdom of God is so much more than any of us can ever know or conceive.
Jesus is reminding us: God doesn’t look at things the way we look at things. We measure greatness with size, numbers and volume. God measures greatness in terms of faithfulness. Metaphors are common objects used to illustrate or give insight. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, like yeast, like a pearl or a treasure found in a field. The metaphors make us look at the world differently. When Jesus speaks of yeast he is not identifying anything all that special or unusual but I must admit that after hearing this parable I no longer look at bread the same way. I bite into my English muffin in the morning or my Panera sour dough at noon and pause just for a moment to think of Jesus telling his parable. What a deal I am getting. The kingdom of God in a brown paper bag. A chance to taste and see that God is indeed good.
It is an old story. The kingdom of God in forms familiar and yet…A planted seed brings shelter, the buried yeast feeds the hungry, the treasure found can support a benevolent cause, a pearl reminds us of beauty’s place in the world. In the richness and diversity of God’s world we live surrounded by good and evil. But the covenant was given, is given, and God’s grace continues to surprise. We know the promise of the covenant well, all we need to do now is live into it.
Amen