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Sermon by the Sea - Matthew 13:47-52
Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
Welcome to the commons cast. We're glad you're here, and we hope you find something meaningful in our teaching this week. Hit the commons.church for more information. Well, welcome to church. My name is Jeremy.
Speaker 1:It is always great to have you here with us. If you're here for the very first time, then really great to meet you, especially as we head into this Easter season together. We're actually in the last week of a series called sermon by the sea, and this has been our Lenten series this year. And so this scarf that I am wearing, this is called a clerical stole. If you haven't seen something like this before, the pastors here will wear these during Advent and Lent as we lead towards Christmas and Easter every year.
Speaker 1:This is part of how we visually remind ourselves that we're preparing for something special in the calendar. Because next week is actually Palm Sunday. The Friday following that is Good Friday, and then the Sunday after that is resurrection Sunday or Easter Sunday. That is the center of our Christian calendar together. And so we would be honored if you and your family would join us to celebrate this Easter with us.
Speaker 1:Now we are wrapping up our series, the sermon by the sea today, and the significant feature of this sermon that Jesus gives in Matthew chapter 13 is that it's told exclusively in parables. So this entire sermon we have been looking at is just a series of stories designed to draw out new possibilities in our imagination about God and his kingdom. And so every parable we have looked at in these past four weeks has a surface meaning, but then also a deeper hidden meaning designed to upend the expectations of those with ears to hear. And that's really the point of parables. There's something there for the crowd, for everyone, but then there's also something there hidden for those who dig.
Speaker 1:And on that note, a lot of people have talked to me during this series and have said, hey, we're really enjoying this conversation, but how do we do this? Like, how do we dig deeper in to find that hidden meaning without doing something crazy like taking four years off to go to seminary or learning Hebrew or some nonsense like that? And so we actually put together a video this week that we posted on Facebook talking about lectio divina and sacred reading and some of the ways that you can engage scripture and practice listening to the text well. And it's only one way to approach things, but hopefully, you'll find that helpful. If you go to facebook.com/commonschurch and like our page there, or if you go to youtube.com/commonschurch and subscribe to our channel there, then you can get some of those resources.
Speaker 1:And we wanna do this more regularly, make sure that we're serving you and your faith journey, not just on Sundays, but also throughout the week as well. That said, Facebook videos are great, but ultimately, at the end of the day, getting involved in a home church with neighbors and friends that are part of your life so that you can sit with the scriptures and talk about them and ask your questions. This is really absolutely the most significant way that you can extend your faith out from Sunday into the rest of your week, and we'd love to help you with that as well. Just stop by the connection center after church or head over to commons.church/learn on your phone, and we'll work hard to get you connected there as well. Now all that aside, let's look back quickly at where we've been, and then today we have one last parable from this sermon by the sea.
Speaker 1:So Jesus starts with a story about, seeds and soil. And he talks about how sometimes we are like hard packed soil where seeds can't grow. Sometimes we are shallow soil that doesn't provide much depth for roots to sink. Sometimes we are soil full of weeds and thorns that choke out the things that we really want to grow from our lives. And then sometimes we are like good soil where good things can take root and grow and flourish and produce far more than we imagined they could.
Speaker 1:And on the surface, this is a call to consider what kind of soil our lives really are. Right? To think about what we're invested in and what types of things we are giving the best of ourselves to. That is a good important lesson. It's one that we should all take to heart and learn from.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, once you remember that Jesus' focus here is really on the kingdom of God, we realize that perhaps this is less a story about us and also a story about the farmer. A farmer who would scatter seed on any soil and who would take a chance on anyone. A farmer who would forego efficiency to make sure that every square inch of his land is given the chance to see something beautiful grow from it. You are never not worth God's investment, says Jesus. Next, Jesus tells us a story about a field full of weeds and wheat.
Speaker 1:And the workers come to the landowner and they say, listen, there's all these weeds. Do you want us to dig them up and throw them away? The owner actually says, no. You could cause a lot of damage that way. Instead, let everything grow together until the harvest.
Speaker 1:And, again, on the surface here, this is pretty simple. Right? It's not our job to judge who's a weed. We leave that up to God. But in the context of the rabbinic world, this story also has a deeper meaning because the specific plants that Jesus references here actually had a long and storied history in Jewish teaching.
Speaker 1:And in the rabbinic world, it was only once these plants matured and reached the end of their life cycle that they could be reliably told apart. And so Jesus seems to be saying that not only are there weeds in the world, yes, and not only are they my problem, not yours, but sometimes sometimes what looks like a weed will end up being exactly what I want drawn into my kingdom. So don't write someone off just because you think they are unworthy. Their story isn't finished yet. Next, was mustard seeds.
Speaker 1:A tiny seed that grows into an enormous shrub. Jesus says that the kingdom starts in the smallest gesture of love and peace you can possibly extend. And yet, that simple grace will grow beyond your wildest expectations. But again, Jesus has hidden something here because he says that a mustard seed grows into a tree so that the birds of the air may come and perch in its branches, and this is actually an intentional subversion of the Hebrew imagination. Because in the Hebrew scriptures, it imagines Israel as growing into this great cedar where the birds of the air, this represents all the nations of the earth, were when they come to find safety and shelter.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus says, yeah, you have the right idea, but you have the wrong image in your mind. Because God's kingdom isn't this grand imposing beautiful cedar. It's actually more like this scrubby, scruffy, scraggly little bush that is notorious for showing up in places you didn't want it to be. And that's what makes it so beautiful. And then last week, we looked at two parables that on the surface say the same thing, but I think are actually meant to contrast or complement each other.
Speaker 1:Jesus says, the kingdom is like treasure buried in a field, treasure that you can just stumble across in the course of your day. The divine is everywhere in your life waiting to be discovered. But then Jesus says that the kingdom is like a merchant looking for treasure who finds a pearl of great value and who gives everything to acquire it just like the man who gave everything to acquire the treasure in the first story. Except that in the second story, the kingdom isn't the pearl. It isn't the treasure.
Speaker 1:The kingdom is the merchant who is searching. And so now the kingdom is the one who would give everything to find you. And so Jesus is saying that the same God who asks everything from you is the same God who would give everything for you. And see these parables are incredibly simple, but they are profound stories, and they invite us to imagine God in completely new ways. However, Jesus is not quite yet done with us because we have one and a half more parables to explore before we're done today.
Speaker 1:So let's pray. And then today is the parable of the net. God of invitation, who invites us to find our ears and eyes, who calls us to search and explore, who beckons us come and dig deeper into your word. Would we find the courage to be creative today, to be imaginative this evening, to look for new possibilities as we read so that we might begin to glimpse the scope and the beauty of your true kingdom, how it reaches out ahead of us, and it gathers us up from behind, how it protects and it shelters us even as it calls for us to leave our safe preconceptions of you behind. Would you be present as we read?
Speaker 1:Better yet, would you help us to notice that you are always present as we read? And so we recognize you with us and in us and through us. Might your creativity and spirit help us as we engage your word today. May we begin to grasp your kingdom so that it might be present in our actions on earth as it is in heaven. In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen. Alright. One final parable here in this series, and so we'll pick up right where we left off last week in verse 47 of Matthew 13. Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore.
Speaker 1:Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Yikes. Let me talk about that, but we're not done here.
Speaker 1:Because verse 41, have you understood all these things? Jesus replied. Yes, they said. Now, let's be honest here. That has to be about the most ridiculous thing that we have read all month.
Speaker 1:And I love the disciples, at least in part because they make me feel just so competent. I mean, anytime I am feeling down on myself for not being a good enough Jesus follower, I look to the disciples and I remember that good enough is not really a kingdom category to begin with. And so anytime we hear the disciples say anything like, yes, we get it, that is almost a surefire sign that they do not. I feel like Jesus probably felt like I do sometimes when I talk to my son. He is three, and I will say to him, please stop doing the thing.
Speaker 1:And he will say, okay. And then I will turn around for five seconds. And when I turn back, he's doing the thing. And I will say, buddy, I thought we had an agreement here. You weren't going to do the thing, and now you're doing it.
Speaker 1:And he will say, yeah, but I really like doing the thing. This past week, Rachel was out for the night with some friends for her birthday. Happy birthday, sweetheart. But I was home with a kid, and I was making dinner, and I asked him what he wanted, which was obviously white rice, because it's always white rice. Apparently, that's all he eats right now.
Speaker 1:That's a thing. Right? I mean, when your kid will eat all kinds of things at two, but at three, it's rice and noodles and bread, and that's it. Please tell me we are not the only family with a kid that has lost all sense of culinary adventure. Anyway, I make the rice, and they give it to him.
Speaker 1:And they turn around for five seconds to check on the dog. And when I turn back, there is rice everywhere. And not just like he dumped it, like like he spread it with surprising dexterity and dedication. It was like springtime nine a in our house. That's a Jackson Pollock joke, by the way.
Speaker 1:Hashtag modern art jokes just for me. But I said to him, buddy, you are such a mess. And he replied without missing a beat, and I quote, but I am just so happy when I make a mess. I mean, what do you say to that? Well, here, I kind of get the sense that Jesus feels the same way.
Speaker 1:He has told all of these incredible stories and showed a willingness to explain them if only his disciples would ask. And he wraps up the sermon, and he gives them this one last parable, which by the way is probably the toughest one of the bunch. And then he says, guys, do you have any more questions? Like, do you need any more clarification about this incredibly complex and transformative kingdom of God I've been telling you about? And they just say, no.
Speaker 1:We got it. And what do you say to that? Well, Jesus being Jesus actually does have an answer. And since it's Jesus, he tells them almost another sort of half parable here. In verse 52, he says, a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out new treasures as well as old, which in itself is just a beautiful way to speak of the kingdom.
Speaker 1:And it is this mixture of familiar and surprising all at the same time. But at least part of what he seems to be saying here is, guys, don't kid yourself. You have a lot to learn. But let's notice something here. When it comes to Jesus, it's always okay to say, I don't get it.
Speaker 1:Have you ever had those moments where someone is talking and they make a reference to something that you've never heard of, and you just nod your head and say, mhmm, because you don't want to look like you don't know who Jackson Pollock is? And this is something that I'm trying to work on very hard in my life, to stop doing that because I've decided that I want to be interested more than I want to be interesting. The church is never the place where you need to nod your head and pretend you understand everything. At least it shouldn't be. At some level, God will always be mystery.
Speaker 1:And acknowledging that, making peace with that is actually part of how we begin to make peace with him. And so when Jesus asks you, do you understand? He's not looking for a yes, sir. He's looking for a conversation. And sometimes, simply understanding that can begin to unlock faith for us in completely new ways.
Speaker 1:So please ask your questions. Now, let's get back to this first parable because that is our focus, and this is a tough one. In fact, Jesus has summed up the sermon about the kingdom with a story that starts on kingdom but ends with judgment, And so we need to wrestle with that today. But first, let's look at the parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish.
Speaker 1:Now a couple things are important here. First, this is a very specific type of net that Jesus is talking about. Fishing and nets are all through the New Testament, and so there is nothing surprising about this reference here. And yet, this is actually the only time this specific word for this specific type of net is used anywhere in the Bible. This is what we call a hapax legomena or a word appears only once in the entire scripture, and scholars get all excited about these things.
Speaker 1:First, because if a word is difficult to translate and you don't have any other context to compare it to, then it gets even more difficult to translate. And that means that you can argue about it for even longer, which, let's be honest, is all that Bible nerds really want to do with their days. But also because when a person uses a word that's not part of their common vocabulary, they are usually doing that for some sort of emphasis. And so this is probably an indication that the specific nature and use of this net is actually a relevant part of Jesus' story. The word here in Greek is, and this means specifically a drag net.
Speaker 1:So there would have been nets, small nets used by fishermen to scoop up a fish. There would have been throw nets that would have been cast over a school of fish to gather them in. Both of those are referenced many times in the scriptures. And then there was a dragnet that would be lowered into the water with weights on one side. And then you would either walk alongside it or maybe paddle your boat alongside it, and you would drag it through the water gathering up everything that got in its way.
Speaker 1:And so you would catch all kinds. It's exactly the language that Jesus uses here. But this is interesting because the kingdom of God is not like a net used to scoop up a fish. And the kingdom of God is not like a throw net that is cast to catch a specific school or type of fish. Kingdom is like a dragnet that scoops up everything in its path.
Speaker 1:Now you can reject the kingdom, and we will talk about that in a moment. But the default posture of the kingdom of God is to gather up everything that gets in its way. Now some of us have a specific imagination of what a kingdom person looks like. Right? Probably something that looks a lot like us.
Speaker 1:You know, not too rich, not too poor, not too fundamentalist, not too liberal, definitely not someone who wears a suit to church, but also someone who looks respectable. Am I right? A part of what I get from this parable is a sense that in the kingdom, it will be far more a mixed bag than I can possibly imagine. It takes all kinds. And so if you are not comfortable listening to people with different stories or different life experiences, perhaps different politics than you, then you will likely find the kingdom a little bit disorienting.
Speaker 1:Just like we saw with the parable of the weeds, judgment is a category in the kingdom, but it is not our category. So if the church is a sacrament of kingdom, then as Capon says, we are not sport fishermen interested only in speckled trout and hand tied flies. We are here to scoop up everyone. And if we are to be an expression of the kingdom in the world, then for as long as the net is in the water, no one is getting tossed aside. No matter who you are or where you have been, you are exactly who the kingdom has been searching for.
Speaker 1:Yet, the surprising inclusivity of the kingdom extends even deeper in this story. Because a net like this would have scooped up all kinds of fish that people would have wanted to eat or perhaps sell at market. There were about 20 different species found in the Lake Of Galilee where this story was told. Most of those were eaten. But in a net like this, you'd inevitably get sick or even dead fish.
Speaker 1:You'd get species that weren't eaten. You'd also get things like eels or shellfish that weren't allowed to be eaten in the Jewish dietary system. And so it's not surprising at the end of the scene to see the fishermen gathered on the shore sorting through the net, separating the good from the bad as part of using a drag net. But the thing is you'd also get things like seaweed in the net. Things like old boots and bottles, things like beer cans and bobbles lost in the lake.
Speaker 1:You'd get things like shoes and socks and sacks and sandals slipped off and lost in the sea. All of the flotsam and jetsam would have been caught up by a dragnet like this. This is actually one of the most fascinating parts of the story that it isn't a story about fish. In fact, nowhere in this story are fish ever mentioned. Now it's quite clearly a story about fishing, and so the English translators are perfectly within their rights for having added fish for our clarity.
Speaker 1:But when the net is lowered in the water, Jesus simply says it catches all things. And when he talks about dividing the spoils on the beach, he simply says, the good goes in the basket and the bad was thrown aside. Now it could simply be that just Jesus doesn't feel the need to be any more specific. Yet, I wonder if perhaps what he means to say is that the kingdom is more than fish, and it does gather up the seaweed, that this kingdom scoops up the refuse and the crabs and the stones that inevitably get kicked up by the movement. Yes.
Speaker 1:Of course, the kingdom is interested in you and I, but also everything else we encounter in the world. For our capon writes that these stories are all about this place here. In all of its thisness and placeness. All about the immediate and intimate holy one who at no distance from us at all moves mysteriously to make creation true both to itself and to God's self. For this, I take, is the force of phrases like the kingdom of God.
Speaker 1:They say to me that the Bible is concerned with the perfecting of all that God has made, not with the trashing of it, with the resurrection of the native harmony and order God intended. And if that's the case, if this story is about more than fish and the kingdom more than souls, If this really is about the reordering of everything, then perhaps this image of judgment that Jesus lands on has greater depth to it as well. He says, this is how it will be at the end of the age. Angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, this is a scary image, and it's meant to be.
Speaker 1:This is language that Jesus uses several times in his teaching. We explored some of this in a series called Jesus on Judgment that we did around this time about a year ago. But this is language that is tied to Jesus' description of Gehenna, usually translated hell, but more literally the Valley Of Hinnon in the Old Testament. This was the site of several great battles that the Jews lost. And so this was a very raw memory of war and death and pain and loss and grief.
Speaker 1:And Jesus uses that grotesque image to speak of where sin leads us. But here, Jesus says, this is where the wicked the Greek here is actually the word poneros or evil. This is where all the evil in the world will eventually go. And I don't have a great way to sugarcoat this. It seems to me as crazy as it sounds that Jesus is saying, it is possible to reject love and grace right to the bitter end.
Speaker 1:That the kingdom of God will sweep through the world, gathering us all up in its net whether we asked for it or not. And yet somehow, it's possible to be swept up in God's grace and still say no. But here's the thing. Sometimes I think we read too much into Jesus' words, and then sometimes I think we read too little. Because Jesus doesn't actually speak of any fish in the story.
Speaker 1:He simply says the net collects everything, and the bad is separated out from the good. And he doesn't actually speak of any people in the explanation. He simply says that at the end of the age, the evil will be separated from what is just. And, yes, I know your English says throw them in the fire, but the Greek could just as easily be it. And if this net is filled with more than fish and the kingdom more than souls, then perhaps the evil Jesus speaks of here runs much deeper as well.
Speaker 1:Because maybe this is more than just you and I being labeled good or bad. Maybe it actually is everything. Everything in and through and around us every single day being caught up in the kingdom of God and then sifted and filtered and purified by God. Maybe this is also the selfishness that lives inside of me, and it is the chronic pain that you suffer within your body. Maybe this is the intersectional realities that keep people from making forward progress.
Speaker 1:The systems that oppress the debt that you've accumulated. It is the humiliation that you have experienced in the narrative of unworthiness that you have adopted. What if this is everything caught up into the kingdom so that everything that pushes back against the net can be set aside? All of it that opposes God one day separated out and burned up. You see, as difficult as it is for me to imagine that someone could actually, intentionally, continually reject all that is good in the universe forever.
Speaker 1:What I also hear Jesus saying is that everything within me that rejects the divine will one day be finally burned away. Because this is the kingdom of God that indiscriminately sweeps up everything so that all that is evil in the world and all that opposes God so that everything that rejects what is good and true can one day be finally dissolved in love. You see, for Jesus, the kingdom is already in the water, being dragged through the world, moving toward you, ready to catch you and trap you and to pull you up onto its beach. And when it does, it will separate the good from the bad, even the good from the bad within you. And that might be scary for you because maybe you've come to believe that your selfishness is somehow important or your self sufficiency is part of you.
Speaker 1:You may have come to believe that your addiction to yourself is really who you are. And Jesus says, you don't need those things, and I'm taking them away. But his intent here is not to terrify. It is to begin to prepare us so that being separated from the worst parts of ourselves can one day be seen for the grace that it is. So may you be caught up in the kingdom and drawn up onto the beach and then sifted through and sorted out so that everything you don't need in the presence of God can be dissolved in his grace.
Speaker 1:Let's pray. God, help us as we engage these simple and yet profound images of your kingdom that call us to imagine the kingdom with so much larger scope and breadth than we have possibly ever imagined. And to realize that you are already here in this world with your net in the water, dragging it through, scooping up everything you touch. Because your goal is to redeem all things, to repair everything that you can. And so, God, would you begin to prepare us by your spirit even now in these moments for the things that we hold on to so tightly that need to be taken from us?
Speaker 1:Our selfishness and our self sufficiency, our belief that we really are the most important thing in the universe. And, God, would we one day reach a space where when you are ready to take those things away, we will be ready to let them go? God, even now, by your spirit, would you bring to mind things that we need to set aside and walk away from so that we can move closer to you. And as we engage with your world and we walk through it, God, might we be part of your net that catches people up and reminds them of your grace and welcomes them into the invitation to something good and true and beautiful. In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray.
Speaker 1:Amen.