WHO NEEDS ‘EM?

July 15, 2007

He said, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom –

 you know how it works.

There are others who need stories. 

But even with stories some of them aren’t going to get it:

‘Their eyes are open but don’t see a thing,

Their ears are open but don’t hear a thing.’”

                                                            Luke 8:10 – The Message

            It is good to be back home after our eight-day Volunteer-In-Mission experience in Lake Charles, Louisiana.  On behalf of the eighteen members of the team I want to thank you for your emotional, prayerful, and financial support as we helped the rebuilding effort following the incomprehensible destruction of Hurricane Rita.  In the weeks and months to come, you will be hearing our stories of transformation as individuals and as members of this community of faith as well as see the pictures of the work we shared.  For now, it is enough to know that we were sent out in Jesus’ name to bring a little hope to one small corner of the world and God has led us safely back home.  We are thankful for the experience.

            On Monday morning in Louisiana, as one work team drove up to the home of Equila Forsythe to complete the work that other teams had started and help Equila and her four sons move out of the FEMA trailer that has been their home for twenty months and back into their own home, I noticed two signs in the front yard.  The first said “Louisiana United Methodists Care About You” – a sign indicating who was responsible for the work that was being done on their home.  The second sign, located much closer to the house read “Security by KINGDOM Monitoring!”  I have to tell you, in light of the devastation that Equila’s family experienced, I think I would count on someone else for my security!

The sign did get me to thinking though – we are a people searching for security that comes in the kingdom of God.  And sometimes, we are a people who think that our security will come if we carefully monitor that kingdom!  It is with this in mind that we will once again explore the parables of Jesus. 

            About a month ago, before I was away on Sunday mornings at MADD Camp and leading a Volunteer-In-Mission Team, we began looking at the parables of Jesus by acknowledging that, first and foremost, parables are stories.  They are not meant to be factual.  When we read them, we don’t have to ask if they are true.  Following the tradition of his own faith and culture, Jesus invited the listener into these stories that wake us up to God’s presence and God’s purpose in our lives.  We also learned that parables are a part of the wisdom literature of the Bible, speaking the truth about God’s realm.  We learned that scripture uses two languages – the language of clarity and the language of power.  The language of clarity can be found in the law and doctrine while the language of power can be found in the God-stories… especially in the parables… that ask the hard questions and call forth faith-filled responses.  Through the language of power we are given insight into God’s kingdom.  Our eyes and our ears are opened.

            As we look this morning at two more parables of Jesus, we need to realize that we humans really prefer the language of clarity to the language of power.  Even though we sometimes might resist it, it is easier for someone to simply tell us what to do and think and feel and believe! We cling to the law and doctrine of our faith as a shield against all that might harm us.  In a time when so much of what is happening in our lives seems to be crumbling, we really would prefer the language of clarity.  The list of what is wrong in our lives keeps growing… natural disasters wreak havoc… we are at war… new security threats are a reality of life… families are disintegrating… church membership is shrinking… new health crises are around every corner… loved ones face death… financial insecurities threaten to undo us.  When we are most honest with ourselves, we must admit that we are frightened.  And when we are frightened it is only human to want clear answers.  We would rather have someone just give us the list of the do’s and don’ts of life and then we could get on with it!  As much as we say that we want to think for ourselves and be independent and all, when it comes to faith we really do want answers.  We would prefer the language of clarity.

But the parables of Jesus speak the language of power.  They don’t give answers.  The parables of Jesus are paradoxical… unbelievable and contrary to most everything we think is true.  When we really spend time with the parables we discover that they provide no straight teachings about God… that you can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys in them… and that, try as we might, we can’t explain them!  At a time when we want to monitor the kingdom… when we want to feel absolutely safe and secure in our own personal experiences of faith… spending time with the parables of Jesus just might find us saying “who needs ‘em!”

            But let’s open our Bibles anyway and read a couple of these parables that push us beyond our comfort zone. Take out your pew Bible and turn to page 76 in the New Testament.  We are going to spend a little time with two parables from Luke’s Gospel… the parable of the mustard seed and the parable of the yeast.  In the 13^th chapter, beginning with verse 18 we read:

“He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like?  And to what should I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ 

And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’”

            At first glance, I would guess that we probably don’t have too much of a problem with these two parables.  They seem simple enough.  If you are like me, you first encountered the story of the mustard seed in Sunday School as a child when the teacher gave each student a small mustard seed and encouraged us to have faith.  For years, well-meaning pastors – myself included – have used the mustard seed as an example of something seemingly small and insignificant becoming great, encouraging us to grow in our faith.  But a word of caution for today’s reading of this scripture.  In Jesus’ day much like today, the mustard shrub was considered an obnoxious weed by farmers.  It invaded their crops, crowding out the grain they had planted.  Even more, the seeds of the mustard shrubs attracted birds, who devoured the seeds the farmers had planted for their crops.  How are we to understand a parable where Jesus compares the kingdom of God to an invasive, destructive weed?

            And the parable of the yeast isn’t much better.  Any bread-bakers here this morning know the importance of yeast to a good loaf of bread.  God’s kingdom as yeast sounds plausible enough. But for the first-century Jew who was hearing this parable for the first time, the type of bread symbolizing the kingdom of God was the unleavened bread of the Passover Seder, commemorating the Exodus.  Any good Jew would spend the month before the Passover sweeping the house clean to get rid of any yeast.  Yeast, in Jesus’ day, had become a symbol of all things unclean and even immoral!  How do we understand a parable where Jesus compares the kingdom of God to something as unclean  as yeast?

            I think one of the truths about us is that we want to use the scriptures to answer our questions of faith not pose new ones.  We tend to use the Bible to stop conversations not start them.   When we open the pages of the Bible we are hoping for clarity of faith not uncertainty.  We want to be able to tell the good guys from the bad guys… as long as we can be counted among the good guys.  We want to know who is in and who is out… as long as we are in and not out.  We want answers that keep the status quo intact… as long as it is our status quo.  We want to monitor the kingdom! 

But friends, if this is what we want, then we shouldn’t read the parables of Jesus!   They can’t be explained. They must be read and re-read.  We must allow them to push us and challenge us to new understandings of faith for living in today’s world.   Instead of stopping the conversation, the parables must get us talking and listening and growing in faith.  As Barbara Brown Taylor affirmed, in the parables “Jesus trusted God’s word to do its work!”  We must let God’s word do its work, transforming us in the process.

            Last Saturday afternoon, the Volunteer-In-Mission Team stood in the remnants of the sanctuary of Wakefield United Methodist Church in Cameron, Louisiana.  All but the roof of the sanctuary was literally washed away in the twenty-seven foot storm surge that came ashore during Hurricane Rita.  It was a powerful experience to gather in that place.  As we had driven into the town of Cameron we had past the remnants of home after home… a brick chimney here… a “see-through home” there… you could literally see through the remaining walls of the house.  Realizing that not only had the people of Cameron lost their church building, they had lost their homes and livelihoods as well, we kept asking “What would we do if this happened to us?”  After pondering out loud how the storm must have hit… after  walking on the concrete slab, identifying what had been the fellowship hall and Sunday School classrooms… after reading the names on the graves in the small cemetery next to the church… after eating our lunch together on a makeshift table under the shade of the sanctuary roof… we offered prayers of blessing for the people of Wakefield United Methodist Church, giving thanks for their faithfulness in the generations past and with hope, blessing the ministries of the generations that will come. 

Last Sunday afternoon at 2:00 the remnant of that congregation gathered for worship for the very first time since Hurricane Rita hit 20 months ago.  The newspaper article announcing the service asked each person in attendance to bring their own chair.  As they gathered together in fellowship and sang the songs of faith and prayed for strength to keep on going, I wonder if the pastor opened the Bible and read a new parable of Jesus that said “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like a hurricane that came and washed us away and we were given a fresh start.”