Matthew 13:
-------
Mustard seeds, yeast, treasure, pearls, fishnets and scriptures. The kingdom of God so described is predictably prolific, an agent of ferment, pirate booty, jewelry, a deadly trap--and something that one can be trained for! Jesus' first parables remind me of Thich Nhat Hanh's famous illustration of "seeing the clouds in the page you are reading" (and by extension the rain from the cloud, the tree that grows with the rain and the wood pulp from the tree used to make the paper in the book). Can we see the shade cast by the tree in the seed? The smiles and contentment of lives nourished by the bread made with the yeast? The thousands of lives, some wealthy, some exploited, required to produce the inexpensive commodities that we take for granted? The kingdom of God is the real value, Jesus illustrates, not simply in the seed, the yeast and the treasure in and of themselves. Our value is discovered in our interrelatedness, our inter-being, the way that in even the smallest thing, God unfolds an economy, an ecosystem, a galaxy, something impossible to predict or control, which asks us to look more closely.
Poet of the universe, awaken us to see where you touch all of life in its terrifying and awesome complexity. Show us our part of this web, made from many strands that cannot be broken without dire consequences. Amen.
Ryan Pusch, '17
Awaiting first call in the Southwest Pennsylvania Synod
Matthew 13:31 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;
32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
33 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."...
44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;
46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;
48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 "Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes."
52 And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." [New Revised Standard Version]
31 Yeshua put before them another parable. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed which a man takes and sows in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up it is larger than any garden plant and becomes a tree, so that the birds flying about come and nest in its branches.”
33 And he told them yet another parable. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with a bushel of flour, then waited until the whole batch of dough rose.”
44 “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man found it, hid it again, then in great joy went and sold everything he owned, and bought that field.
45 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for fine pearls. 46 On finding one very valuable pearl he went away, sold everything he owned and bought it.
47 “Once more, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net thrown into the lake, that caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen brought the net up onto the shore, sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad fish away. 49 So it will be at the close of the age — the angels will go forth and separate the evil people from among the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. 52 He said to them, “So then, every Torah-teacher who has been made into a talmid for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a home who brings out of his storage room both new things and old.”
(Complete Jewish Bible)Mustard seeds, yeast, treasure, pearls, fishnets and scriptures. The kingdom of God so described is predictably prolific, an agent of ferment, pirate booty, jewelry, a deadly trap--and something that one can be trained for! Jesus' first parables remind me of Thich Nhat Hanh's famous illustration of "seeing the clouds in the page you are reading" (and by extension the rain from the cloud, the tree that grows with the rain and the wood pulp from the tree used to make the paper in the book). Can we see the shade cast by the tree in the seed? The smiles and contentment of lives nourished by the bread made with the yeast? The thousands of lives, some wealthy, some exploited, required to produce the inexpensive commodities that we take for granted? The kingdom of God is the real value, Jesus illustrates, not simply in the seed, the yeast and the treasure in and of themselves. Our value is discovered in our interrelatedness, our inter-being, the way that in even the smallest thing, God unfolds an economy, an ecosystem, a galaxy, something impossible to predict or control, which asks us to look more closely.
Poet of the universe, awaken us to see where you touch all of life in its terrifying and awesome complexity. Show us our part of this web, made from many strands that cannot be broken without dire consequences. Amen.
Ryan Pusch, '17
Awaiting first call in the Southwest Pennsylvania Synod
Matthew 13:31 He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field;
32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."
33 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."...
44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls;
46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind;
48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.
49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous
50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 "Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes."
52 And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old." [New Revised Standard Version]
The Luther Seminary
2481 Como Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108, United States
-------
No comments:
Post a Comment