by the Rev. Howard Seip, UCC Pastor and member of St. James' Choir
I found myself longing for some spiritual encouragement this week that would give me the resources to live my life of faith in a confident way and give me the strength to seek to grow in it. And in our lectionary passages for this morning (except for the Old Testament reading) I found just such resources. At first glance, they are hard to discover, but once we work diligently with them, I am confident they will yield riches for us.
The reading that we had from Romans for example is one of the most profound, yet demanding ones in all of scripture. Would you be able to summarize it? Well, that’s ok because I probably wouldn’t be easily able to do that either. Paul is speaking to the people of the church in Rome, trying to give them both solid theological teaching and practical encouragement as well. And one focus of the passage was a string of seemingly confusing technical theological terms.
He tells them that the people that God foreknew were also predestined by God to be made into the image of Christ. And those who were predestined, were also called out by God, and those who were called, God also justified, and those who were justified were also glorified by God. And you, the people of Christ’s church are the ones who have received all of this. Isn’t this great? And there, mercifully, the string of technical theological terms comes to an end. Those who were foreknown, predestined, called, justified, glorified. What is all this about? Why does Paul use all of these terms in rapid succession? And what do they mean to us? Could you explain or define foreknowledge, predestination, justification and glorification right now?
Once again, that’s ok, because it would be tough for me too. So I’m not going to even try to list and explain the meaning of these terms to you. You’re as relieved about that as I am, aren’t you? But I think that they were intended to convey a very important thing to the members of the Roman church, and to us today. The early church was constantly having problems and encountering opposition. Confidence I’m sure was a great problem. Confidence in the faith, confidence in God, confidence in this Christ they were following. These were real issues, as I think they are for us, in living the Christian life.
And so Paul seeks to encourage them by giving them confidence in what they are doing. Confidence, not in themselves, but in God. Look he says, God has called you to this life. God has already known you and who you are. God has set up the circumstances that will enable you to succeed in this life of faith. God has made you right with life and with Christ by forgiving and saving you. So you can be confident in reaching out and taking the risk to live this life of faith and prayer and love in the church and know that God has been beside you in the past, God is with you now, and God will be with you to the end. With grace and mercy to make all of this that may seem so difficult and demanding now a real possibility in your life that will bring you true and abundant life. That’s what calling and predestination and justification and all the rest are all about.
And then finally, after all of this, Paul turns poetic as it were, and reassures them again of God’s faithful, loving presence with them that can give them all the confidence they need to live the Christian life. What are we to say about all this, he asks? If God is for us, who is against us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anything negative in all the world? And just as we might be ready to say – maybe, Paul says, No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us. For he was convinced that nothing in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And so we can live our Christian lives of faith with boldness and confidence, knowing that if God is for us who can be against us? For all its initial difficulty, doesn’t this passage turn out to be exciting and inspirational? It reminded me of a great little song, based on this reading, that I sang in our church choir when I was a little boy in Whittier, California in the 1960s that really captured the spirit and feel of Paul’s message. And part of it goes something like this, (Mike sings)
If God be for us, who can be against us, Who can be against us.
If God be for us who can be against us.
Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
Who can separate us from the love of Christ?
If God be for us, who can be against us, Who can be against us,
If God be for us who can be against us.
It still moves me today. And now we turn our attention to the gospel lesson. And once again we encounter difficulties. For again we encounter a rapid fire sequence of words, only this time they are phrases, the images and metaphors of the parables of Jesus. He is teaching the crowds, and tells them that the kingdom of heaven (or God) is like a mustard seed. Oh, but it is also like yeast that is made into bread. The kingdom is heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, but you know it is also like a pearl of great value. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
And then Jesus asks the big question of us – Have you understood all this? And as we begin to answer honestly, no, we all of a sudden hear the crowd say, yes, and we ask, what? They understood this cacophony of words and phrases, images and metaphors that are tumbling rapid fire from this gospel story? Do you? For the second time this morning, if you find yourself at a loss, do not fear or be dismayed. For I initially felt the exact same way. A mustard seed, a lump of yeast, a treasure in a field, a fancy pearl. What are they trying to tell us? What do they mean? And what if anything do they have to do with one another, since Matthew has strung them in a line for us?
Well, the message of Jesus was about the coming of the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven. And he was convinced that God was the most important thing in life. What is the first and greatest commandment? To love God with all your heart. And God’s will and desires were of tremendous importance as well. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as the prayer has it. And the coming of God’s will and desires to be on earth among God’s people was of highest importance as well. This along with other things was what God’s reign was all about, the coming to be of things in the way that God wanted, a way of goodness and life and love. And Jesus thought that was happening in his midst and that if they were to be saved, people had to see that and get on board with it or they would be left behind.
And so he told stories, parables, about mustard seeds, and yeast and treasures and pearls. And they all had to do with getting people to turn around in their lives and get on board with God’s reign and be a part of it through their lives of faith and prayer and love.
It might seem a small, even invisible thing in your life or in the world around you, but Jesus insists that just like a tiny mustard seed or a little bit of yeast, because of God’s action, this reign could grow into a gigantic, massive thing that could take over the world. So don’t sit on the side lines, get involved, be a part of what’s happening and take God and God’s doings seriously in your life.
Because this, God and God’s doings is what is really important in life. Your faith and life in God is truly the center and focus of everything else. It’s like a great treasure that might come your way, or even an incredibly expensive pearl that could be yours. It’s the highest and the greatest thing in life. And again, because of that, it’s urgent that you get involved. That you do whatever it is that you need to do, whatever you have to sell, to make this thing of God’s at the center of your life.
Again, like the reading from Romans, from an initial inability to understand what was going on, this series of confusing parables from Matthew in the end turns into an incredibly practical and inspiring call to us. To have the confidence to plunge into the life of faith that we have, our relationship with God, and to put it at the heart of our lives and center ourselves and our priorities around it. When I was reading this series of parable images in Matthew, again I thought of a song that was familiar to me.
There’s a Spanish folk hymn in The New Century Hymnal of the United Church of Christ that uses this exact same device, mirroring Matthew’s style in today’s lesson. It too was confusing to me when I sung it at first because it too strings together a long series of images that again at first seem unconnected and leave the point unclear. But once you see how he is mirroring scripture to lead us to commit our lives anew to God and Christ and the Church, it becomes a moving and inspirational tribute. The hymn is called “You Are the Seed”, and part of it goes like this - (Nancy sings)
You are the seed that will grow a new sprout, you’re the star that will shine through the day;
You are the yeast and a small grain of salt, a beacon to glow in the night.
You are the dawn that will bring a new day, you’re the wheat that will bear golden grain;
You are a sting and a soft, gentle touch, my witnesses where’er you go.
You are the life that will nurture the plant; you’re the waves in a turbulent sea;
Yesterday’s yeast is beginning to rise, a new loaf of bread it will yield.
There’s no place for city to hide, nor a mountain can cover its might;
May your good deeds show a world in despair a path that will lead all to God.
To lead all to God. A seed that will grow a new sprout. Our readings today are calling on us and inspiring us to begin our lives of faith again as this new week begins. Tomorrow as we rise from bed. No, no, today as we worship together and go forth from this place. And they call on us to deepen and strengthen that faith, wherever it may be at this time. For some of us, it may be a small mustard seed barely visible. For others, it might be a treasure buried in the ground. But with God’s grace and love ever beside us, it can grow, it can become something great and large, and it can become something of a great and valuable treasure in our lives and for the world. We just need to respond to the word that we hear and the reassurance that God will be with us to give us the strength that we need to live this life.
Let us let the words of song be our guide again, our inspiration that will lead us from this place into God’s world to live a new life of faith and hope and love. (Nancy and Susan sing) –
Go my friends, go to the world, proclaiming love to all,
messengers of my forgiving peace, eternal love.
Be, my friends, a loyal witness, from the dead I arose;
Lo I’ll be with you forever, till the end of the world.
Amen.
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