The Conspiracy of the Insignificant
What do a smooth stone… a shepherd boy… a wooden manger… a poor itinerant preacher… and a mustard seed have in common? Without a foothold in the Bible, they would all be rendered insignificant. But, because we read our Bibles, we learn that the smooth stone felled a giant warrior… the shepherd boy who threw it became the mightiest of Israel’s kings… the wooden manger was the first bed that God’s Son knew as a baby… the itinerant preacher the baby became was crucified so that all of humanity might be reconciled to God… and the mustard seed … the tiny, insignificant mustard seed… somehow helps us understand what the kingdom of God is like.
What is this fascination that God has with the insignificant? I have chosen four examples from scripture… and then the one from our text today… but I am sure that each of you can come up with two or three more examples of insignificant things… or people… whom God chose… and then transformed into a powerful force for good. Some others might include the jawbone of an ass… a young virgin girl… a boy with five loaves and two fish… a stranger on the road to Emmaus… the list goes on. For some reason, God really loves using these disparate nonentities to do God’s work in the most miraculous ways. Within our own congregation… in small, insignificant ways… the work of God is being done. There’s not much flash and dash about it… it is just simple, daily tasks or remembrances of ordinary people that move us closer and closer to the kingdom each day. And that kingdom is supposed to be like a mustard seed… or yeast… or a field… or a pearl… and so on.
So, today, using the analogies that we have been given, we will explore what the kingdom of God is like. We are told that the kingdom of God is like a seed… a common, ordinary seed… one that seems small. One that looks insignificant. At first glance, there is nothing about it that is out of the ordinary or that would give us a clue as to how great or how wonderful it is… or how great or how wonderful it will be. At the moment, it just looks like a weed… not even that… the seed of a weed. Farmers in ancient Palestine considered the mustard shrub… for it is not really a tree at all… to be a weed. They would never have planted such a shrub… or nurtured it in their gardens. So, whatever the kingdom of God is today, it gives no hint of the significance that it will have in the days to come.
Those things that we do that seem to be spontaneously tacked onto our days… like visiting someone who is ill… or helping someone with a household chore… or helping a child find its mother… or putting a bird back in its nest… all of these things seem like simple, ordinary things that are not a part of the plan… but, in God’s eyes, are a significant part of the world God created… and the community God desires. We don’t pay much attention to these things… they seem so insignificant. In fact, I would venture a guess that they would be among the first things that we would cut out of our day if we were crunched for time… a “throw-away” item, so to speak. Yet these are part of what the kingdom of God is today… and not even a hint of what it will be someday.
Secondly, the kingdom of God is like yeast. A small amount of it… mixed in with the everyday… can transform it… can make what we know bigger… and better… than it is today. It will transform us and everyone else who comes in contact with it. Working from the inside out… working “behind the scenes”, so to speak… it transforms the very nature of the person… changing the very essence of who they are. Unleavened bread… unusual today, but very common in ancient Palestine… is hard… stiff… and is eaten in a different way than leavened bread, which is lighter… softer… more flexible… and has a completely different texture through and through. And yet, the tiny microbes that transform it can scarcely be seen. They are added to the dough before the bread is baked… and… left to their own devices… they can double or triple the size of the dough… transforming it into something soft … tasty… and desirable… that… when baked… becomes a permanent change.
The kingdom of God is like that. It can change a person… overnight… into something softer… more flexible… and more desirable. It works on the heart… on the inside… with tiny flashes of understanding… wonderful moments of insight… that completely transform the person into someone new and different. And that change has a “ripple effect”… moving out from the center… from that one person… to those around who are touched by what that person says… or does.
Thirdly, the kingdom of God is like a field with a hidden treasure. It is worth giving up everything that we have to possess it. And its value surpasses anything that we can conceive. Those of us who have lived in Stephenville, Texas, before and after the discovery of Barnett Shale can certainly understand this analogy. The land around Stephenville is good for grazing land for cattle, but it is rocky and dry… nothing like the deep, rich, black soil of the Midwest. There is nothing that distinguishes the land here from other land in this state. And yet… beneath the surface of the land… hidden from sight… and from the comprehension of most people… there is a treasure… something of greater value than we can imagine. I have often wondered about the man who sold the field to the one who found the hidden treasure. What did he think of the land… both before… and after that sale? How did he feel after he learned of the hidden treasure?
The kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field… hidden in plain sight. When I think of hidden treasures in our own congregation, I think of people like Estalene Curry… or Dorothy Garrison… or Ed Knipstein… gentle, unassuming people… people with a simple faith in God… people who have changed the lives of those around them just by living. Though they have been gone for awhile now, we still think about… and talk about… the ways in which they contributed to the life of this congregation… and how we are different because they passed our way. They still serve as an inspiration to us. Anna Clair Boyd is another such hidden treasure… far more valuable… in many ways… than we ever knew.
Finally, the kingdom of God is like a pearl of great value… a gem that is worth more than all the other gems in our lives put together. The merchant in this story bought and sold pearls. He knew their value… he had studied them for years. When he saw this pearl, he knew that it was worth more than any… or all… of the other pearls that he owned. In response, he sold everything he had so that he could possess this one pearl… not to sell it to someone else… but to keep it for himself. Not a very good business practice, if you ask me. You won’t be in business very long if you spend all of your inventory… and your profits… buying things for yourself.
But those of us who have studied God’s word… who have looked for the kingdom of God and its presence in our lives… we should instantly recognize that pearl if we see it… and we would long to have it for ourselves. To have God’s reign in our lives… God on the throne in our hearts… would be worth everything that we now possess. It is that recognition that sends mission teams to disaster zones without regard for their lives… that sends missionaries into war zones… and makes ordinary citizens to give all that they have to the church for God’s glory.
Did you notice anything peculiar about the man who sold all that he had to purchase the field? He did it with joy! There was no reluctance… no trepidation…no hesitancy… no questioning. His discovery brought him joy… joy so fulfilling that nothing else mattered… joy that far surpassed the joy he gained from his possessions. He was not motivated by greed… by any profit he might gain… but by the joy of his discovery.
So, what have we learned? The kingdom of heaven is like an insignificant seed that can grow into something that provides shelter and protection for others. The kingdom of God is like yeast which can double or triple our yield and feed hundreds, transforming us in the process. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure in a field that others may overlook, but brings so much joy to us that nothing that we possess can compare to it.
Are we the ones who have thrown away the seeds because they look insignificant to us? Do we fail to nurture the seed… or work the yeast… because it is hidden from our sight? Are we the ones who own the field that has the treasure that we have never seen because we believe that the field has nothing of value in it… or because we are not working in the field… and have never searched for a treasure in it? The treasure that we seek is right here. The treasure that we seek is in the seeds that we hold in our hands. It is in the bread that we knead every day. It is in the field that we already possess.
Jesus taught the people in parables. Sometimes, those parables were puzzling… or at least, they seem puzzling to us today. But the one thing that is communicated with crystal clarity is the fact that, throughout history, God has worked with the insignificant… the unimportant… the easily overlooked… and the hidden… to change lives and to revolutionize this world. God blesses all that is tiny… all that is insignificant in the eyes of the world… all that is hidden from the world’s sight… to bring his kingdom in. It is time for us to quit dismissing the insignificant. It is time for us to nurture and to knead anything that might grow and feed others. It is time for us to see what is right before our eyes… and claim it as a treasure given by God. For that is what it is… that is what we are… and here is where the kingdom of God is breaking into this world. Amen.
Matthew 13:31-35, 44-46