Introduction
Today’s worship is the third and final service based on
Matthew Chapter 13 and Jesus’ parables.
The prayers for today’s service have been provided by Trish
Mapletoft.
Preparing for Worship
Prayer of Praise and Confession
We give you thanks and Praise for the wonder of Nature around us.
In Staying at home, we have had so much time to watch the trees
and plants as they unfolded into Spring and then Summer
A tiny plant has flourished into something beautiful before our eyes
We thank you for our vision to be able to see all this and beyond its
beauty
to understand the power of your message at work in our hearts
We thank you for your help and guidance as we travel through these
uncertain times.
We are sorry if some days we have not passed on that message as maybe we
should
not made that phone call or written that letter
not made that phone call or written that letter
Lord we search the faces of those we meet, looking for a return of that
smile or acknowledgment. So many people need your help if only they could know
you.
We pray that in some small way we
will be the ‘seeds’ of that Journey for them.
Hymn – Come, learn of God's
kingdom, the kingdom of light (tune St Denio, Immortal,
Invisible, God only Wise) - https://youtu.be/dkoAfLpBBfU
Engaging with Scripture
Reading
– Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
31 He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is
like a mustard seed,
which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though
it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden
plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.’
3 He told them still another
parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed
into about thirty kilograms of flour until it worked all through the dough.’
~o0o~
44 ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for
fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value,
he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
47 ‘Once again, the kingdom of heaven is
like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When
it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and
collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This
is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the
wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into
the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 ‘Have you understood all these things?’ Jesus asked.
‘Yes,’ they replied.
52 He said to them, ‘Therefore every teacher of the law who
has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who
brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.’
Reflection
I wonder which of
these five different pictures of God’s kingdom struck you when you read these
parables today?
This collection
of stories, like last week’s comes with a ‘sting in the tail:’ the
mention of “the blazing furnace … weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt
13:42,50) What are we to make of this
uncompromising imagery of judgement and destruction at the end of the age?
Biblical scholars
point us to the literal waste-disposal facility that existed in a valley outside
of Jerusalem in Jesus’ time, known as Gehenna. This site was known to have been a place
where fire burned continuously and wild animals fought over scraps of waste
food. Earlier in biblical history this
was also the site of the abhorrent practice of child-sacrifices to the pagan
gods and so would have also been synonymous with weeping and wailing. So, when Jesus highlights the potential for the
self-destructive behaviour of ignoring signs of God’s kingdom he holds out the
terrifying prospect that those who choose to go on refusing God’s rule and
reign may find themselves being treated like the city’s rubbish since pagan
gods showed scant regard for human life.
But let us be in no doubt, that if we take the collection of parables as
a whole, Jesus is making it abundantly clear that God will take every measure
possible to ensure that no-one ends up on the rubbish-heap.
The Apostle Peter
tells us in clear terms that God “is patient … not wanting anyone to perish,
but everyone to come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9) God’s patience, Peter says, is such that this
current age is extended in order to give people the chance to repent, to look
again and to see and accept for themselves the signs of God’s rule and
reign.
God’s generosity
in providing opportunities for everyone to see the Kingdom is set out in the
parables:
It is seen in the
prodigal, almost wasteful, spreading of the seed. Ensuring that some seed makes it to fertile
ground is given priority over more prudent sowing that would avoid any being
wasted among the rocks, thorns or on the path.
God sows far more than can ever be expected to bear fruit, but does so
in the hope that unexpectedly some will take root where it looks impossible for
it to do so.
It is seen in the
generosity of allowing all of the plants to grow and thrive whether they are
wheat or weeds. A generosity that comes
with a warning, that those shoots that turn out to be of no nutritional value
will be taken away and burnt. A picture
that is familiar to that used by John when he writes about the pruning of the
vines, there it refers to the ongoing work of God in individual’s lives pruning
out those unfruitful branches that do not bring glory to God. (John 15:5-8)
We must note that in both, God reserves for God’s self the authority to
do the pruning and the winnowing: it is not ours to do and that branches are
burnt so that the fruitful plant may survive.
It is seen in the
abundance of the smallest seed becoming the largest tree which offers shelter
to the birds, and the yeast which is minute compared to the flour but which
expands and multiplies to raise the large lump of dough and give it a lightness
and airiness which is both appetising and digestible. A picture of the way in which God’s work can
grow in unexpected ways to make something great of something small: even the
mustard-seed of faith.
It is seen in the
delight taken in discovering that there is treasure and value and worth buried
deep within the apparently fallow ground of the field. Can you believe that picture of God? The God who the Psalmist says, “searches and
knows us” (Psalm 139) it turns out isn’t scrutinising us looking for faults,
but is lovingly turning over the soil in search of the treasure that is buried
there beyond sight! The Creator in whose
image we are made, is constantly searching for that which bears His image, so
that he can summon it into life and claim it as His own.
And of course, it
reaches its culmination, in the picture of the willingness of the searcher to
lose everything else in order to secure the treasure or the pearl. This is the action of the God who so loved
the world that he gave his only Son … the God who sent Jesus “not to condemn
the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16,17)
So, it is
uncomfortable when Jesus points his listeners to the city rubbish dump and says
that any one of us has the choice to live in such a way that we end our days
being treated like the discarded refuse: thrown on a heap beyond all hope. But the Good News is that he holds up this
terrible possibility that it might be contrasted with the pictures of God’s
kingdom. Jesus challenges them (and us)
to choose between God’s generosity, abundance, delight and love or the misery
of our own making.
And ultimately,
of course, Jesus chooses to allow the authorities to treat him like a piece of
discarded rubbish, to show once and for all, that God in God’s love will do
anything and everything to stand between each one of us and the no-hope heap.
So what are we to
do with the harrowing imagery?
Jesus gives us
the answer when he tells his listeners that if they understand what he is
saying then they should dedicate themselves to ensuring that their lives bring
out the fruit of God’s kingdom rather than the destruction of other ways of
living. The truth is, if we come away
from these parables with only the imagery of the blazing furnace and the sound
of the weeping and gnashing teeth, then we have missed the point. Jesus came to declare God’s kingdom not to
threaten God’s punishment.
So whilst we may
need recognise that there is a rubbish heap: (a place of misery, emptiness and
destruction) and choosing to dwell there is an option, Jesus offers us a
picture of a more positive and fulfilled life with and for God. We each have the choice to turn our backs on the
place of emptiness and instead be the kinds of disciples whose lives bring
forth treasures new and old, as we allow the seed of God’s kingdom to grow in
our lives and as we sow the word of God into the lives of others. May the seed find our hearts to be fertile
ground and may the treasure within each of us be
found by the God who takes
delight in us all.
Hymn –StF 273 – Here hangs a man
discarded (tune Passion Chorale – O Sacred Head Now Wounded) - https://youtu.be/EOFyq_YfLhs
Prayers of Intercession
Dear Lord
As we have focused our thoughts on growing and nurturing the ‘seeds’ of
our faith we pray that this will grow throughout your world. There are so many people who are hurting at
the moment.
Those because of the wrong things others have done, some because of
war, some because they are starving and others because of the wrong choices
they have made.
Some because they have nowhere to live and some who have lost
the ones that they loved the most. Others who just want to be loved.
We Pray that you will hold this ‘hurting World’ in your arms and help us
to be instrumental in growing those seeds of faith.
We pray for your Church Worldwide as Leaders struggle to keep
communities together in these times when we are unable to meet together and
Praise you!
Closer to home we pray for our Church Family, friends and neighbours' who
need our encouragement in small ways. We
sense that the seeds of Faith which you continue to plant within us will grow,
even without our awareness. We ask for your renewal to stay connected and
strengthen this faith,
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn –StF 557 – Let him to whom
we now belong - https://youtu.be/VzWWHZeawGU
Closing Prayer
King of the ages,
we have heard the call of the kingdom,
and ask that you would fill us with your Spirit
that we may keep our eyes upon you,
and live as children of the light
reaching out to the lost
with passion and power proclaiming
salvation in Jesus’ name. Amen
and ask that you would fill us with your Spirit
that we may keep our eyes upon you,
and live as children of the light
reaching out to the lost
with passion and power proclaiming
salvation in Jesus’ name. Amen
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