8 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 12, July 30, 2017
1 Kings 3:5-12 Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Caroline: Catherine, I think Jesus must have liked jewelry.
Catherine: And why would you say that?
Caroline: Well, he told a parable about a person who searched for and found the perfect pearl.
Catherine: (spinning her pearls) Well, dawlin', everybody loves pearls so why wouldn't Jesus love them too? But you could also say that Jesus loved fishing, horticulture, baking and writing. He told stories about lots of things that were known in the lives of his listeners.
Caroline: I guess you're right. Jesus did not speak like a professor in a philosophy class, he learned to speak street language. He learned to put wisdom into ordinary speech.
Catherine: Jesus wanted everyone to be wise. King Solomon asked God to give him wisdom to be a good king for his people. We are told that Solomon was the wisest person in his time.
Caroline: But didn't he have over 1000 wives and ladies in his court?
Catherine: Yes he did and perhaps he was wise because his "think tank" had 1000 women giving him wise advice.
Caroline: What wisdom was Jesus trying to teach people?
Catherine: Jesus taught mainly about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. Since we are not a monarchy, we might say that Jesus taught about the nation of God, or the realm of God.
Caroline: Jesus taught that people could understand that they lived in the nation of God.
Catherine: In the time Jesus, people lived in the nation of Israel but the nation of Israel was controlled by the Roman Empire. Everyone was living in the kingdom of the Caesar.
Caroline: Jesus said that we could discover a kingdom and a nation greater and better than the kingdom of Caesar.
Catherine: The kingdom of the Caesar seemed obvious. There were soldiers everywhere. There were many signs of the kingdom of the Caesar. What were the signs of the kingdom of heaven?
Caroline: Jesus said that a person needed to have special seeing to understand the kingdom of heaven.
Catherine: Yes, the kingdom of heaven is subtle. It catches you by surprise. It becomes known when lots of small faithful deeds accumulate to become something great. It's like the tiny mustard seed; it goes in the ground and before you know it is a large tree supporting birds.
Caroline: This is a very wise insight. Character is only formed through many small deeds. This means we need to be faithful in the every day deeds of life because we are forming our character. The character of the kingdom of heaven becomes known when people practice love and justice.
Catherine: Yeast is but a dab of cultured flour, but a small dab of yeast will make dough rise in but a few hours. The kingdom of Caesar came to the world with armies forcing people to obey; the kingdom of heaven works in the small deeds of kindness and love that slowly take over.
Caroline: But let us now get to the perfect pearl. What did Jesus mean by this?
Catherine: All of us are in search of the perfect pearl in life?
Caroline: What do you mean?
Catherine: I mean that we are seeking to find the most important things to believe in this life. And when we find what is most important we sacrifice other things in our lives to devote ourselves to what is most perfect.
Caroline: Everyone needs to find the pearl in life?
Catherine: And what do you think the pearl in life is?
Caroline: It is knowing that God created us and loves and has made us children of God who live in God's family, nation and kingdom.
Catherine: But how can we know that we are living in God's kingdom? There are lots of bad things happening in our world.
Caroline: Well, Jesus also told a fishing story. When a fish net is pulled in, the fishers have to sort out what is in the net. They have to decide what to keep and what to throw back. The kingdom of heaven is like sorting the catch in the fish net. We are people with freedom who must choose good values. This means that we are always sorting through the things that we want to stay in our lives and the things that we have to discard because they are harmful. To live as citizens in God's kingdom, we always need to be sorting out our values.
Catherine: Always sorting out our values; this is very good advice.
Caroline: Why did you say that Jesus told a story about writing?
Catherine: Well, the scribes in the time of Jesus were people who were literate. Not everyone read and so the scribes were the educated persons who could read and write. They studied. They read the great books were available. The great books for the scribes were the books of what we call the Old Testament. The scribes read the very old words of the Bible, but they also wrote new words. They would try to understand the meaning of the old words of the Bible in their new time. So they would write new words for people to understand what the Bible means in their lives.
Caroline: Well, I think this is good place to finish.
Catherine: Why is it a good place to finish?
Caroline: Well, we today are scribes. We read the words of the Bible. They are very old words that have been with us for a long time. But we take these words and we write, preach, teach and use them to inspire us to understand that even though God's kingdom is very old, it is still new and fresh. God's kingdom can still be understood as new in our lives.
Catherine: So all of us today are called to be wise scribes for the kingdom of heaven, even if we have bad handwriting.
Catherine: Yes, may God help us discover how old and new the kingdom of heaven is. And let us commit ourselves to helping everyone know that they live in God's kingdom, as citizens and children of God. Amen.
1 Kings 3:5-12 Psalm 119:129-136
Romans 8:26-39 Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Caroline: Catherine, I think Jesus must have liked jewelry.
Catherine: And why would you say that?
Caroline: Well, he told a parable about a person who searched for and found the perfect pearl.
Catherine: (spinning her pearls) Well, dawlin', everybody loves pearls so why wouldn't Jesus love them too? But you could also say that Jesus loved fishing, horticulture, baking and writing. He told stories about lots of things that were known in the lives of his listeners.
Caroline: I guess you're right. Jesus did not speak like a professor in a philosophy class, he learned to speak street language. He learned to put wisdom into ordinary speech.
Catherine: Jesus wanted everyone to be wise. King Solomon asked God to give him wisdom to be a good king for his people. We are told that Solomon was the wisest person in his time.
Caroline: But didn't he have over 1000 wives and ladies in his court?
Catherine: Yes he did and perhaps he was wise because his "think tank" had 1000 women giving him wise advice.
Caroline: What wisdom was Jesus trying to teach people?
Catherine: Jesus taught mainly about the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. Since we are not a monarchy, we might say that Jesus taught about the nation of God, or the realm of God.
Caroline: Jesus taught that people could understand that they lived in the nation of God.
Catherine: In the time Jesus, people lived in the nation of Israel but the nation of Israel was controlled by the Roman Empire. Everyone was living in the kingdom of the Caesar.
Caroline: Jesus said that we could discover a kingdom and a nation greater and better than the kingdom of Caesar.
Catherine: The kingdom of the Caesar seemed obvious. There were soldiers everywhere. There were many signs of the kingdom of the Caesar. What were the signs of the kingdom of heaven?
Caroline: Jesus said that a person needed to have special seeing to understand the kingdom of heaven.
Catherine: Yes, the kingdom of heaven is subtle. It catches you by surprise. It becomes known when lots of small faithful deeds accumulate to become something great. It's like the tiny mustard seed; it goes in the ground and before you know it is a large tree supporting birds.
Caroline: This is a very wise insight. Character is only formed through many small deeds. This means we need to be faithful in the every day deeds of life because we are forming our character. The character of the kingdom of heaven becomes known when people practice love and justice.
Catherine: Yeast is but a dab of cultured flour, but a small dab of yeast will make dough rise in but a few hours. The kingdom of Caesar came to the world with armies forcing people to obey; the kingdom of heaven works in the small deeds of kindness and love that slowly take over.
Caroline: But let us now get to the perfect pearl. What did Jesus mean by this?
Catherine: All of us are in search of the perfect pearl in life?
Caroline: What do you mean?
Catherine: I mean that we are seeking to find the most important things to believe in this life. And when we find what is most important we sacrifice other things in our lives to devote ourselves to what is most perfect.
Caroline: Everyone needs to find the pearl in life?
Catherine: And what do you think the pearl in life is?
Caroline: It is knowing that God created us and loves and has made us children of God who live in God's family, nation and kingdom.
Catherine: But how can we know that we are living in God's kingdom? There are lots of bad things happening in our world.
Caroline: Well, Jesus also told a fishing story. When a fish net is pulled in, the fishers have to sort out what is in the net. They have to decide what to keep and what to throw back. The kingdom of heaven is like sorting the catch in the fish net. We are people with freedom who must choose good values. This means that we are always sorting through the things that we want to stay in our lives and the things that we have to discard because they are harmful. To live as citizens in God's kingdom, we always need to be sorting out our values.
Catherine: Always sorting out our values; this is very good advice.
Caroline: Why did you say that Jesus told a story about writing?
Catherine: Well, the scribes in the time of Jesus were people who were literate. Not everyone read and so the scribes were the educated persons who could read and write. They studied. They read the great books were available. The great books for the scribes were the books of what we call the Old Testament. The scribes read the very old words of the Bible, but they also wrote new words. They would try to understand the meaning of the old words of the Bible in their new time. So they would write new words for people to understand what the Bible means in their lives.
Caroline: Well, I think this is good place to finish.
Catherine: Why is it a good place to finish?
Caroline: Well, we today are scribes. We read the words of the Bible. They are very old words that have been with us for a long time. But we take these words and we write, preach, teach and use them to inspire us to understand that even though God's kingdom is very old, it is still new and fresh. God's kingdom can still be understood as new in our lives.
Catherine: So all of us today are called to be wise scribes for the kingdom of heaven, even if we have bad handwriting.
Catherine: Yes, may God help us discover how old and new the kingdom of heaven is. And let us commit ourselves to helping everyone know that they live in God's kingdom, as citizens and children of God. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment