According to Matthew the Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, it is like yeast, it is like a hidden treasure, a fine pearl, or even a net full of fish. This imagery shows us that within the Kingdom of Heaven, we experience growth and abundance. The seeds of God’s kingdom and the yeast that helps it grow are the teachings of Christ. The seed of faith was planted in us all a long time ago, and over time it has grown. Through the teachings of Jesus, we learn that kingdom living is something that should be admired and protected, much like we admire and protect the things that we treasure. The reality of the kingdom is that the idealized version is something we do have to wait for and aspire to, but that doesn’t mean we can’t experience it now. The difference is that the kingdom now is messy, it’s like a net full of fish, but a mixture of tasty tuna and poisonous puffer fish.

At the end of today’s passage, we once again heard about the burning of the evil ones in the end times, after having separated the bad and good fish. Matthew is the only gospel writer that says anything about separating the good from the bad. Other authors, do hint at it, but Matthew is the only one that comes right out and says it and this makes sense when you consider his audience. Scholars are certain that Matthew was writing for a Jewish-Christian audience and they think this because many of the things he references, such as the phrase “weeping and gnashing of teeth” comes right from Hebrew scripture. So, it is very likely that Matthew is using imagery that his audience will understand to get them to believe what he is saying. While I understand this, I wish he hadn’t done it because ultimately it misleads us, it causes us to lose focus on how we experience kingdom living now and it causes us to lose hope in the future.

Every time we gather as a community of faith; every time we discern the presence of God; every time we seek to do justice, true justice, not self-righteous I know better than you justice; every time we feel loved and supported; every time we feel heard we are experiencing the kingdom of God. The only difference between the kingdom now and the kingdom that is to come is that now we are faced with the reality of human existence, the realities of poverty, disease, and death, and we cling to the hope that it will all be better someday, and fail to see that it is through the church, through us that the kingdom of God expands and thrives because we are the soil that the mustard seed was planted in, we are the flour that the yeast was mixed with, we are the people in search of the treasure, the people who are willing to give up all that they have for the sake of God, we are the fish who need sorting, not so we can be condemned, but so we can repent and once again allow ourselves to believe that we are worthy of the kingdom of heaven. It is important that we believe we are worthy because we, the church, are the stewards of the kingdom of heaven. It is through us, through our love, our kindness, and our desire to do justice that God expands the kingdom, one tiny piece at a time. Amen.