"The kingdom of heaven is like…"

Pastor Richard Baker
Trinity United Methodist Church

(5/1) In Matthew’s 13th chapter, Jesus started speaking in parables to both his disciples and the crowds who were gathering around him. He used every day easily explainable illustrations to make his point. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who scattered seeds. The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds in his field, but someone sowed weeds in the same field. The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The kingdom of heaven is like yeast mixed into flour. The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for pearls. The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast out into the waters.

Jesus described the kingdom of heaven seven different ways in that chapter. Everyone who was listening would have been able to identify with at least one of his analogies. And the message of Easter is that the kingdom of heaven is right on track for where it should be. This pandemic might make some people think that God has given up on us. They question why God allowed this to happen, but every move God makes is designed to draw God’s people closer to God. Sometimes, God may whisper to us; other times God may hit us over the head. God will do anything God has to do to get our attention.

I am a student of the Hebrew Bible. In it, God laid out God’s plan for the world. God created this beautiful world and gave us everything we needed, but we decided that wasn’t enough. We sinned, but because of God’s love, God made a new plan. God provided the people with a remedy for sin. He gave them the sacrificial system. All they had to do was offer an innocent animal, without blemish, and spill its blood onto the ground as a remedy for sin. Being human, we quickly decided that was okay, not really thinking about the reality that something innocent had to die to atone for our sins.

Then God gave us the law, laying out the dos and don’ts in our relationship with God. He gave us the law, and we looked for loopholes; how close could we get to sin and still be safe. Some saw the law as a hedge, and if they stayed on the right side, they were protected. But others saw the law as a hedge that prevented them from enjoying themselves. It’s when we get to the New Testament and Romans that we discover that the law was a set-up. God knew we’d fail. God knew we couldn’t keep the law; and in fact, the law was given to us to point out our failures and our need for a Savior. Paul said that the law and the sacrificial system were designed to point us towards Christ.

All along, we desired a relationship with our Creator; we wanted to be closer, but the Bible teaches us that nothing impure or unholy can approach the Lord, and since we are impure and unholy, we are separated. We wanted God in our lives, but on our own terms. God’s dilemma was how to reconcile God’s holiness and yet relate to humanity.

And what we discover is that God knew along that we’d fail and had planned since the world’s creation to send Jesus to be that one time for all time sacrifice. Easter was God’s answer to our dilemma. An interesting story I once read was about a father and son walking in the woods and encountering a trail of ants on their path. They then noticed a stick on the path and saw that the ants tangled themselves up in a bunch when they encountered it. The boy wanted to pick up the stick and clear the path, but his father told him that the ants needed to figure out their path for themselves. But then the boy asked, what if he could become an ant; then he’d shown them how to go around it. Isn’t that what Christ did for us? When we got all tangled up in our sin and couldn’t find a way through, Christ came into the world to show us how to live holy lives, and if that wasn’t enough, Christ picked up the stick that separated us from God and bore it to Calvary.

The Bible is Good News, but it’s only Good News to those who take what God said to heart. Our faith isn’t designed to make us feel better, but to give us the tools we need to live this life to its fullest even in the storm, while we await Christ’s return and our entry into God’s new world. We don’t just hope; we believe! We believe the words in our Bibles are true. We believe God’s promises are going to be realized in our lives.

The message of Easter is that God regarded our helpless estate and shed his own blood to make us right, and because of what Jesus did, there is no need for an animal sacrifice. The law is no longer a burden, but something we delight in. As I said, we don’t just hope, we believe, and as Paul said in his letter to the Romans, "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." Because we have been justified by Christ’s death, we no longer fear the sting of death. Because we now have peace, we can live life to its fullest. Because we now have direct access to God the Father, we can approach the throne of grace confident in God’s love for us. Because we have faith, we believe that everything God said will come true.