Tag Archives: kingdom of heaven

the kingdom of heaven is a party, part 3

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Thank you for your patience. I am walking us through this story in Matthew 22 very slowly. In fact, we are taking a week.

Why?

Because it is a story that can easily be misunderstood.

I mean, you read this, “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city” and you think,

“Wait a minute. I know how parables work. If Jesus is telling a story about a king and his son, he’s got to be talking about his Dad and him, right? And if so, this has God killing a whole town and I thought God is loving. So what’s with that?”

See?

That’s why we are reading slowly, trying to understand how it feels to hear it for the very first time.

A king scheduled a party, a well-planned party. There had been “save the approximate date” cards out for a long time. The people who had been invited had known that there would come a day when the servants would show up. The king sends out servants to let those people know that it was time to come to the party and the people ignored the first invitation and then killed the messengers carrying the second invitations.

This response of the king comes after these people so rejected him and rejected his son and killed his servants that there was no chance of them ever being loyal subjects again. Because, after all, these were subjects. He treated them as friends, but he was the king. And this wasn’t skipping a party. This was open insurrection, treason, rebellion.

Everyone listening to this story would have thought that this was exactly the appropriate response for murderous traitors.

But the story doesn’t stop there. And the next part is even more shocking. And hopeful.

the kingdom of heaven is a party, part 2

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Yesterday, we read that Jesus started telling a story about a wedding party for a king’s son. The party was ready and the king sent out servants to tell people that it was time to start. It was the phone call that says, “we are ready to start.”

The invitees refused to come.

So the king sent more servants. He was very precise about what to tell people. “The butchering is done. The steaks are on the grill. Everything is ready. Please come to the party.”

There is nothing demanding about this request. It is designed to help people understand that this is a wonderful event and that, though he could force them or demand that they come, he is leaving them the option to reply.

There is, in the tone of this king, a tenderness. This is, after all, a party for his son and his son’s new bride. He is looking forward to being able to share from his treasures, to be extravagant.

The audience that Jesus is talking to would have been completely engaged, wondering about this king and these peculiar people who he is inviting rather than compelling to come to the party.

Jesus does not leave them wondering long.

“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business.”

Were they unaware that their very business depended on the king’s trade? Were they not thinking about the portion of the crops that was due the king? Were they just so self-absorbed that they couldn’t understand the implications of their actions?

Who knows. Jesus doesn’t linger on those few.

“The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.”

Imagine a party invitation being crumpled and tossed. Demeaning, right? What if the crumpled invitation had been alive?

How would you react?

the kingdom of heaven is a party, part 1

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I need to be accurate and say, while I believe that to be true, that’s not exactly what Jesus says in Matthew 22.  He says that the kingdom of heaven is like a king who planned a wedding reception for his son.

Right from the start, Jesus connects with his audience. For the people who were listening, a wedding reception was more than hors d’ oeuvres at 3:00pm. It was a feast, it was a celebration, it was an “invite all the neighbors” event.

And that was for a normal person.

For the son of the king it would be beyond a normal person’s imagination. Food and drink beyond limit. Entertainment. A flood of experiences that would be remembered for decades as the standard by which all other parties would be measured.

Everyone listening to Jesus talk would be thinking of the magnitude of the event…and the remoteness of the event.

After all, would everyone be invited to the wedding banquet for the king’s son? Who could imagine that? There might be leftovers. There might be additional work for all the freelance neighborhood waitstaff. But not everyone would be expecting an invitation.

The audience around Jesus is listening to the story about the king’s party.

Jesus says, “He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come” and the autocomplete in everyone’s head fills in the names of the best people they know and they start looking forward to the guests arriving and everyone being in awe of the preparations.

It’s the kind of story we love.

“but they refused to come.”

The imagination of everyone listening came to a screeching stop. This was not going to be an ordinary story.

Of course, the kingdom of heaven is not an ordinary place.

Jakov and the pearl

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Jakov was a man with a passion. He knew pearls. He had spent his whole life looking at pearls, looking for pearls. He could tell where they came from. He could tell what they were worth. Jakov knew what it was like to walk away from a deal because the seller wasn’t being honest. He knew what could be done to hide the blemishes on a pearl. None knew better.

People respected him. People feared him. People knew that his approval of your pearls meant an extra 10 shekels on the price you could charge. “Jakov shops here.”

Jakov walked in the shop that Thursday with a mixture of anticipation and resignation. He was always looking for “The Pearl.” He was always sure he would find it. He was always trading good for better, nice for fine. But he was also aware that this late in the week, sellers were trying to move their stock before the Shabbat. And moving stock meant dim light and pearls with a slightly greasy feeling.

He flicked through the pearls with a practiced finger.

“Nu. Nu. Nu. N…”

He willed his heart to still. He willed his breath out. He willed his finger to stop trembling.

If the seller had any clue of what Jakov knew, the price would double, would triple.

Jakov shook his head. “Not tonight.”

Slowly Jakov moved out of the shop.

Slowly he walked home.

And as quickly as he dared, he began selling. He gave people good deals, but not so good they thought they could take advantage of him. Not so good they would ask questions. But good enough that they would buy.

A week later, he walked back into the shop.

He put down a bag and bought the pearl. With everything he had.

It was “The Pearl.”

How much do you want it?

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The kingdom of God is about desire. That’s what Jesus said.

Well, not in those words, exactly.

Instead, he told a couple stories about acting on desire.

He said the kingdom of heaven is like a man who was walking through a field and found a box of treasure. Okay, maybe he wasn’t walking through, maybe he was poking around.  Okay, maybe he wasn’t poking around, maybe he worked for the owner of the field and somehow discovered that there was a treasure in the field and followed the map to the buried treasure.

He sees it, but then, instead of taking it out which would have made him explain where he found it and made it seem a lot like stealing, he covers it up.

Then he takes his whole life, the work that he has done and the future security that he has earned and he dumps it all on the table and buys the field.

All of it.

He gives up everything that everyone else looks at as valuable. He looks like an idiot, like a fool. He is getting rid of all his liquidity. He is putting everything usable into dirt. He holds nothing back, not one moment of his past, not one promise for his future.

Then he walks out to the middle of the field, having heard the voices of those calling him “fool.” Having heard his wife, his family, his friends wondering about his ability to think clearly. Having heard his child cry as last wooden toy went on the table at the garage sale.

And picks up the treasure.

Jesus says that that kind of willingness to give up everything of apparent value for the sake of a treasure you know in your heart exists?

That’s how the kingdom of heaven feels.