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24.07.05 Colin Matthew 13.31-33, 44-52 The Kingdom of Heaven
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“The Prime Minister is having a difficult time. An evil force, from which we thought we were safe, is at work in the country. It has been killing people. 'We're at war,' one of his ministers tells him. People are being drained of hope and happiness. The country is in a grim mood. The Opposition is blaming the Government for negligence. What should Prime Minister do?” In the light of the second set of attacks on London this week you might think it is a quote from one of our current politicians or newspapers. In fact it’s the introduction of the newly published Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Last Sunday we thought about the parable of the wheat and the tares; when it is right to take action and when it is right to leave matters to God’s judgement. This week, the Islamic community in Britain is struggling with that very question. On Friday, at prayers in mosques around the country, imams read out a fatwa, which is a declaration with the force of Islamic law. It denounced suicide bombing, and quotes the Koran which says: 'Whoever kills a human being… then it is as though he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a human life, it is as though he has saved all mankind'. Terrorism has no place in Islam. That's clear. But the bombers may have planned their horrible crime within a Muslim community; their minds and hearts surely far from true Islam, but it is possible that outwardly they practised it. They may have gone to mosques for Friday prayers. If so, they were, in that sense, part of the Muslim community. That's a terrible burden for Muslim people to bear, especially for the families and neighbours of the bombers. For Moslems as for Christians, deciding when to ‘weed out’ those who seem to be straying from the truth, and when not to ‘weed out’, is a very real tension.

Harry Potter’s world is centred round the struggle between good and evil. Events like those in London and other terrible events which happen in the world such as the bombings in Egypt must make us wonder when God will separate the wheat from the tares, the good from the evil.

When we will experience the description of Revelation 21 which says “the dwelling of God is with men … they shall be his people … He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more nor crying nor pain for the former things have passed away”. When, we wonder, will the Kingdom of Heaven finally be completed on this earth and evil finally banished? Stephen Fischbacher in his song "Just Imagine" invites us to imagine a different world – a world like that of Revelation 21. No more crying, no more dying, goess the chorus. When will we see the kingdom of Heaven?

Jesus' parable today takes us a step further in understanding the Kingdom of Heaven. In the parable the tiny mustard seed grows a plant 10 or 12 foot high that birds can nest in. It outgrows all the other plants and weeds. The parable pictures the Kingdom of Heaven as much more like a plant or a tree than a church building like this. A tree responds to the environment, it bends and shakes in the wind; it grows in the midst of lots of other plants; it bears fruit for people and birds; it changes, bits fall off – it is alive. Birds are free to land on the Mustard plant without the correctness of their faith in the mustard plant being verified. The Mustard plant being the biggest of all plants illustrates the size and the power of the Kingdom of Heaven. The Mustard plant exists in a community of plants, but other less attractive plants and weeds growing round about have no effect on its growth, just like the Kingdom of Heaven currently being established here on earth.

The Mustard seed in the parable is insignificant yet grows into a large and fruitful plant. Sometimes it feels as though the Kingdom of Heaven, as far as it is represented by the Church, has little power. Yet that tiny seed sown by Jesus has grown down the centuries and God is worshipped in every country of the world. Individual Christians, with little of their own power, have changed the world throughout the past 2000 years:

What could be less significant than a baby in a manger?

Or the early Christians compared to the power of the mighty Roman Empire?

Or a Jew from Nazareth and a handful of not-very-promising disciples?

Or a cross that Jesus dies on?

What could be less significant than a little church, or children undertaking their own activities as part of that church?

What could be less significant than the average preacher preaching the average sermon to the average congregation; or a loaf of bread and a cup of wine?

But, just think of the role that individual Christians in the church have done to re-awaken the conscience of society in the End Poverty movement. I think it would be fair to say that the Christian Church and individual Christians have played a major role in shaping that movement.

The power of the Kingdom of Heaven comes from individuals, with little power themselves, rather than mighty institutions. Over the past two millennia, we have seen the proof of this:

The once mighty Roman Empire appears only in history books and crumbling ruins, but people sing Jesus' praises all over the world.

The Nazi Reich which was to last a thousand years lasted only a decade, but the church keeps marching on.

Communism was one of the greatest political powers ever known in the history of the world before it collapsed - but Christians build churches on its ruins.

The parable of the mustard seed reminds us of the power of seemingly insignificant individuals imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit. We should expect the Kingdom of Heaven to grow strongly, despite the other plants growing alongside it.

The parable offers hope, promising great outcomes for the Kingdom of Heaven from small beginnings 2,000 years ago. Most of the church's work gets done in inauspicious circumstances. Our mission may seem at times overwhelming or even impossible, and our resources few. But Jesus promises that God's power makes everything possible to the humble, the lowly and the meek. Christians should live expectantly, knowing that God brings great things out of small beginnings. But we should not expect the kingdom to be great as the world counts greatness. Jesus the King was meek, and rode a donkey, not a war horse.

The Pharisees served as gatekeepers and judges to the Jewish faith, keeping the faith exclusive and within the letter of the law. The parables of the Wheat and the Tares, and that of the Mustard Seed, encourages Christians to adopt an open, inclusive approach, recognizing that the power of the Kingdom of Heaven, as illustrated in the Mustard Seed Parable, needs no protection from any other plant or weed. An open, inclusive approach may gather those who are less than genuine in their faith as well as those for whom their faith is central to their life... But these parables assure us that this is God's way. God does not make us responsible for keeping out those that we have doubts about, but delegates the separation of the evil from the righteous to the angels at the end of time. Judgment belongs, not to those who are disciples, but to God, and judgment will come in his good time.

The real test for all faith communities, is to make those communities open to a varied culture and sometimes belief, where ‘birds’ of different feathers and songs can come and go, knowing they are always welcome to rest and nest. Open communities where those who are marginalised from society or alienated from God can experience true love without conditions.

The parable doesn't tell us what to do; doesn't tell us how to prevent terrorism; doesn't tell Governments how to strike the right balance between legislation and preserving individual freedom and protecting the community. Leaders need the Wisdom of Solomon for that (see today reading from 1 Kings 3.5-12).

But, the parable does tell us what God is doing – growing his kingdom, in all its power, amongst the weeds and the threats to be the largest plant of all. Opening his inclusive Kingdom of Heaven to all who will enter, until it the only plant that survives to become the Kingdom of Heaven pictured in Revelation.

Our Muslim communities this week have been praying this prayer: 'We pray for the defeat of extremism and terrorism in the world. We pray for peace, security and harmony to triumph in multicultural Great Britain'. Let us join them in that prayer.

Harry Potter states that 'Lord Vol… he who must not be named' and the Dementors from Azkaban, who try to drain hope and happiness out of us, will be defeated’. But in the real world of faith, the future does not lie in the hands of a novelist who mustn't disappoint her readers. The Kingdom belongs to God, and his kingdom will come.

Let not the present crises off our world undermine our faith in the power of the Kingdom of Heaven. The future lies in the hands of our God who reminds us in Romans 8 verse 38 that 'neither things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’.

In Jesus the Kingdom of Heaven has already come among us and is growing with power, until God makes the final judgement, and separates good from evil.

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