The Kingdom of Heaven is like an object to be desired.
As messages go, this one lands easily. Especially for people conditioned to want to like the Kin-dom.
In one sense, the passage for Proper 12A (Matthew 13:31-33,44-52) is easy to work with. Desire and urgency are always associated with the Kin-dom.
Besides, who wouldn’t want the Kin-dom?
These parables don’t tell us what the Kin-dom is like.
Jesus uses similes here. And what he’s describing isn’t the Kin-dom itself, but our desire for it.
Telling the crowds that the Kin-dom is like a valuable pearl doesn’t tell you anything about it. Just that it is valuable and that people will want it.
But what is it?
Upside
In sports, a general manager weighs what a player can bring to the team. And the GM’s job is to put together a good team. So they usually look at what they can expect from each player and plan accordingly.
What really sets one player apart from others is upside. What you imagine could be possible from them.
- A 25 HR rookie season shows 40 HR potential…
- Breakaway speed in the right offense could be a 1,500 yard season…
- That killer crossover could lead to 15 assists…
Watching the Cincinnati Reds’ rookie phenom, Elly De La Cruz hit the hardest hit of the year, throw the hardest infield throw, and run faster than anyone in the majors is the epitome of upside. The guy stole three bases in one at-bat!
Upside is motivating
You want it on your team. You also don’t want to be the person who missed out on it.
Upside is also the way we account for things getting better than they already are.
We usually plan for things staying the same. Budgeting this year like last year. Comparing the price of utilities or milk; always surprised when they go up.
Upside is the opportunity for planning on something getting better; with the shrewd knowledge that it isn’t necessarily going to. Which makes it, not so much optimistic, but the exception to the ingrained expectation of sameness.
So upside is the juice that helps us dream. And moves us to take a chance.
Upside and the Kin-dom
When Jesus isn’t talking about the urgency and desirability of the Kin-dom, he’s explaining the upside of the Kin-dom.
It’s the embodied Shalom: peace, health, wholeness, and justice.
Which makes it perfect for the victims of violence and war, the sick, the separated and ostracized, and the imprisoned. Because for the vast majority of people in the world, this fuels the belief that things actually can get better.
But for the wealthy and powerful, the Kin-dom doesn’t have much upside. In fact, the promise of pain from it is really kind of a turn-off.
Which, naturally, is why we shift our focus to a Kin-dom of eternal joy with loved ones after we die. We can all get down with that.
The challenge we get this week is not in comprehending the Kin-dom’s upside. But what the Kin-dom is really like is letting people out of prison and making sure everybody has enough to eat. And not everybody is on board for that project.
But the upside of a just world for all is desirable for almost all.