The Kingdom of God is the subject of most of Jesus preaching. The kingdom of God is God's sovereign reign and rule. The fullness of God's Kingdom is in the future and yet it has also come in Jesus himself and is at hand, here and now.

The understanding of God's kingdom in the future is a traditional understanding of the kingdom and often carries with it visions of grandeur and images of pomp and greatness. However, this is not necessarily the kingdom that Jesus was teaching. The understanding of the kingdom fulfilled in the here and now is one that Jesus introduced and is a very humble image.

In the passage this morning, Jesus offers 5 stories of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Unfortunately, no story is a nice, neat, clear description of the Kingdom. Jesus rarely states things plainly. Today we will just look at the first part of this passage.

kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.

Has anyone here ever grown mustard? How big does it grow? Has anyone had problems with the mustard getting so large that it becomes too big for the combines? Anyone had mustard become so big that birds are nesting in its branches? How large does mustard grow?

So obviously there is something fishy about this story. What is Jesus talking about?

The mustard seed is used here to present an image of smallness. It is actually an annual shrub, yet here in Matthew and Luke, where this story is also found the mustard seed grows into the largest of all garden plants, and then, is blown up into a tree. Where would Jesus get the image of a tree for a mustard shrub?

Let us all turn to the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 17:22-24 reads the following:

Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every kind. All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord.

The mustard seed become a tree. Jesus uses the image of a tree because of this Ezekiel text. The image of the mustard seed becoming a tree is influenced by the figure of the mighty cedar of Lebanon found in this Ezekiel passage and Daniel 4:12, 20-22. The mighty cedar of Lebanon becomes a metaphor for a towering empire. The mighty cedar of Lebanon is an apocalyptic tree. The tree tops reaches to heaven and its branches span the earth. This giant tree will provide shelter for all the peoples of the earth. Jesus' contemporaries would have been familiar with this image a towering empire. They would have been familiar with the grand and mighty image of the tree of Lebanon.

Jesus uses this image and turns it on its head. The image of a lowly garden plant, a weed, is a surprising figure for God's domain.

The mustard seed is a parody of the mighty cedar of Lebanon and the apocalyptic tree of Daniel. It pokes fun at the arrogance and aspirations connected with that image.

For Jesus, God's kingdom was a modest affair, not obvious to the untrained eye. It offered little by way of earthly reward. Its demands were staggering. Jesus apparently did not want it confused with traditional, mundane hopes.

The mustard seed is a joke. Although, as you all know, any joke that has to be explained is no longer funny. Jokes are also funny because they are relevant to a particular context.

The kingdom of heaven is like this. It is like a man who wanted to be a successful actor. So he went to university and took drama. He studied hard and worked hard. He graduated at the top of his class. Then he went out to auditions and got some leads on a few parts that he was interested. One day he got a phone call. It was Robert De Nerio offering the man a part in a new movie he was doing. The man said thank-you very much, but he didn't want to accept the part right now because he was waiting for another offer that was his dream role. And so he hung up the phone.

A few minutes later the phone rang again. This time it was Julia Roberts. She offered the man a part in a project that she was doing. He would play opposite her in a romantic comedy. Now, while the man was honoured at being chosen for the part, he, again, decline the role. He was waiting for another offer that was his dream role. And so he hung up the phone.

A few minutes later the phone rang again. This time it was who he had been waiting for. It was the role he had always dreamed of. He had hit the big time. Yes, he would take the part. The man on the other end of the phone was none other than David Wilson (Bob Lawton) of the St. Paul Players (Mirnam Elementary School Players). The man was delighted.

For Jesus, God's kingdom was a modest affair, not obvious to the untrained eye. It offered little by way of earthly reward. The kingdom of God is not to be confused with traditional visions of grandeur, in the future.

The Kingdom of heaven is like a woman who hid yeast in flour, until the flour was leavened. Isn't it strange to say that one would hide yeast in flour? Where else would one put yeast? It is hardly hidden if it is in flour. Again, the kingdom, here and now, can be as plan as the nose on your face. We simply need to have eyes that see.

Jack, like many other young men, had many stories of his own scoundrel days. At 17, he and some other mischief-makers broke into a country church. They had been drinking in the church parking lot and decided to explore the church to see what they could find.

As soon as they entered, the stillness, the quiet, and the darkness over came Jack. Instead of breaking anything, he sat down on one of the pews. In that stillness, he felt something he could not name. He wasn't sure, but it felt like God's presence, God's place, God's peace. The simplicity and the peace, the sense of calm he felt, could have been, for a moment, the kingdom of God on earth, here and now. He closed his eyes and said a prayer. When he opened his eyes, his friends were also sitting in pews. They walked out of the church without doing any damage and went straight home.

The kingdom of God is in the future and in the here and now. It will be fulfilled in the future but it will not be what we expect. It will not be grand. The kingdom of God is also here in the present. It is as humble and as non-assuming as yeast in flour or a mustard weed. It may be as humble as a local play or quiet moment in a country church. The kingdom of God is here, let us have eyes to see it and let us rejoice in it. Amen.

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After a long day of teaching, curing the sick and performing the miracle of feeding the five thousand, Jesus and his disciples were tired. Jesus encouraged his close friends to go on ahead of him while he dismissed the crowd. He possibly was sparing them from having to handle autograph seekers. Perhaps he was sparing them from people who want to ask silly questions like, "Can Jesus make me a pot of gold" or "Where does Jesus buy his robes… I want one like his."

And so the disciples went on ahead of Jesus. They got into a boat to get away from the crowd. Soon, however, the pleasure cruise turned into a nightmare. The wind began to blow. It began to blow hard and strong. And the sea picked up suddenly and the waves began to crash against the boat. The waves began to crash inside the boat.

Those once brave disciples had lost all their courage when the storm came up. Words cannot describe their fear, their angst over powered them. They began to argue with each other, as they often did. They began to argue over who was supposed to file a float plan and whose fault it was that no one brought a bucket to bail out the water that was quickly filling up the inside of the boat.

To truly understand the fear the disciples held we must first understand how these desert, land-loving, Jews regarded the sea. The Hebrew word for sea, used in the Hebrew Bible, is derived from the name of the evil god in the Babylonian creation story. The sea was a scary, mysterious and threatening force, which was opposed to God. The sea was often thought of as being evil.

And so, throughout the Old Testament, there are stories and prayers that stress God's power and authority by telling of God's divine mastery over the sea. The sea is a scary place that some think of as evil, but even God reigns over it.

And so here are the disciples, most of them were not fishermen, not men of the sea, but of the land. They are out in this boat, thinking they are about to die in the evil sea. They are paralyzed by fear. And what do they see, as they cower, lower and lower in the boat? What do they see? Is it a ghost? Its is a vision? They were terrified... and they cried out in fear.

It was 8:00 p.m. when he called. He sounded so desperate. He said he needed a Hispanic pastor but was very surprised to find out the pastor was a woman. "Can you come anyway?"he asked.

His brother had been lying on the floor for ten days now, completely inebriated by alcohol. He did not know where else to go. "Can you come, please?" he asked.

Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, "Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid."

The minister got dressed and went on her way considering her options. Going in the house of a stranger at 8:30 on a Sunday evening by herself was scary. The man had said four men shared the apartment and one of them was drunk. Should she handle this by herself?

She came out of her car and up the third floor of the building. There was no one around. What if this was a trap? What if the man got angry? What if...? She hesitated before she knocked on the door...

Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, "Take heart, it's me, do not be afraid."

A young man opened the door and let her in. There was only one chair in the living room, no other furniture in the house. He asked her to sit while he explained about his brother who was refusing to stop drinking. He showed her where he was, lying in a walk-in closet, which was his "room". There were no windows or furniture, only some cloth on the floor and a few bottles of rum. The smell was asphyxiating. He was so asleep that he did not respond at first.

The man continued to sleep. The minister began to pray for him and he woke up. She asked him if he would let her sing for him. He smiled and said, "Yes." She held his hand and began to sing to the Lord. The other men gathered around to listen, they followed every word. Her voice filled the room. For a moment there was peace.

The men were so grateful for her visit. "It is the first time a pastor had visited us," they said.

The next day the minister got the help of counselors and community workers. They managed to get detox to the apartment and take care of the man. A doctor was called to see the man's brother too. Food was delivered and steal-toe boots for working in construction.

And those in the boat worshipped him saying, "Truly you are the Son of God".

She never saw them again. They never became members of the church. But somehow the pastor knew that all of them, including her, had met Christ that night.

The disciples cried out in fear. But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, its me. Don't be afraid." Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water. And Jesus said, "Come ahead." Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus.

This story is about surrender. This gospel story is about surrender.

Peter surrenders his fears to Jesus. Jesus says, "Do not be afraid." But we cannot will ourselves to feel a certain way. There are no bad feelings, they just are. If we could stop feeling scared because we decided to, we could also decide to stop feeling sad or stop feeling angry. And we know we cannot do that.

What we can do with our emotions is accept them, recognize them and then turn to God. When we are feeling sad and we turn to God, God grants us healing. When we are feeling angry and we turn to God, God gives us justice. When we are feeling fearful and we turn to God, God grants us safety.

Like Peter, in our fear, we may be sinking. All we have to do is cry out to Jesus, "Lord, save me! I surrender my fear to you."

The work is God's. The work of coming out of the fear is not ours, but God's. And so all we need to do is recognize our fear and not bury them, so that we can give the fears over to the Lord. This surrender is faith. To pass the responsibility over to God means that we really have to believe in God, believe that God is there and cares for us. God desires the best for us and loves us.

One night a house caught fire and a little boy was forced to flee to the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to the boy, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see, however, was flame,smoke, and blackness. As can be imagined, he was afraid to leave the roof. His father kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the little boy protested, "Daddy, I can't see you." The father replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."

Jesus reaches out his hand to us. "Take heart, its me. Don't be afraid. I am here." And to God be the glory. Amen.

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