The Reverend Emily Collette | July 26, 2026 | Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

I speak in the name of God, the Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit. Amen. So as I promised in my

sermon from last Sunday, this Sunday we get the

conclusion of this section of parables from Matthew

13. Just in this one chapter of Matthew over

the past three weeks, we have heard eight different

parables. all of which are designed to reveal

for us more about what God's kingdom will be

like. Unlike the last two weeks where we got

one parable on each Sunday, we were able to sort

of focus on that one parable. This Sunday we

have six additional parables from Jesus about

what the kingdom of heaven will be like. Sadly,

we can't break down each one of these parables,

so we'll have to look at them as a whole and

sort of draw out from them these important details

that Jesus is trying to teach us about what God's

kingdom will be like. And these stories have

so much to teach us about who God is and what

God values. In the parable of the mustard seed

and the yeast, we see a God from whom great things

are possible in all types of situations. With

God, things are not always what they seem. Even

though we have limited imaginations, we can rest

assured that God does not. From the mustard seed,

the small mustard seed, God bring forth a large

tree big enough for birds to come and make homes

in. And in this parable, we learn that even our

humble offerings are enough for God to create

something big and lasting and good. In the parable

of the yeast, we sort of have the opposite side

of the coin from the parable of the mustard seed.

In this parable, a single woman takes three measures

of flour. And I think we might have this image

of sort of like three cups of flour. But what

three measures really equals is 60 pounds of

flour. This woman takes 60 pounds of flour. And

she herself mixes in yeast until the whole thing

is leavened. So in this story, we have an idea

of God as one who deals in abundance, extravagance,

generosity, with whom there is plenty, with whom

there is always enough. We also get the sense

that God is one for whom no amount of mess, no

amount of chaos, no amount of too much is so

much that God can't do something good with it,

can't make something fruitful and whole out of

it. In the parable of the merchant and the parable

of the field, Jesus teaches us about a God who

loves us, but also how we respond to that love.

In one parable, the merchant is actively searching

for something, looking for those pearls of value.

In the other, we have a man simply working a

field. Both of them stumble upon something incredible,

and both of them realize that what they have

found is so precious that it is worth their dire

action to acquire it. In these parables, we learn

that God comes to each of us in a variety of

ways. Sometimes we're looking for God's voice.

Sometimes it breaks into our busy lives. But

these parables remind us that when we are blessed

enough to hear God's voice, that call of God

in our lives, it is worth everything we have

to follow it. These parables also work in reverse

when we think about how precious we are to God,

how time and again throughout the entirety of

the scriptures, God is shown as letting nothing

stand in the way of God's plan for reconciliation

and salvation for us. In the scriptures we see

a God who will go to any and all lengths to reach

us and to save us because God loves us. In sending

God's own Son to die for us, God shows us just

how precious we are, how God will do anything

and risk it all in order to bring us home. In

the face of the knowledge of that kind of holy

love, we are reminded that nothing in our lives

is worth as much as responding deeply and holy

to God's love. In all of these parables, both

the ones from this week and the ones from the

last few weeks, we see God more clearly as one

who seeks justice, but deals in mercy, one who

values goodness, who brings forth joy and light

and life out of everything that we go through,

a God in whom there is plenty and whom there

is an abundance, not just for us, but for all

of God's creation. All of these parables help

us understand greater truths about God and by

extension what God's kingdom will look like.

But even as we listen to these parables about

what the promised kingdom of God will look like

on earth in the future, we have to hear these

parables in a world that does not yet resemble

the one that God longs for us to inhabit. You

know for yourselves how very far this world is

from God's perfect kingdom. We are so often inundated

in our lives with pain and with grief and with

loss. We are buffeted around by greed and selfishness,

by pride and hypocrisy and fear, both from within

our own souls, but also for the people in the

world who wield power. Longing for God's perfect

kingdom in the midst of a world that is so far

off course is nothing new. In Paul's letter to

the Roman that was written some 2 ,000 years

ago, we also hear that we've been hearing from

over the past few weeks. We hear this desperation

echoing through those centuries of Christians

in all times and in all places who have felt

this sort of need to make the world that we inhabit

just a little bit more like the one God wants

for us. In last week's reading from Romans, we

heard about how all of creation is waiting, longing.

The word that Paul uses is groaning for a time

in which our world will mirror God's. And in

this week's reading, we have this beautiful sort

of poetic line about how the Spirit intercedes

for us when the world becomes too much. And the

word is really beautiful with size too deep for

words, but the Greek word is the same as creation.

The Spirit sits inside and groans for us when

we don't have words to express how far off course

the world is, how much we want it to look more

like God's kingdom. All of God's created order,

humans and creatures and the earth and the water

and the plants and the rocks and the sky, all

of it is longing for a time intensely, immensely

when God will set it all right. As we learn more

about what God's perfect kingdom will be like,

we are invited to live fully into the hope and

the promise that it will one day arrive. But

we must also remember that the work of building

up that kingdom is the work of now, the present.

God's kingdom is both the promised future and

the worked -for present. Until we can look at

the news and see the world around us mirroring

exactly the one that we read about in Scripture.

the one that we pray for every Sunday in the

Lord's Prayer, I will be done here on earth as

it is in heaven. There is still so much work

for us to do. We who have learned about the kingdom

of God, of what it should look like, we are the

ones that God is inviting to make that kingdom

as much reality as possible. God is calling each

of us. God calls us to care particularly for

those for whom the kingdom seems even further

away, the hungry, the tired, the lonely, the

forgotten, the oppressed, the marginalized, those

who are without hope. There are so many people

in this world that need to feel and hear and

see the promise of God's coming kingdom now.

And God is calling each and every one of us to

take up that work. You have gifts that are essential

for the kingdom of God. You have gifts that God

has given you, talents that are essential for

building up that kingdom now. So what are those

gifts? How are you called to use them? When you

sit down and you listen to that quiet but insistent

voice in your heart, what are you being pulled

towards to? What are you being pulled towards

into? When you watch the news, what kind of injustice

will just not let you rest? If you need help

finding what that is, come talk to me. We can

discern together. We have so many things that

you can get involved in right here at Ascension,

but I guarantee you that if you pay attention,

you will have people and things and ministries

that God will put in your path. each of us unique

work in the world. If we do a tiny part, we can

build up even more the kingdom of God here on

earth. Throughout the Gospels and especially

in these parables over the past three weeks,

Jesus tells us what God's kingdom will be like

and what the hallmarks of that kingdom will be.

Things like mercy, and joy and hope and kindness

and love and compassion and welcome and justice

and reconciliation and peace. But even as God

invites us to look toward that future with hope

and believe firmly in the promises of that assured

salvation, we know that the goal of the kingdom

isn't just about tomorrow. It is also very much

about today. It is about working with God right

now to bring about that kingdom in the present.

And until the world around us looks like the

one that God promises, there is so much work

for us to do and so ministry set for us to accomplish.

Amen.