Speaking of Life 5036 | Stubbornness
This week we’re sharing a Speaking of Life message from our archive as a supplemental resource. We encourage you to use this for reflection and preparation, or small group discussion. For your worship gathering, consider how a call to worship from a local voice or contextualized introduction to the theme might serve your congregation well.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMcDw0rS95c
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5036 | Stubbornness
Greg Williams
Have you ever been accused of being stubborn? I’m sure we’ve all had our moments. My wife and I sometimes joke around about which one of us is more stubborn. Truth be told, it’s me.
Stubbornness often gets a bad rap, and it is often equated with refusing to admit when you make a mistake. And that’s a problem. But when we look at the definition of stubbornness, we see there is a good side. It is defined as a dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something. Some positive words associated with stubbornness include persistence, resolve, determination, and tenacity.
When I talk about my love for my wife, children, or grandchildren, I’m proud to say my love for them is not determined by their actions, their emotions, or their words. I have a stubbornness – a dogged determination to not change my mind about how much I love them.
I share this because when I think of God’s faithfulness, I see that same stubbornness. He refuses to change his mind about how much he loves me and you. He has a resolute commitment to his love to always have the last word.
Take for example one of the most stubborn expressions of God’s love found in the book of Romans.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor 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.”
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
God’s stubbornness toward his love for us is what gives us hope, courage, strength in times of trial, and the motivation to love him in return. Stubbornness in his case includes faithfulness. We can absolutely trust that we will never be separated from his love for us.
That’s the kind of stubbornness I’d love my wife and family to blame me for. I’d just smile and remind them of my love for them – much like God does for us in this passage from Romans.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5036 | Stubbornness
Greg Williams
Have you ever been accused of being stubborn? I’m sure we’ve all had our moments. My wife and I sometimes joke around about which one of us is more stubborn. Truth be told, it’s me.
Stubbornness often gets a bad rap, and it is often equated with refusing to admit when you make a mistake. And that’s a problem. But when we look at the definition of stubbornness, we see there is a good side. It is defined as a dogged determination not to change one’s attitude or position on something. Some positive words associated with stubbornness include persistence, resolve, determination, and tenacity.
When I talk about my love for my wife, children, or grandchildren, I’m proud to say my love for them is not determined by their actions, their emotions, or their words. I have a stubbornness – a dogged determination to not change my mind about how much I love them.
I share this because when I think of God’s faithfulness, I see that same stubbornness. He refuses to change his mind about how much he loves me and you. He has a resolute commitment to his love to always have the last word.
Take for example one of the most stubborn expressions of God’s love found in the book of Romans.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor 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.”
Romans 8:38-39 (ESV)
God’s stubbornness toward his love for us is what gives us hope, courage, strength in times of trial, and the motivation to love him in return. Stubbornness in his case includes faithfulness. We can absolutely trust that we will never be separated from his love for us.
That’s the kind of stubbornness I’d love my wife and family to blame me for. I’d just smile and remind them of my love for them – much like God does for us in this passage from Romans.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 105:1–11, 45b • Genesis 29:15–28 • Romans 8:26–39 • Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52
The theme for this Sunday during Ordinary Time is the kingdom is like King Jesus. The psalmist reminds us that God keeps his covenant to his people. He is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory. This is why we seek his face and remember all he has done. In Genesis, Jacob worked for seven years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Then he was deceived by Laban who gave Jacob her sister Leah instead. But because of his love, Jacob committed to another seven years of labor. Jacob was faithful in his love for Rachel. The apostle Paul says the faithful love of God enables us to conquer every difficulty we may face. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. In the Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus tells some parables about the kingdom of God. In these parables, we learn about God’s passion for his children. He gives everything, his very self in Jesus, to include us in his kingdom life. He is faithfully working to cleanse and renew us. He will bring us into the fulness of his kingdom.
Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.
How to use this sermon resource.
The Kingdom Is Like King Jesus
Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52 ESV
Today, we’ll talk about God’s kingdom. Whether or not it’s a new concept for you, our passage in Matthew will help reveal God and his kingdom. And even if you’ve already learned many things about the kingdom, perhaps this passage will help you see it from a fresh perspective.
The people of Jesus’ day believed the kingdom involved a human government which would overthrow all oppressors. They needed to see the kingdom from a new perspective.
In our Gospel reading for this Sunday, Jesus tells multiple parables about the kingdom of God. He desires to free his listeners from their assumptions and expectations about the kingdom. He wants them to embrace the truth about who he is and what he is on earth to do.
Jesus knew that the kingdom of God involved a lot more than just an earthly kingdom. Let’s read our passage for today from Matthew 13:
31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33 He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52 ESV
Like in our story last week, Jesus speaks to the crowd and his disciples using parables. He tells them about the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is simply another way of saying the kingdom of God.
So, what exactly is the kingdom? We understand God’s kingdom as God’s gracious rule, already present in Christ. It’s the reality of God renewing the world according to his love and purposes.
If the kingdom is ruled by Jesus, that’s good news. The kingdom is like King Jesus.
And before we move on, let’s say a little bit about what parables are. A parable is a type of teaching or storytelling that places two things side-by-side so that one sheds light on the other. For example, we see Jesus placing the kingdom “beside” a mustard seed, and saying, “It’s like this…”
But parables are more than merely straightforward comparisons. Jesus used them to create tension and surprise. His parables often contain unexpected elements that challenge opinions and disrupt notions.
As we discussed last week, the kingdom involves mystery because it is often hidden and is still unfolding. So, the parables about God’s kingdom involve mystery, too.
Today we hear that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, leaven, a hidden treasure, a merchant searching for a pearl, and a fish net.
God’s Spirit will help us understand what Jesus is saying. We can trust that the Spirit can teach us something fresh.
Those listening to Jesus needed to learn something fresh. His disciples and the folks in the crowd had preconceived ideas about his kingdom. So, Jesus’ parables don’t merely clarify the kingdom for his listeners, they disrupt their assumptions. These comparisons challenge our thinking.
Let’s look at the first parable Jesus tells:
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31–32 ESV
What is interesting about seeds is that when planted, they stop being seeds. They, in essence, die and become something new. New life springs from what is placed in the ground.
Often in his parables, Jesus uses the word “seed” or “seeds” to represent himself. Jesus is the Word of God. He knew that to inaugurate his Father’s kingdom in blood, he would have to die. Jesus would be planted in the grave after his crucifixion and would soon rise again.
In Jesus’ death, all humanity would die. In his resurrection, we would all rise into new life. By faith, we share even now in Jesus’ new life. We are actively part of God’s kingdom already, and we receive this by trust in Jesus and his finished work.
Going back to the mustard seed. Notice that Jesus uses an exceedingly small seed to talk about God’s kingdom. Such a small seed, when dropped on the ground, would be impossible to spot.
Jesus says that the mustard seed would become a large tree, larger than all the garden plants that it was sown alongside. But it does not begin this way.
This would have disrupted or interrupted his listeners’ assumptions if they expected the kingdom’s arrival to be establishing a powerful nation that was impossible to miss. If they expected to witness the establishment of the kingdom all at once and immediately, the image of a small, hidden seed would have been shocking.
The kingdom accomplished the impossible. The kingdom is like King Jesus.
Let’s move on to our next parable:
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” Matthew 13:33 ESV
This parable reminds us of the universality of God’s kingdom. This is not universalism. This is the reality that the Son of God, who became human, came on behalf of all.
Jesus lived our human life, died our human death, and he rose again. Jesus includes everyone in his saving work. He leaves no one out. Even creation is included.
The kingdom includes all. The kingdom is like King Jesus.
Leaven is a unique substance which, when added to dough, causes carbon dioxide bubbles to form. These bubbles cause the dough to rise.
After we add the leaven to the dough, it transforms the dough; it is one with the dough. In the same way, the kingdom of God, in Christ’s death and resurrection, was hidden in this cosmos, transforming it.
Today God’s kingdom is at work in people’s lives and hearts by the Spirit. Our true life is “hidden with Christ in God.” Wherever we look today, God is at work in our world. The Holy Spirit is present and active, bringing about healing and transformation.
We take active part in God’s kingdom now by faith in Christ. Even though the fulness of God’s kingdom isn’t evident right now, God’s kingdom is at work in human hearts. By “fulness of the kingdom” we mean the day when everything Jesus accomplished on the cross reaches its final goal throughout all creation. It’s the coming time when God’s peace and love is fully seen and experienced everywhere.
We respond to Jesus in faith. We express this through our baptism and our ongoing taking part in communion.
And we honor Jesus as Lord of all, King of the cosmos, by how we live our life. We do his will. By doing so, we take an active part in God’s kingdom.
The next two parables in our reading both mention hidden treasure. In one, the kingdom is like the hidden treasure. In the other, the kingdom is like a person who searches for the treasure.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44–45 ESV
The people hearing this probably expected the kingdom to be obvious to everyone. Of course, it would be if it was ushered in with dominance as a forceful takeover. So, to consider that the kingdom can be hidden would have challenged their thinking. Not everyone sees its value. Instead, some miss it entirely. Others stumble upon it unexpectedly.
Notice that both parables involve someone finding something of great value. Each person sells all they have so they can buy these priceless items which they have found.
These parables tell us something about Jesus, the King of God’s kingdom. The apostle Paul quotes an early hymn, which tells us:
… Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5b–8 ESV
The Son of God had everything that mattered. He lived with his Father and the Spirit in great joy. He dwelled in love and peace. He created all things and was in all things.
But the Son of God set aside the divine privileges to join with you and me in our humanity. And he was willing to lay it all down for every one of us.
Jesus purchased us all by his blood on the cross. No cost was too high for Jesus because God loves us and wants to be with us forever.
The kingdom is a treasure given to us all. The kingdom is like King Jesus.
Our final parable has to do with a net cast into the sea.
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:47–50 ESV
When the net is pulled in, it contains every kind of fish. This is another disruptive thing to hear if you believe the kingdom is only for the nation of Isreal. When the Son of God came to take on human form, he included everyone. No one was left out when Jesus hung on the cross.
And Jesus says not until the end of the age will the bad be sorted and thrown away. This surely disappointed the crowd. No doubt they were looking forward to their enemies being judged and punished — and soon, in this lifetime.
Maybe we have shared these feelings. We have probably wondered: why doesn’t God stop all evil now? Maybe we’ve longed for our enemies to be defeated and destroyed. Maybe we’d like to see evil overcome by force and domination. But God overcomes evil through repentance, faith, love, and witness and tells us to love our enemies.
And even though we do not yet see the end of all evil, God has already broken the power of sin and death. Even now, evil will not be allowed to have eternal consequences. Evil will be burned up — everything that is not our true, whole, healed selves will be burned away.
No evil belongs in the kingdom. The kingdom is like King Jesus.
And every stitch of our sin and evil thoughts and desires hung on the cross with Jesus. And they died with Jesus. Jesus took everything onto the cross so that he could set us all free from evil, sin, and death.
Because of his faithful love, God’s judgment on sin, evil, and death fell on Jesus. Our Savior willingly died our death and lay in the grave. But he rose again. Now our true life is hidden with Christ in God.
To share in God’s kingdom, we must die — to sin, self, and Satan.
And in Jesus, we have.
Because of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit, we can taste eternal life even now — healing, transformation, and renewal — as the Spirit shows us how to live in Christ.
And our mortal life still ends. What we all share is this: we die; we stop breathing. But because of Jesus, death is no longer to be feared. Rather, it is when our eternal life in glory begins.
One day Jesus will return in glory to renew all things. In the new heaven and earth, evil and sin will have no place. Jesus, the King, has freed us — and because of God’s faithful love for humanity, we will be free forever.
Even now, the Spirit shares this new life with us — bringing transformation, healing, and renewal.
God’s kingdom is at work in this world. And we can be a part of what he is doing in the world today to bring about healing, renewal, and transformation. We can bear witness to his love and grace in our everyday lives.
Here’s the good news:
God’s kingdom is not a human kingdom. It is not a human government or ideology. God’s kingdom is his reign in human hearts by the Spirit. We will experience the kingdom in fulness when Jesus returns in glory and renews all things.
Jesus is the King of the kingdom. The kingdom is grounded in his death and resurrection. Our full participation in God’s kingdom requires our own death and resurrection, which has already happened in Christ. He is the center. He is our life.
Jesus includes everyone in God’s kingdom. There is no one who is left out — Jesus includes everyone. As we trust in Christ, we experience the joy, peace, and blessing of God. And even when we’re weak and frail and miss the mark, we experience the fire of God’s cleansing love. Either way, God has included us in what he is doing in this world. And he loves us. We are called to love each person in the same way as God faithfully loves every one of us.
God is active in this world today by the Spirit. We get to share in what Jesus is up to by the Spirit’s lead. The Spirit empowers faithful obedience as a witness to God’s kingdom.
Jesus entered the darkness of this world and death for us so that we could have new life. In the same way, we enter dark places and place-share with those in need who are suffering.
So, hear this good news: The kingdom of God is already among us — not as a distant promise or a passing power, but as new life shared with us in Jesus by the Spirit. Even now, Christ lives in us, shaping our hearts with hope, joy, and love.
And one day, this hidden kingdom will be revealed in full glory, when Jesus returns to renew all things. Until then, we trust his faithful love, live as citizens of his kingdom, and follow where he leads — bearing witness in word and deed. The kingdom is here. The kingdom is coming. And in Christ, we belong to it.
The reality of the kingdom is being revealed, not by domination or force. But through the power of generosity, forgiveness, sacrifice, love, joy, and peace. Because the kingdom is like King Jesus.
Go Deeper:
Capon, Robert Farrar, Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus. Grand Rapids, MI (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002).
Marty Folsom—Year A Proper 12
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR077-Folsom-YearA-Proper12.mp3
Sunday, July 26, 2026 — Proper 12
Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52 NRSVUE
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Program Transcript
Marty Folsom—Year A Proper 12
Anthony: All right, we’re in the home stretch. One text to go. Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 12 in Ordinary Time, July 26. Marty, we’d be grateful if you’d read it for us, please.
Marty: Yes.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 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.” 33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Anthony: So, “the kingdom of heaven is” gets repeated five times in short succession. Tell us about this. What’s going on here?
Marty: So, people often say to me the phrase, “I don’t have time for that” or “I don’t have money for that.” And I say, “Huh, it sounds like that’s not a priority for you.”
Anthony: That’s right.
Marty: The nature of the kingdom is that there is a sense of the greatest value, the distinguishing out of that which defines the rest of your life. The day you decide to get married, it rearranges everything because that relationship has become a priority so that everything else aligns with what it is that is going on there.
So, to say the nature of the kingdom of heaven is that when we pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” that’s not a Father far away. We are suddenly submitting, “You are most important. Hallowed be thy name.” “Thy kingdom come” follows immediately because it is this reorientation. The number one priority in my life is to know who you are so that I know who I am. I know your name. I know that you know my name. May your kingdom now become that which is of greatest value in my life so that the choices that I make as I go through this day, they are all lived from the value of who you are in my life. They’re not a possession that I have in the way that some of these tangible things in these parables are.
But to say the kingdom is, it is the relationship with the God who made us and sustains us and gives us the ability for the daily events of our life to become like the mustard tree, for example. We become like those that are a blessing to others, that are a provision for others. We become attentive to being like Jesus as those who notices the sinners, the tax collectors, the outcasts, the marginalized. We become those whose priority is to act congruently with the heart of the Father in a way that’s consistent with the life of the Son, empowered by the Spirit, who gives us eyes to see and ears to hear as we go through our day.
So, this whole continuity of whatever image it is that would look like the kingdom, it’s all the reorientation of the core value around the living God, and then having that echo out in all these different ways of how we spend our life, provide our life, use our life in the goodness of the kingdom for others.
Anthony: I can almost hear a listener going, “Okay, I’m hearing all this good news of the abundance of God, the goodness of God, how God confronts sin in his own person.” And yet in the last two parables, we hear about fire. We hear about weeping and gnashing of teeth, God separating out the evil from the righteous. What would you have to say about that? How do we see the goodness of God at work in texts like that?
Marty: It is, of course, the difficult thing for everyone to think that at any point God does anything against anyone. The nature of the Psalms, the psalmist is constantly praying for exactly this kind of thing to happen.
Anthony: That’s right.
Marty: Destroy them and all that. So, to say that it is part of the tradition ― Jesus lived and breathed the Psalms, so it was everywhere. Even hanging on the cross, Jesus is quoting Psalm 22. So, he lives within this awareness that there is a world of people who are destructive towards the purposes of God, and a recognition that in the end that he will be the king who sits on the throne.
And to say that the nature of these people in this life to recognize, as I read this week, when somebody kills a rattlesnake in front of you or a cobra that’s about to attack, you don’t say, “Why did you do that? It was a living thing.” Your children were playing there and this rattlesnake was about to get them.
Nobody asks the question about the destruction of things that are destructive towards life. And so, to say there is something in the nature of what is going on here that we have to see as an echo of God will say yes even to evil by saying no to it. And so, the whole sense of that which calls that which is evil and chooses to continue as evil and to say no to it so that it does not do the destructive work that will be done is clearly part of what it is that is part of what is going on here.
I don’t think that it’s intended at all to create a fear in people, that people are wanting to hear this as a sermon and say, ” I don’t want to be end up in the fire. I guess I better make the choice,” right? So, to say the consequence of rejecting life, like stopping breathing or jumping into the water and drowning, there is a stopping of life that if one knows that the consequence of that is death, that one would choose not to do it.
But in these parables, it’s really the choice of life that is present and the consequence of death that is there, which J.B. Torrance said, “we have turned the gospel into something that we have made it so conditional that we’ve forgotten that the “if you don’t do this” are merely the consequences of what has happened. If somebody says, “If you stand too close to the edge of that, you might fall off that cliff and get killed,” it’s not a conditionality. It’s a consequence of the decisions that one makes to do things that are not life-affirming.
Anthony: Amen.
Marty: And so, there’s an acknowledgement, and this is why the Torrances and Barth said, “We are not universalists. We believe God loves even that person that’s standing too close to the cliff and falls down.” To say, “Does God love them?” “Even if I make my bed in Sheol, thou art with me.” People choose to reject God, and they live the consequence of that by rejecting God, not by being rejected by God.
Even in the parables of the kingdom, I think that we can say there is a respecting of the consequences of choices that people make that lives on. But as C.S. Lewis said in The Great Divorce, every day God sends a bus down from heaven, loads of people on the bus goes up so they can see it, and at the end of the day, they get back on the bus and they go back down to hell. They cannot give up their independence to be their own managers of their own life.
And so, I think to recognize that is to say there is built into the nature of Scripture and the nature of God the capacity for people to say no and to bear the consequences of that. But we can never say that is the intention of God.
As Ray Anderson said in a book I read just a week ago, “We have made death to be God’s judgment on sinners.” Anderson said, “No, it’s simply the consequence of rejecting God.” His will is to save humanity. And if you read the whole Bible, what he’s doing at every step of the way is working for bringing his lost ones home. So, to say death and what we’re seeing here as these destructive things, these are the consequences that God has not chosen, and he is doing everything with the kingdom to reverse them, that life might be the message, that life would be the story.
But the whole story is there, and it doesn’t make any less of the judgment of God is that in Christ he has come into the world so that we say, “Who shall separate us from the love of God? Neither height nor depth, angels nor principalities, things present, things yet to come. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”
So, to say whatever we say with those passages, we cannot say that the love of God has been set aside. That is the persistent message of the kingdom, and the consequences of humans choosing not to accept it is also a real consequence, and that is also made this shadow echo within it.
Anthony: I think it was C.S. Lewis, wasn’t it, that said, “In the end, there are those that will say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and there will be those that God says, ‘Thy will be done.'” We just choose our own consequences in that way and refuse to come into the party.
Marty: Yep.
Anthony: Wow. It’s hard to believe that would even happen, but here we are. We’re actually recording this on Ascension Thursday, which is good news. We often forget the Ascension. We talk about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, but the Ascension as well is part of the good news that we see in the person and work of Jesus. So, I just wanted to give you an opportunity here at the end as a final good news thought. I want you to riff on the Triune God of grace as seen and apprehended through these parables. Tell us what you want to tell us.
Marty: Yeah. So, with these parables I think we have a sense that the Father is not far away, but the Father is the Kingdom of God with open arms present, embracing a crowd of people who are listening attentively. They’re like those who have been orphaned who don’t know their parents, but there is something in this message of the kingdom that the Father’s arms are embracing around them in such a way that they’re beginning to feel there is some sense of finding home that is happening here.
And as Jesus is speaking these words, his words are the words of himself as the kingdom who is present, and he is giving them words that are hearing and penetrating deep into their heart, that the words are becoming a seed that is awakening them to say, “Maybe I am somebody who is known. Maybe I am someone who is loved. The way this person is talking, it’s as though there is an availability that’s calling to something deep in me to come home.”
And the Holy Spirit is dancing around on hearts and minds like tongues of fire on heads so that there is a shining that is beginning as there’s a dawning awareness that kingdom is not a place with castles far away. Kingdom is this presence of: I am surrounded by the very nature of the heart of God that embraces this place. This is a holy place. I almost feel like I should take off my shoes. There’s something about here because of who is here, this Father who calls me his child, this Son who’s calling me to submit to his kingdom, and the Spirit who is drawing me to wake up to that which is of greatest value, and that is to know that you are loved, you are seen, you are believed in. You belong with us and one another as a family that will never be let go.
Anthony: Friends, as a final word, I want to share something from T.F. Torrance, who said, “The whole universe revolves round the love of God in Jesus Christ, and all its motion depends entirely upon Him.” Hallelujah, praise God. He is good, and Jesus is the proof.
I want to thank Marty for being with us. I want to thank of thank our Gospel Reverb team. What a blessing it is to work with such a fine group of people who make this podcast possible. And Marty, our tradition here at Gospel Reverb is to end with a word of prayer. Would you do the honors for us, please?
Marty: I would be happy to do that. Dear Abba, we are grateful that you speak to us the words, “You belong to me.” And so, we acknowledge humbly that, yes, we do belong to you because you have brought the kingdom close to us. And Jesus, we acknowledge that you promised, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And so, we acknowledge that this day we have been crucified to that old self, and now we live in you. We are made new because you are here with us as the presence of the kingdom who embraces us. And Holy Spirit, you have come to empower us for a life of love, not with the power that’s our own, but that which can only come from you.
And so, as we leave this moment today, we go with you into the world to embrace the world that you care for, to scoop them up in our arms as we lift them up in prayer and with our touch and with our help. We lift them up by your work, O Holy Spirit, to go into this world and see the kingdom doing its work ― that is, making the Father, the Son, and yourself known and evident in the world.
And so, we submit ourselves to you. We are one body because of who you are. And so, we give ourself to participate in your life, your ministry in the world because you go before us, with us. And we delight and are filled with joy to go with you. And we pray all these things in your name, you who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Anthony: Amen.
Program Transcript
Marty Folsom—Year A Proper 12
Anthony: All right, we’re in the home stretch. One text to go. Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 12 in Ordinary Time, July 26. Marty, we’d be grateful if you’d read it for us, please.
Marty: Yes.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 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.” 33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.” 44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and reburied; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; 46 on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; 48 when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50 and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 51 “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
Anthony: So, “the kingdom of heaven is” gets repeated five times in short succession. Tell us about this. What’s going on here?
Marty: So, people often say to me the phrase, “I don’t have time for that” or “I don’t have money for that.” And I say, “Huh, it sounds like that’s not a priority for you.”
Anthony: That’s right.
Marty: The nature of the kingdom is that there is a sense of the greatest value, the distinguishing out of that which defines the rest of your life. The day you decide to get married, it rearranges everything because that relationship has become a priority so that everything else aligns with what it is that is going on there.
So, to say the nature of the kingdom of heaven is that when we pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” that’s not a Father far away. We are suddenly submitting, “You are most important. Hallowed be thy name.” “Thy kingdom come” follows immediately because it is this reorientation. The number one priority in my life is to know who you are so that I know who I am. I know your name. I know that you know my name. May your kingdom now become that which is of greatest value in my life so that the choices that I make as I go through this day, they are all lived from the value of who you are in my life. They’re not a possession that I have in the way that some of these tangible things in these parables are.
But to say the kingdom is, it is the relationship with the God who made us and sustains us and gives us the ability for the daily events of our life to become like the mustard tree, for example. We become like those that are a blessing to others, that are a provision for others. We become attentive to being like Jesus as those who notices the sinners, the tax collectors, the outcasts, the marginalized. We become those whose priority is to act congruently with the heart of the Father in a way that’s consistent with the life of the Son, empowered by the Spirit, who gives us eyes to see and ears to hear as we go through our day.
So, this whole continuity of whatever image it is that would look like the kingdom, it’s all the reorientation of the core value around the living God, and then having that echo out in all these different ways of how we spend our life, provide our life, use our life in the goodness of the kingdom for others.
Anthony: I can almost hear a listener going, “Okay, I’m hearing all this good news of the abundance of God, the goodness of God, how God confronts sin in his own person.” And yet in the last two parables, we hear about fire. We hear about weeping and gnashing of teeth, God separating out the evil from the righteous. What would you have to say about that? How do we see the goodness of God at work in texts like that?
Marty: It is, of course, the difficult thing for everyone to think that at any point God does anything against anyone. The nature of the Psalms, the psalmist is constantly praying for exactly this kind of thing to happen.
Anthony: That’s right.
Marty: Destroy them and all that. So, to say that it is part of the tradition ― Jesus lived and breathed the Psalms, so it was everywhere. Even hanging on the cross, Jesus is quoting Psalm 22. So, he lives within this awareness that there is a world of people who are destructive towards the purposes of God, and a recognition that in the end that he will be the king who sits on the throne.
And to say that the nature of these people in this life to recognize, as I read this week, when somebody kills a rattlesnake in front of you or a cobra that’s about to attack, you don’t say, “Why did you do that? It was a living thing.” Your children were playing there and this rattlesnake was about to get them.
Nobody asks the question about the destruction of things that are destructive towards life. And so, to say there is something in the nature of what is going on here that we have to see as an echo of God will say yes even to evil by saying no to it. And so, the whole sense of that which calls that which is evil and chooses to continue as evil and to say no to it so that it does not do the destructive work that will be done is clearly part of what it is that is part of what is going on here.
I don’t think that it’s intended at all to create a fear in people, that people are wanting to hear this as a sermon and say, ” I don’t want to be end up in the fire. I guess I better make the choice,” right? So, to say the consequence of rejecting life, like stopping breathing or jumping into the water and drowning, there is a stopping of life that if one knows that the consequence of that is death, that one would choose not to do it.
But in these parables, it’s really the choice of life that is present and the consequence of death that is there, which J.B. Torrance said, “we have turned the gospel into something that we have made it so conditional that we’ve forgotten that the “if you don’t do this” are merely the consequences of what has happened. If somebody says, “If you stand too close to the edge of that, you might fall off that cliff and get killed,” it’s not a conditionality. It’s a consequence of the decisions that one makes to do things that are not life-affirming.
Anthony: Amen.
Marty: And so, there’s an acknowledgement, and this is why the Torrances and Barth said, “We are not universalists. We believe God loves even that person that’s standing too close to the cliff and falls down.” To say, “Does God love them?” “Even if I make my bed in Sheol, thou art with me.” People choose to reject God, and they live the consequence of that by rejecting God, not by being rejected by God.
Even in the parables of the kingdom, I think that we can say there is a respecting of the consequences of choices that people make that lives on. But as C.S. Lewis said in The Great Divorce, every day God sends a bus down from heaven, loads of people on the bus goes up so they can see it, and at the end of the day, they get back on the bus and they go back down to hell. They cannot give up their independence to be their own managers of their own life.
And so, I think to recognize that is to say there is built into the nature of Scripture and the nature of God the capacity for people to say no and to bear the consequences of that. But we can never say that is the intention of God.
As Ray Anderson said in a book I read just a week ago, “We have made death to be God’s judgment on sinners.” Anderson said, “No, it’s simply the consequence of rejecting God.” His will is to save humanity. And if you read the whole Bible, what he’s doing at every step of the way is working for bringing his lost ones home. So, to say death and what we’re seeing here as these destructive things, these are the consequences that God has not chosen, and he is doing everything with the kingdom to reverse them, that life might be the message, that life would be the story.
But the whole story is there, and it doesn’t make any less of the judgment of God is that in Christ he has come into the world so that we say, “Who shall separate us from the love of God? Neither height nor depth, angels nor principalities, things present, things yet to come. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”
So, to say whatever we say with those passages, we cannot say that the love of God has been set aside. That is the persistent message of the kingdom, and the consequences of humans choosing not to accept it is also a real consequence, and that is also made this shadow echo within it.
Anthony: I think it was C.S. Lewis, wasn’t it, that said, “In the end, there are those that will say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and there will be those that God says, ‘Thy will be done.'” We just choose our own consequences in that way and refuse to come into the party.
Marty: Yep.
Anthony: Wow. It’s hard to believe that would even happen, but here we are. We’re actually recording this on Ascension Thursday, which is good news. We often forget the Ascension. We talk about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, but the Ascension as well is part of the good news that we see in the person and work of Jesus. So, I just wanted to give you an opportunity here at the end as a final good news thought. I want you to riff on the Triune God of grace as seen and apprehended through these parables. Tell us what you want to tell us.
Marty: Yeah. So, with these parables I think we have a sense that the Father is not far away, but the Father is the Kingdom of God with open arms present, embracing a crowd of people who are listening attentively. They’re like those who have been orphaned who don’t know their parents, but there is something in this message of the kingdom that the Father’s arms are embracing around them in such a way that they’re beginning to feel there is some sense of finding home that is happening here.
And as Jesus is speaking these words, his words are the words of himself as the kingdom who is present, and he is giving them words that are hearing and penetrating deep into their heart, that the words are becoming a seed that is awakening them to say, “Maybe I am somebody who is known. Maybe I am someone who is loved. The way this person is talking, it’s as though there is an availability that’s calling to something deep in me to come home.”
And the Holy Spirit is dancing around on hearts and minds like tongues of fire on heads so that there is a shining that is beginning as there’s a dawning awareness that kingdom is not a place with castles far away. Kingdom is this presence of: I am surrounded by the very nature of the heart of God that embraces this place. This is a holy place. I almost feel like I should take off my shoes. There’s something about here because of who is here, this Father who calls me his child, this Son who’s calling me to submit to his kingdom, and the Spirit who is drawing me to wake up to that which is of greatest value, and that is to know that you are loved, you are seen, you are believed in. You belong with us and one another as a family that will never be let go.
Anthony: Friends, as a final word, I want to share something from T.F. Torrance, who said, “The whole universe revolves round the love of God in Jesus Christ, and all its motion depends entirely upon Him.” Hallelujah, praise God. He is good, and Jesus is the proof.
I want to thank Marty for being with us. I want to thank of thank our Gospel Reverb team. What a blessing it is to work with such a fine group of people who make this podcast possible. And Marty, our tradition here at Gospel Reverb is to end with a word of prayer. Would you do the honors for us, please?
Marty: I would be happy to do that. Dear Abba, we are grateful that you speak to us the words, “You belong to me.” And so, we acknowledge humbly that, yes, we do belong to you because you have brought the kingdom close to us. And Jesus, we acknowledge that you promised, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” And so, we acknowledge that this day we have been crucified to that old self, and now we live in you. We are made new because you are here with us as the presence of the kingdom who embraces us. And Holy Spirit, you have come to empower us for a life of love, not with the power that’s our own, but that which can only come from you.
And so, as we leave this moment today, we go with you into the world to embrace the world that you care for, to scoop them up in our arms as we lift them up in prayer and with our touch and with our help. We lift them up by your work, O Holy Spirit, to go into this world and see the kingdom doing its work ― that is, making the Father, the Son, and yourself known and evident in the world.
And so, we submit ourselves to you. We are one body because of who you are. And so, we give ourself to participate in your life, your ministry in the world because you go before us, with us. And we delight and are filled with joy to go with you. And we pray all these things in your name, you who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Anthony: Amen.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- What assumptions do you notice — past or present — we often bring to the idea of God’s kingdom? How do Jesus’ parables challenge or reshape those expectations?
- If God’s kingdom is already present but not yet complete, how are we invited to live as kingdom people today in our relationships, work, and witness?
- The net gathers “fish of every kind,” and sorting comes later. How does this image affect the way we think about belonging, grace, and God’s judgment?
- Jesus describes the kingdom as something small and often hidden, like a seed or leaven. Where do you see God’s quiet, unseen work happening in your life or community right now?
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