As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
What do a walk in the woods, a gaze into the night sky, peering into a microscope, and a flight across the ocean all have in common? The wonder of how small one human being is next to the vastness of God's creation. What does the Psalmist ask? "What are mere mortals that you should even think of them?" [Ps 8:4] And yet, Christ's mission is to remind us just how much God loves his creation. How much God wants us to grow into the loving and compassionate people that Christ is modeling for us. If we manage that, what is its fruit? I think this morning's gospel lesson gives us a clue.
Something small has within itself what it takes to become something large, even beyond imagining. What is the Kingdom of God like? A mustard seed, a measure of yeast? That is what God has planted in our hearts. That's where the kingdom of heaven starts. But it needs to be nourished to grow. How we do that will begin to give us a glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like. One thing we can say for sure at this stage is that it is bigger and more awesome than anything we might imagine.
Contemplating the night sky and the cosmos it unveils, always stirs up both wonder and tension. The tension is one's inability to truly grasp the nexus of time and space with the infinite. We live bounded by our experience of finitude. What we touch, what we see, what we hear starts and stops. But God is beyond such boundaries. And so is the Kingdom of God. But we can at least begin to imagine what the boundless possibilities are.
Our life on this earth is like the mustard seed planted in the ground. It begins to grow and it pokes it tender first shoots out of the ground into the air to meet the rays of the sun. The nutrients in the ground and the energy from the sun are both required for the plant to grow and meet its full potential. The ancients thought of the sun as a god, and in Christian thought we often refer to Christ as the Sun of Justice, particularly at Christmas time. This Sun of Justice is bringing us a message from the God beyond our bounded horizon, a message we need to pay attention to if we are to grow to our fullest potential.
So what is that message? St Paul reminds the Colossians that now their "life is hidden with Christ in God [3:3] so they "must get rid of ... : anger, passion, and hateful thoughts." [3:8]. And St Matthew recounts Christ's description of Judgment Day, which has echos in this gospel passage: I don't know you if you forget to help those in need, the poor, widows, prisoners, marginalized. For in the Kingdom of heaven everyone without exception lives by the two great commandments; to love God and to love your neighbor.
How is that working in our world today? We can find many examples of people doing just that, however, we also continue to see some of the worst examples of human folly, especially the wars we continue to inflict on each other for purposes that are far removed from God. By so doing, we forsake heaven and create hell. Which is why following Christ along the narrow path is essential to bring about a glimpse of heaven on earth and prepare is us to be co-creators of heaven here and beyond. And if we seek divine help we will discover as did Daniel: "You have kept me in mind, O God; you have not deserted those who love you." [14:38]
Glory be to Jesus Christ!
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