The Kingdom is Like
This is the message I preached on Sunday July 30 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52 . So… I have to admit that when I first read this gospel passage, I thought, what in the world am I supposed to do with this? I did a bit in the e-ministry, yet found that I could not morph that into a sermon. We’re not going to do a flyover of all five of these parables, but are taking two that are similar, yet have differences as well, the treasure in a field and the precious pearl. The purpose of parables is to shake people up with the unexpected. They are to afflict the comfortable; being thorny and disturbing. We are not to walk away from parables saying, “Oh, what a nice story.” How are these two parables similar, how are they different and what does that mean for us? Professor Amy-Jill Levine writes: The parables share common ideas, characterizations, and results. Both depict a person who sells all that he has to purchase something desired. Both also present