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Sermon for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – July 24, 2026
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here’s a cool thing a congregation did: They invited members of their church to submit digital photos of themselves. They collected hundreds of candid photos of their members, taken during ordinary activities of daily life. They then ran those photos through a computer program to create a mosaic. The picture of Jesus you see on the screen this morning is the result. If you zoom in on those tiny cells you can see the church members. Many of the photos appear to be taken at their church, but there are others showing them at weddings, or out on boats, or playing with children. Together, these small pictures of daily life form a mosaic of Jesus. Pretty neat, huh?
I think this is a helpful way to understand our gospel reading for today. We’ve been hearing one parable per week for the last couple of weeks, but today we get not one, not two, but FIVE parables all in one reading! They are very short parables. Word pictures, really. Jesus takes several common images from daily life to give us a picture of something bigger. He uses these little word pictures to create a mosaic revealing to us what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Before we go any further, I should probably explain that when Jesus uses the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” in our reading for today, he isn’t just talking about going to heaven when we die. He isn’t just talking about the pearly gates and eternal life. That is absolutely part of the promise of the gospel, and it is in the background here, but Jesus uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven,” particularly in Matthew’s gospel, to refer to something broader. “The kingdom of heaven” means the same thing as “the kingdom of God.” The two terms are interchangeable, and both refer to the ways God breaks into our world and into our lives. They refer to how and when and where God is active and at work. And so, these short parables we hear today about the kingdom of heaven, these small word pictures, create a mosaic illustrating how God is at work through his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The first word picture is of a mustard seed which someone has sown in his field. Even though it is the smallest among the seeds commonly planted, it grows up into the greatest of shrubs, a tree in which the birds of the air come and make nests. Mustard seeds are not only small, they are a humble crop. It isn’t a cash crop like olives or grapes might be. And even at their biggest, they don’t grow up into anything all that big or strong, like the cedars of Lebanon. They are not only small; they are also the least of the seeds sown – the least important, the least profitable, the least impressive. And yet, if you plant some, I sure hope you like mustard, because it has a way of taking over! Plant one small patch and it will spread! It will take over a field in no time!
The second word picture is very similar to the first. “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.” In Jesus’ time yeast didn’t come in the dried, granular form we have today. They didn’t have Bob’s Red Mill or Red Star active dry yeast. People passed down naturally occurring yeast by sharing a pinch of dough from the previous batch, not unlike how really good sourdough is passed down still to this day. The yeast is already in there, unseen but at work. The woman in the parable takes this pinch and adds it to three measures of flour. The amount named in this parable is the equivalent of about 84 cups, or 23 pounds of flour. That’s a lot of bread! And yet this yeast goes to work, unseen but powerful, leavening this entire enormous new batch of dough, expanding and rising in abundance!
With these first two word pictures, we start to see part of the mosaic taking shape. God came into the world in a most unimpressive way. God came as a tiny infant. Jesus was laid in a humble manger. He was raised in the backwater village of Nazareth, a place so insignificant it doesn’t even appear on many of the maps from that time. He would ride a donkey into Jerusalem, not a stallion. Instead of being seated on a throne he was nailed to a cross, alongside criminals. And yet, in these small, unimpressive by the world’s standards, seemingly insignificant ways, God’s kingdom was breaking into the world! The kingdom of heaven was drawing near! Soon this kingdom would grow into a home for many, like those sparrows making a home amidst the mustard. Soon it would rise into something which gives life and nourishment and strength to many, like leavened bread.
This is still how God works! God still brings his kingdom to us in ways that are hard to see on the surface, in ways that don’t seem all that obvious or impressive to the world but nonetheless prove to be powerful in our lives.
God’s word is sown in us through the feeble words and the stumbling delivery of preachers, most of whom rarely match the skills of the world’s great orators. St. Paul himself was criticized, and even self-critical, for being “unskilled in speech.” (2 Corinthians 11:6) And yet, God’s Word was planted through his words. Those words grew things. They grew the church, where many have found shelter and a home. They grew faith. Those words took over people’s hearts, their lives!
God’s word is kneaded into us through a pinch of bread and a sip of wine in the supper Christ has given us. It isn’t much of a meal, really. It is barely a nibble. It isn’t even enough to qualify as an appetizer. There are hardly any calories and no protein. And yet, through this holy supper Christ is literally added to us, just like the yeast is added to a measure of flour. His true presence leavens us. He works, unseen, to expand in us and fill up our lives with hope and joy and peace and love, making his rising our own.
Another pair of parables gives us two more word pictures. These parables are about something precious – a treasure and a pearl of great value. Like the first two parables, they include things that are hidden and small, but here they are pursued at any expense. The finders of these precious items give up everything they have in order to possess these precious items. In the first parable the finder goes and sells everything he has in order to buy the field and claim the treasure. In the second parable the merchant also sells everything he has in order to buy that one precious pearl.
As we take these two parables together, we start to see another part of the mosaic taking shape. God is establishing his kingdom, his reign, through a savior who is willing to give up everything in order to have what is precious to him. You are that treasure! You are that pearl of great price! Jesus gave up everything to have you. Jesus gave up the comforts of heaven to come into a fallen world that would reject him. Jesus gave up his outward glory as he went through the humiliation of being crucified for us. Jesus gave up his very life so that we would belong to him. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like. It is like a savior who gives up everything to make us his own. We are that valuable to him. You are that valuable to him.
The last word picture in this mosaic is very similar to the parable we looked at last week, the parable of the wheat and the weeds. Since I dealt with that at length last week, I’ll be brief with this last one. In short, here Jesus describes a net which is thrown into the sea, bringing up fish of every kind. When the net is full, it is pulled up to the shore and sorted. The good fish are tossed into a basket, and the bad fish are tossed aside.
This is yet another snapshot of daily life in Jesus’ time, and in it, Jesus gives us yet another part of the mosaic. As God’s kingdom unfolds, the net is cast widely over the earth to gather in all people, both those considered good and those considered bad. And so, like the wheat field from last week, it is going to be messy at times! The world, the church, and our sinful selves will be a mix of good and bad until the very end. It is not ultimately our job to do the sorting. That job belongs to Jesus, who will send his angels to separate what is evil from what is righteous until everything is pure and whole and holy at last.
Are you starting to see the mosaic in full? Are you starting to make out the big picture?
The kingdom of heaven comes to us in ways that are often unseen and unimpressive by the world’s standards. It doesn’t come through smoke machines or fireworks or specific dramatic feelings. It comes through a humble savior who wants to be found in words and water and bread. While simple to the point of being easily overlooked, these means of grace are a force to be reckoned with as our Lord Jesus uses them to feed us and shelter us and leaven us and nourish us and strengthen us. His kingdom quietly grows in and through us.
We are part of this kingdom because even though we are sinners, our savior sees us as precious and valuable, and he has given up everything in order to claim us for himself. You are his treasure. You are the pearl of great price, and Jesus was willing to pay that price with his own precious blood in order to make you his own, today and forever.
This kingdom will be a mixed net until the end, there will be good and bad both in us and around us, but eventually everything evil will be cast out, so that we can dwell with our Lord forever in peace.
Your life is a cell in the great mosaic that makes up the kingdom of God. In every scene, both good and bad, in every picture, both joyful and sorrowful, God is at work – loving you, forgiving you, guiding you, teaching you, healing you, blessing you, carrying you. You might not be able to see it at times, you might not feel it, it might not seem obvious, but even now your Lord Jesus is weaving your life into this great mosaic that is now and forever will be the kingdom of heaven.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church