Readings:
1 Kings 3: 5-12
Psalm 119: 129-136
Romans 8: 26-end
Matthew 13: 31-33, 44-52

Collect:
Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow;
though our faith is small as mustard seed,
make it grow to your glory
and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Reflection

Tom Wright has written a book recently, and in record time, which some of you may have read.  It’s called God and the Pandemic.  In it, he comments at length on Roman 8:v28, which is most often translated as we have heard it today All things work together for good  for those who love God. The problem, he says, with this translation is that it makes Christians think that they ought to be able to say, any time there is a problem or a disaster, ‘oh well, it was probably for the best’;  or to throw a blanket over any bad thing that happens and say ‘well never mind, all things work together for good’. And he asks, is that really an appropriate response to what the world has been dealing with over the last few months?  Just to accept it passively, as one of those things, but cheerfully reckon that it will be all right in the end?  Why, he says, should we assume that God works all things for the benefit of those who love him?  

He wants us instead to take another look at the way this verse is translated. The verb used actually doesn’t mean ‘to work for the benefit of’, it means ‘to work together, or to work with’ - synergeo. That changes the meaning quite a bit.  Because what  Paul is actually talking about is God working with people, doing what God wants to do in the world not by himself, but through human agency. And this is our human vocation, to work with God. God himself co-operates for good with those who love God. And so this verse is about how God calls us to work with him, to be part of his purpose in the world. 

In this time of grief and anger at what has happened to our world through COVID, and what we are doing to our world through our carelessness of the environment, through our disregard of issues of justice and equality, we should all lament, and repent.  But we are not being called to sit and wring our hands.  We are being called to work with God in the task of healing, teaching, reaching out to those who are in poverty or distress, campaigning and comforting.  We aren’t simply spectators in God’s great story. We are active participants.  This is also what our diocesan vision tells us, that we are called to be more like Christ, for the sake of God’s world.  And not just being, but also doing.

What are we participants in? What is this great story – the story of God’s Kingdom -  and how can we understand it?  Our Gospel reading has some answers. In Matthew 13, Jesus has an intriguing string of metaphors about the Kingdom of Heaven – the Kingdom which we are called to be active participants in bringing about.

He says it is like a MUSTARD SEED – so tiny you can hardly see it, but with awe inspiring ability to grow so big that it towers over us and gives shade, nourishment and a place to live.  That helps us to take heart, to have courage – because although the Kingdom, rooted in each place begin with something so tiny, it grows and expands and develops. Jesus also says it is like YEAST, that almost magical substance which causes dough to double in size, which transforms fruit juice into wine. It doesn’t take much of it to have the most extraordinary transformative effect. And Jesus says it is like HIDDEN TREASURE, which, when it’s found leads to an explosion of desire and joy, in which we want to to give up everything that has previously been of importance to us, and concentrate on this, to give our lives meaning and purpose. He says it is like a person who discovers the very finest example of what he has spent his life searching for and for which he sells all he has.  It is of almost unimaginable value. And, Jesus says, it is like a NET which is cast wide and deep and encompasses everything without any judgement.

Pictures of the Kingdom of God. And what exactly should we be doing?  What would Jesus do? Let’s take a look at Jesus, and what we know about him.  How would we sum up his character, his values, his mode of working?  

He noticed people, and valued them:  women, children, widows, lepers, slaves, those with mental and physical dis-ease, foreigners, Gentiles.    He was radically inclusive;  spent a lot of time with those on the edge of society, eating and drinking and hanging out, but he also reached out with love to the rich and privileged.  He wasn’t bothered about religious purity, who was in and who was out;  he wasn’t even very bothered about individual sinfulness, although he came down hard on the systems of oppression, economic exploitation and social hypocrisy which scarred the lives of the vulnerable and marginalised. He constantly challenged the power structures of his day.  

So we have God’s invitation to work with God in the great task of building God’s Kingdom here on earth, and we have the person of Jesus, and his vision of what that Kingdom looks like. And our response is both local and global.

Little things matter. Small acts of kindness and compassion. A quick word.  A smile. A generous act. A spontaneous gift. A phone call. A listening ear.  These things add up amazingly and wonderfully into an ecosystem of kindness and love in which all can feel valued and cared for and included. They spread and produce results far greater than the original action. When we help people to discover the love of God, by working with God, their lives are transformed as they realised their own value and preciousness. And we are not to be choosy about who we share our discoveries with – judgement is not our business;  love is our business.   

And big things matter. The decade we are in - 2020s - is one in which the leaders of our nations will make decisions that will shape the future of our children and grandchildren for ever.  Our environment is rapidly reaching a number of tipping points from which there will be no return.  The way we engage with artificial intelligence will steer whether it becomes a force for good or for harm.  Our economic system and the way in which it is used by huge global players will  impact on everyone and increase the gap between those who have and those who have not. Our political and economic systems are powerful, and we must engage with them and work to align them with the vision of the Kingdom. 

We know that our country has suffered badly in this pandemic.  But we have electricity, and running water, and hospitals which are staffed and equipped, and infrastructure which works. We have homes we can retreat to and shut the door when the R number goes up.  We are really, really privileged. Many countries in the world are not in this position, and the effects of the pandemic are devastating in poor and crowded communities without healthcare and infrastructure. The situation is desperate. The Disasters Emergency Committee, which is a consortium of 14 Non Governmental organisations has launched a major appeal  for help – and there will be an opportunity to donate what we can afford at the end of this reflection.

So let out with joy and be led forth with peace and work with God to build God’s Kingdom here on Earth.  Your Kingdom come, O Lord.  Amen.

For more information and to make a donation to the Disasters Emergency Committee Appeal, please visit https://www.dec.org.uk/

Bishop Olivia, Bishop of Reading