"Treasure What Is New & What Is Old"

(Gen 259:15-28; Mtt 13:31-33, 44-52) JG White ~ 10:30 am, Sun, July 26, 2026, FBC Amherst

Listen! to The Parable of the Multiflora Rose. The Kingdom of the Heavens is like the avid gardener who allowed a little seedling of a weed, Multiflora Rose, to grow in his garden. Though it was a tiny stem, it grew and grew, with long, viny, thorny branches, and profuse clusters of white, aromatic flowers. Soon, the birds of the air ate the thousands of rose hips, and spread the seed; so everywhere - field and forest, garden and farm - was filled with the prickly, impenetrable bushes. 

This is my new parable - to be ‘taken with a pinch of salt,’ and not repeated very often into the future. Unlike Jesus’ stories which have been going around for two thousand years. It is possible the parable of the Mustard Seed might be exactly two thousand years old this year. Some of us have been hearing it all our lives, in Church, and maybe in our own rereading of Matthew’s Gospel. Maybe we think it makes perfect sense to us, so we forget that these were strange stories He told. It was part of Jesus’ rhetorical skill, his teachers' tools, to surprise and challenge, and even shock the audience with His stories. 

Why would someone plant mustard - one seed - in their field?

I can think of seeds smaller than a mustard seed. 

I forget that mustard plants in my province are just weeds, and that yes, they were weedy in the Middle East two millenia ago. 

I can think of other shrubs that grow bigger than mustard. 

The stories of Jesus, the parables, were given out to stick in the human mind, to keep us wondering, stretching, and looking for this Kingdom hidden in plain sight. 

The next one is shorter yet. The woman who mixes in - who hides, actually - some yeast in a huge amount of dough. Once again, something is so small, but has a big impact. And it is kind of secretive. This is the realm of God. Makes me wonder how much goodness from God I am hiding as I go about my day-to-day life. From visiting a dying woman in hospital, or leading a field trip in Shinimicas to see wildflowers, or painting cardboard decorations for children’s camp - when did Christ make a BIG impact with my tiny moments this past week? When? Where? Which moments? 

About seven summers ago I preached a series on parables we don’t know, from the First Testament. I thought I had written some new little parables of my own then. I looked them up. No. There were none. So these are fresh ones I came up with this month. 

The Parable of the Home-Made Yogurt. The Kingdom of God is like the adventurous householder, who got bored with buying tubs of zero fat yogurt at the store. He went on a Thursday to the local gas station, when the four litre milk jugs were on sale. He took all this skim milk, almost boiled it on his stove, and as it cooled, stirred in the scrapings of the last bit of yogurt from the little tub in his refrigerator. He filled his big camping cooler with hot water from the tap, and put the pot of inoculated milk in it for the night. In the morning the whole batch was yogurt, which the householder strained, making thick, fresh health-food for breakfast, and the whey that drained off he made into a delectable lemon pie. (True story.)

Jesus’ next couple parables we heard seem to speak of the great value of the Realm of God, or Something we find in it. Maybe it is Christ Himself who is the Treasure Hidden in a Field. And the Pearl of Great Price. Think again about these two little stories: does it make sense what the treasure finder did? Was it dishonest? Or the pearl merchant’s business decision? Was it sensible?

Anyway, some of our Christian culture has taught us that the treasure we seek in the Gospel is our ‘mansion just over the hilltop,’ even ‘a gold one that’s silver lined.’ Also, getting back with our beloved ones who died. But it might be reunion and full union with God, our Creator, our Lover, our Centre. 

Maybe you can tell that my own parables so far have come from real life. This one is recent real life.

The Parable of the Value Village Goose. The Kin-dom of God is like the thrift shopper who visited Value Village to find some clothing. Though he bought shorts and a shirt, he checked many other aisles in the giant store. Among the books and electronics, the  footwear and framed pictures, the dishware and assorted junk, he came upon a lovely, white, home-made, wooden Goose. Throwing caution to the wind, he spent $5.99 (plus tax?) and proudly brought the trendy decoration to his home. 

Jesus’s stories are but little parables, not real life. Not necessarily events that happened, though some are such simple scenes they probably did happen from time to time. But the impact, the lesson, the inspiration, is for our real lives. Not just thoughts; actions.

How about another new one? My Parable of the Perennial of Great Price. The Eternal Kingdom can be compared with the avid gardener who collected as many rare and unusual plants as possible. He planted Wingstem and Golden-Leaf Bamboo, Green Dragon and Green False Hellebore, Giant Reed Grass and Wild Quinine. One day, he discovered for sale the most rare and unusual, exotic and beautiful, expensive and delicate, choice perennial plant. Only one of them. Difficult to acquire and difficult to grow, he used his whole budget for the year to buy it, made a special long trip to fetch it, and dug out many other plants in his own garden to make room for it. 

My imagination is rather simple, I fear. My lesson too obvious: consider what things in your life are so important to you, and yet you’d be willing to give them up for something incredible. Life with God… who can be shared with others, many others. 

Jesus' last parable today (or is there one more?) is of the Net Catching the Fish. Lots of kinds of fish. Every fish. Probably other stuff too. Today we would imagine the net gathering plastic bottles and rope and a rubber boot. But not in Jesus’ day. This feels like a parable of judgment. At The End of The Age, the servants of God will sort things out. We tend to think of the good people vs. the bad people. But is that the only way to understand it? 

This story of mine is not from experience, but from observation. The Parable of the Organic Blueberry Field. Life with God can be compared with a blueberry grower whose acres had been prosperous in Cumberland County. But she started to have second-thoughts about all the herbicides that she used to kill off the shrubs and weeds and grasses that wanted to grow there too. So she went organic: followed the guidelines & simply dealt with the weeds by mowing and burning every second year. Then the chokeberry bushes grew in, and the bracken fern, and the bunchberry, and the trailing blackberry, the wild rose, and plenty of grass. 

Now, at the harvest, the tractors run and those blueberry harvesters gather all the berries, with the chokeberries and blackberries and bunchberry and rose hips and weeds. The machinery, and then the workers, clear out the leaves and grass, and sort out the wrong berries, so the harvest is purified and fit for sale: fresh and frozen Organic Blueberries. Oh how valuable they are!

Oh how valuable you are. Oh how valuable are the people you meet in your neighbourhood. We could all use a bit of the weeds in our lives cleared away. 

Jesus concludes His own parables speaking of the Master Bringing Out Treasure New and Old. Indeed, He was such a master Rabbi. Stick with Him. Stick with the challenges of what we are left with of Him, in the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. You may know by now that I insist that knowing God in Christ is the key to life. We get to know, to recognize, the Master’s voice. This takes time and work. Yet, the Master also seeks us all.

Allow me to end with my Parable of the Email Hacker. Might be quite provocative, like the stories of Jesus. (And, of course, it is not about the email some of you recently received.) Once upon a time, the loving, lovable Master wanted to reach many people who had forgotten Him, or rejected Him, or just lost track of their relationship. On a certain day, many unsuspecting people got an email in their inbox that was, well, different. It spoke with kind words about each recipient. It suggested there was an offer that couldn’t be refused. It called for immediate action. It demanded generosity. It was signed with a name that was not the literal name of the sender. 

No, the Kin-dom of God couldn’t be like this, could it?

[Amen. For a moment let us listen to the trees.]