Proper 12 "Kingdom Postcards" Matt 13:31-33, 44-52

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To obtain the kingdom of heaven is the supreme concern for humanity, St. Paul said that he counted all things a loss to gain Christ.  In this week's lectionary reading, the gospel of Matthew presents five pictures of what the kingdom of God is like.  Each picture gives us an image and a promise that the kingdom of God holds, a promise for the present, not just the future.  Biblical scholar N.T.Wright does a masterful job in his book "Surprised by Hope" reframing the concept of the Kingdom of God, in this sermon I quote an excerpt from that book, he writes, "what you do in the present-by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself–will last into God's future."  The hope of the kingdom of God is not something for some after-life, it is both a hope for the future, but also a living hope for the church today.  Is this something that we pursue?  Do we hunger and thirst after being kingdom people, to be transformed by the Holy Spirit so that we can embody the kingdom of God?  These parables encourage us to be like the person who finds a pearl and sells all to possess it, or rather to be possessed by God.  This portion of scripture encourages us to value this above all else, because in giving up everything else we find that we have indeed come to possess what matters most and what places everything else into a divine perspective.