Kahu's Manao
Keawala‘i Congregational Church
United Church of Christ (USA)
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika
“The Kingdom of Heaven”
Matthew
13:31-34 & Matthew 13:44-52
It is said that Tūtūkane enjoyed sitting out on the porch everyday.‘ All grandpa needed was a good cold glass of liliko‘i or guava juice and he was content to watch the world go by.
As for Tūtūwahine there was always work to do.‘ Clothes needed to be washed and hung on the line to dry.‘ The porch needed to be swept; the plants needed to be watered and someone had to squeeze the liliko‘i or guava for the juice. ‘For grandma the chores were endless.
They lived close to an elementary school. Every day around 1:30 in the afternoon a bell was rung to mark the end of another school day.‘ Within moments of its ringing one could hear the chatter and movement of hundreds of boys and girls as they lined up for the bus ride home.‘ Some waited on the corner for their parents.
Others turned and walked away in a number of different directions. But there were always those who went by grandpa and grandma’s house chattering loudly, carrying books under their arms or in backpacks.
Grandpa was always happy to see the children walk by. He loved his own mo‘opuna – all eighteen of them. Like his own grandchildren he marveled at how they all seemed “so full of life. He took special delight whenever he noticed young girls with plumeria flowers in their hair.
One day grandma was out on the porch with grandpa. Though she had her back to grandpa everyone knew - though they couldn’t figure out how it was possible - that grandma had a 360 degree range of vision.
“Ah, what is it that you are doing?” she asked in Hawaiian.
“Oh, I’m just enjoying my liliko‘i juice,” he answered.
“And what is that you are watching?” she asked.
Without hesitation grandpa answered in Hawaiian, “I am watching the flowers go by!”
Grandma smiled, “I see.”
Grandpa smiled knowing that she knew he was watching the girls with flowers in their hair walk by. Nothing more needed to be said.‘ (Adapted from a story as told by Mary Kawena Puku‘i in Nānā I Ke Kumu:‘ Look to the Source)
Both understood the kaona or hidden meaning of what was being said.‘ Whether in speaking, chanting, or singing the use of kaona in the Hawaiian language was and is a way of concealing a reference to a person, place, or thing.‘ Sometimes the words may have a double meaning bringing good fortune or bad.
Centuries ago a group of Jesus’ followers came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”‘ He answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.‘ The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.'”‘ (Matthew 13:10-11, 13).
Over the years I have come to believe that whenever Jesus spoke in parables he was in fact telling many, many stories filled with kaona or hidden meanings.‘ Our readings this morning from The Gospel Acccording to Matthew is filled with the telling of five parables one after the other.
The parables are short and to the point.‘ It may be that Jesus wanted them to be heard as a unit.‘ Each seems to expand Jesus’ teaching about God’s reign or what the writer of Matthew refers to as the “kingdom of heaven.”‘ In describing what the kingdom of heaven may be like, Jesus offers the disciples images that both astonish and challenge their thinking.
To say that the kingdom is like a mustard seed might have caused some of the disciples to grimace.‘ ‘Many considered the mustard plant to be a weed, a weed that could easily overwhelm a field.
To say that the kingdom is like yeast – a potentially poisonous fungi – made even less sense.‘ While it is true that yeast leavens flour to make bread, it is also true that it makes it spoil faster.
To say that the kingdom is like hidden treasure or fine pearls is no less confusing.‘ Such treasures would have had value not when they were hidden but when they were shared.‘ And to say that the kingdom is like a net thrown into the sea to catch every kind of fish is troubling if such a net leads to the indiscriminate killing of so many other fish.
What is the kaona?
What is the hidden meaning? Some say the parable of the mustard shrub is really about the cedar trees of Lebanon (Ezekiel 17) and that the nesting birds are symbolic of all the nations that gather to become a part of God’s kingdom.
The kingdom of God is synonymous with the kingdom of heaven. The meaning of each is identical; each is synonymous with the other.‘ While the writers of Mark and Luke use the term “kingdom of God,” the writer of Matthew uses the “kingdom of heaven.”
Whatever the case may be, the images in each parable support each other in helping us understand that the presence or reign of God will not always be as we expect.‘ Each parable makes this point evident.
Ultimately what we begin to understand is if the kingdom of heaven is present with us now and yet is still to be in the future, the message of the good news of Jesus Christ and of God's love for the world will be to all people.‘ Like the net thrown into the sea catching every kind of fish, so it is that the message we share is cast upon the world to all people.
The parable tells us there will come a time of separation.‘ When I was a child we would often go fishing at night.‘ The intention was to catch ‘upāpalu or cardinal fish but more often than not we would catch ‘ala‘ihi or the spiny and boney squirrel fish. Sometimes we would catch a po‘opa‘a or what we called the stone fish or the hīnālea or wrasse which was slimy and boney as well.
The work of separating the fish was handled by my mom.‘ She would always remind us, "Too much bones this one.‘ No ono the hīnālea."‘ And back they would go into the ocean.
When dad went fishing with his throw net he did what other fishers did during Jesus' day. After lifting the net out of the water he would separate the fish from those he would keep and then toss the others back in.
The parable of the net sounds a note of judgment for all of us. At the end of the age we are told that the angels will separate the evil from the righteous – the good from the bad. For some such words are of little comfort. But in some ways I imagine that Jesus sought to encourage his listeners by letting them know how important it was that we all understand that the news of God's love is to be shared with all and that whatever judgments may be made they will not be ours to make.
Thanks be to God, Amen.