Corruptors of the Corruption

This blog post is based on my sermon from February 17, 2019, which was originally titled, "You're Gonna Ruin My Bad Reputation!"

[Jesus] put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it is grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come ad make nests in its branches." He told them another parable: "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."    --Matthew 13:31-33, New Revised Standard Version

(thank you to Sue Kravits for the meme)

There's a scene in Robert Duvall's movie, "The Apostle." Robert Duvall's character Sonny is a preacher who believes that God is calling him to start a small church in rural Louisiana. On the very first Sunday there are no more than five or six people in worship. Sonny greets everyone and says, "We're small but powerful." He then has them turn to their neighbors, and they repeat, "We're small but powerful!"

From time to time I've quoted that scene in worship, particularly on a low attendance Sunday such as a snow day or President's Day weekend. We may not have as many in worship as we normally do. We're small but powerful.

There is something very compelling in the thought of someone small being secretly powerful, or capable of growing and becoming strong.

At first glance, this would seem to be the message of a parable about a small mustard seed growing into the greatest of shrubs. Jesus seems to reiterate the point by telling another brief parable about a little bit of yeast being enough to make an enormous amount of dough rise.

Yet as preacher and scholar Thomas G. Long points out, there is a lot more happening in these two very brief parables. (see Thomas G. Long, Matthew, Westminster Bible Companion, pp. 152-154. This sermon borrows heavily from Long's interpretation of these parables. Direct quotes are indented.)

If we read these parables too quickly, or listen to them being read in worship too casually, we are going to miss seeing the twinkle in Jesus' eye or his almost mischievous grin.

A mustard seed is small, but it's not quite the smallest of all the seeds. And a mustard bush is not really the greatest of all shrubs, and it certainly does not grow into a tree large enough for flocks of nesting birds. 

There is a reference in the Old Testament book of Daniel to the Kingdom of Babylon as a tree standing majestically at the center of the earth, with a top that reached to heaven. This tree was visible to the ends of the earth; its branches were broad enough to provide nesting space to all the flocking birds of the air; and from this tree all living beings were fed.

To a people who believed that great kingdoms or mighty empires were supposed to look like massive cedars of Lebanon or giant sequoias, Jesus offers the humble image of a mustard bush.

The main point remains the same: something small grows into something big. But another point gets made as well: this greatness does not come in the form we expect. As New Testament scholar David Garland has pointed out, the realm of heaven is breaking into the world in a disarming way. After all, we do not sing, "A Mighty Mustard Bush is our God." (David Garland, Reading Matthew, as quoted by Long). Try looking for that hymn in our purple Glory to God hymnal. You won't find it.

A Mighty Mustard Bush!

Thus, from small beginnings, the kingdom--or realm--of God grows into something great, but it is not the kind of greatness we expect.

There is an even bigger twist to he parable of the yeast. You and I might hear it as a simple cooking illustration, but that's not what's happening. You and I can go to the store and buy a little glass jar of yeast for our bread machine, and we can store that little glass jar in our pantry until we need it again without having to worry about it.

But in the ancient world yeast was not easily contained, and it was considered highly corrosive. In fact, in Jesus' day yeast was a symbol for corruption. To say something like a little yeast leavens the whole loaf was tantamount to saying one bad apple spoils the barrel. Again, as David Garland observes, saying that the realm of God is like yeast was akin to saying that it was like rust.

The other thing to notice in this brief parable about the yeast is what the woman does with the yeast. She does not simply mix the yeast into the flour, which is how the New Revised Standard Version translates that word. According to Tom Long, a better translation would be to say that the woman hides the yeast; she conceals the yeast. In the words of Tom Long:

the parable of the yeast pictures the [realm] of God as a hidden force working silently to corrupt the world--that is, to corrupt the corruption, or as the whimsical lyrics of the 1980s hit country song by Ronnie McDowell put it, "You're gonna ruin my bad reputation." One cannot see the [realm] of God pervading the world, but when its covert fermentation is accomplished, the bland flour of the world will have been transformed into the joyous bread of life. (Long, p. 154).

 Have you ever thought about our ministry in that way? That you and I, through the hidden mercies of God, can be corruptors of the corruption?

I once heard a sermon illustration about a woman named Kathleen, who was a public health nurse in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Some of you may be familiar with the story of Asbury Park, how it was an upscale seaside community in the 1940s and 50s, but by the 60s and 70s it was hopelessly mired in urban blight and corruption. Once fashionable, four-star hotels became nothing more than flop houses. In one of those flop houses there was a nursing home populated mostly by elderly people who were among the poorest of the poor. Conditions were horrific. The management wouldn't allow the public health nurses to come into the nursing home to do an inspection because they didn't want them to see the squalor, and even the city government sided with the management.

So, Kathleen, who was a public health nurse, decided to go incognito. She went down to the nursing home and got herself hired as a chamber maid. She went from room to room changing bed pans, cleaning toilets, and surreptitiously checking blood pressures and monitoring temperatures. As she went from room to room Kathleen said she could see the face of Christ in each patient. (from a sermon by Thomas G. Long, preached at the Duke University Chapel, May 2011).

Now, what can one public health nurse do in the face of urban blight and squalor? Well, what can a little bit of yeast do in a large measure of flour? Kathleen was powerful enough to be a corruptor of the corruption.

I remember another story someone once told me about a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, who also happened to be a corporate lawyer in Midland, Texas. This particular attorney made a very comfortable living as a partner in a law firm that did a lot of work for the oil and gas industry, but he also did some pro bono work on the side in the area of landlord-tenant law, on the side of the tenants! If he got word that a landlord was up to some abusive practice, he would write a very intimidating letter to that landlord using his law firm's letterhead. That was usually enough to stop whatever shenanigans the landlord had been up to. In telling these stories, the attorney was apt to recline in his plush office chair, prop his cowboy boots atop his mahogany desk, and exclaim how he just loved working for justice! (from a sermon by Patrick J Willson, preached at the Westminster (Virginia) Presbyterian Church. I'm uncertain of the date). I think this attorney was another example of someone working to be a corruptor of the corruption.

I recently learned about the Peace Drums Project, which is an interfaith initiative in modern-day Israel, in Galilee, which is where Jesus grew up. The Peace Drums Project supplies steel drums for middle school students who are Jewish, Christian, and Muslim, and helps them make music together in a single band. The hope is that the students and parents will get to know each other and that some of the stereotypes that they have of each other will disappear as they make music together.

To learn more about the Peace Drums Project, please click here.

What can a small band of drummers do in the face of historic conflict, in the midst of rockets, tanks, bombs, and bullets? Well, what can a little bit of yeast do in a large measure of flour?

In the midst of a complex world with complex problems, you and I can go out and be corruptors of the corruption. We can spread radical gospel ideas such as we're all created in the image of God! We all have a place at the table! We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to return no one evil for evil.

We can infiltrate society with these radical ideas until society looks more and more like the realm of heaven.

All glory and praise be to our God. Amen.

Please use the space below to post comments or questions. 

When have you felt like you were acting like a corruptor of the corruption? Do you believe that you are being called now in some way to be a corruptor of the corruption?