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Running In Circles                        Matthew 13: 44-46                   July 27, 2008

Fred Craddock, one of Newsweek magazine's "Top Ten Living Preachers," is indeed a great preacher - as well as a teacher of preachers. He is also a great storyteller. One of my favorite Craddock stories is about a greyhound. *

"I've never been to the greyhound races," he begins, "but I've seen them on TV. They have these beautiful, big old dogs, and they run that mechanical rabbit around the ring, and these dogs just run, exhausting themselves chasing it. When those dogs get to where they can't race, the owners put a little ad in the paper, and if anybody wants one for a pet, they can have it, otherwise they're going to be destroyed."

"I was in a house not long ago where they'd adopted a dog that had been a racer," Craddock goes on to tell his listeners. "One of the kids in the family, just a toddler, was pulling on its tail, and a little older kid had his head over on that old dog's stomach, used it for a pillow. That dog just seemed so happy, and I said to the dog, 'Un, are you still racing any?'"

"'No, no, no, I don't race anymore,' he said.

I said, 'Do you miss the glitter and excitement of the track?'

He said, 'No, no.'

I said, 'Well, what's the matter? You too old?'

'No, no, I still had some race in me."

'Well, did you not win?'

He said, 'I won over a million dollars for my owner,'

'Then what was it, bad treatment?'

'Oh, no, they treated us royally when we were racing."

'Then what?'

'I quit."

'You quit?'

'Yea, that's what I said. I quit.'

I said, 'Why did you quit?'

And he said, 'I discovered that what I was chasing was not really a rabbit. And I quit. All that running, running, running, running, and what I was chasing, not even real.'"

All that running, running, running, running, and what I was chasing was not even real.

Boy, can I ever identify with that greyhound. Been there, and done that.

I'd guess that most of us have been there and done that at some point in our life. We come home one night and sit down, exhausted after a day's work and recognize that we've been running and running and chasing and chasing. And of course the question, then, becomes, "Running and chasing just what, exactly?"

I had a chance, this past week, to spend some time with my son. He's a busy guy, so we don't get a chance to spend a day together very often. When the opportunity arises, it's something I cherish as much as anything else in my life.

This week was particularly special, because Keith and I took the train up to New York together and went to a ball game at Yankee Stadium. We both wanted to experience the last season at that historic venue. Great game; the Yanks won - life just doesn't get much better.

Whenever I'm in New York City - and as many of you know, I used to commute there every day - I'm reminded of the pace of life. Talk about running, running and running. On the streets, in the subway concourses, everywhere. Masses of humanity moving as fast as possible. Again the same question arises, "Running and chasing just what, exactly?"

Are we in the same position as the retired greyhound in Fred Craddock's story? Or are we chasing something real?

Jesus gives us some insight into what's real and what we should be chasing when he shares, with his listeners, a group of sayings about the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus used comparisons all the time. Sinners are "like lost sheep," he said. The word of God is "like seed sown on different kinds of ground," and the kingdom of Heaven is "like a wedding feast." Many of his comparisons were surprising. He often took ordinary things and gave them holy meaning.

In the passage we read earlier as our Gospel lesson for this morning, taken from Matthew chapter 13, Jesus makes a number of such comparisons - comparisons between things we can understand and the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew records the comparisons in rapid-fire order. One after the other. Five in all. Like images in a multi-media presentation or scenes zipping by as you zoom down the highway. Our Gospel writer, Matthew, calls the comparisons parables.

Speaking of parables, before we go any further, it's probably good to mention a few facts about these special stories. When we read the word "parable" in the Bible, it is either a translation of the Greek word parabole or the Hebrew word masal. Either way, these short stories are a lot like musical compositions or poetry. They are not intended to make some symbolic point, nor do they have a meaning that can be ferreted out by picking them apart. The best way to understand one of Jesus' parables is simply to listen. To let the parable speak for itself.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, Jesus says. "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; the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. And the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad."

The images Jesus uses in these stories have one thing in common. They challenge his listeners' assumptions about things as they are. They point to what is real and permanent - the Kingdom of Heaven - and to what is false and fleeting - the Kingdom of this world.

This is particularly true, I think, about the two parables in the middle of the string of five - the one about the tiller of soil who finds treasure hidden in a field and the one about the merchant who finds one pearl of great value.

The central figure in each of these parables goes and sells everything for the sake of the one thing. It's what the plowman does when he finds the treasure and it's what the merchant does when he finds the precious pearl.

My guess is that both of the figures Jesus describes in these parables had a lot in common with Fred Craddock's greyhound. They were running and running and running, every day; running in pursuit of daily food, in the case of the plowman, and running in pursuit of greater wealth, in the case of the merchant. And when they finally found something of real value, they were willing to risk everything and possess that thing.

The Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus says, is what really matters. It is treasure that is worth chasing after. A true treasure. And to possess it you need to risk everything and pursue it. It needs to be the focus of your life.

I think there are two important points that we can take from these two parables:

First, in both instances, the item of great value was found in the course of everyday life. The plowman finds the hidden treasure while going about his daily business. As does the merchant when he finds the pearl of great price.

The same is true for the Kingdom of God. If you and I want to find the Kingdom, we need not go to some holy place - to a monastery or some ancient cathedral. On the contrary. The Kingdom is to be found in everyday life. Hidden in plain sight.

We may have to slow down a little to see it, but it is there.

One scholar puts it this way: ". . .our treasure is buried not in some exotic far-off place that requires a special map but that 'X' marks the spot right here, right now, in all the ordinary people and places and activities of our lives. These are the places to dig for the Kingdom of Heaven; these are the places to look for the rule and will and presence of God." **

The second point is as important as the first. As we've already seen, when the plowman finds the treasure and the merchant finds the pearl, they risk everything to possess it. They "go for it," so to speak. They are anything but shy.

Why? Because in the end, it is worth it. Worth it for the plowman and the merchant, and worth it for us.

After all, like the racing greyhounds, the fake rabbits we often find ourselves chasing are, in the end, not worth the effort. The Kingdom of God is the thing worth chasing after. The thing worth possessing.

When you and I are fortunate enough to uncover God's will for us, what we do with it is key. The treasure buried in the field or the pearl sitting on the jeweler's shelf is of no use to us. Jesus reminds us that the Kingdom belongs to those with the guts to stake it all on the treasure. To give up everything to possess it.

So, let's slow down a little, shall we? And look for signs of the Kingdom of God in our everyday life.

And when we find it, let's be sure we are not shy about possessing it. About making it the focus of our life.

                                                                             AMEN

* Craddock Stories, by Fred B. Craddock. Chalice Press, 2001. P.106
** The Seeds of Heaven, by Barbara Brown Taylor. WJK Press, 2004. P. 44

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