What Is the Kingdom of Heaven?

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, July 26, 2026
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

    A few years ago, I drove into Manhattan for a black-tie event in an evening gown and my sneakers. I had my high heels in a bag to change into once I parked my car.  Of course it was a valet parking garage, so I quickly swapped out my shoes before handing my keys to the valet driver and started walking a few blocks to the venue. It had been a while since I wore high heels, and my feet really hurt.  Did my feet grow a size? I wondered. I had tried on the shoes at home, and they had felt fine.  I looked down at my feet and realized…I had the left foot shoe on the right foot and vice versa! No wonder I had been walking funnily.  I tried to discreetly change my shoes on the street before walking casually into the venue, laughing out loud at the silly mistake I had made.  And then, as I looked around at the diversity of people walking by on that beautiful day, I also realized there were people definitely dressed as strangely or more strangely than I.  On any day in Manhattan, you can truly see it all, even a pastor walking awkwardly in an evening gown with shoes on the wrong feet.
    Jesus gives us five short parables to help us imagine what the kingdom of heaven is like this morning.  The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, like yeast, like treasure, like one pearl of great value, like a net that catches fish of every kind.  So first, I’d invite you to think about your own description or parable of what the kingdom of heaven is like.  The first thing that comes to my mind is that experience I had walking down 5th Avenue in Manhattan, one of the most diverse places in the world, seeing people of every kind, dressed in every kind of way, the sights, sounds and smells of the city.  Well, maybe not the garbage smell is in the kingdom of heaven, but I imagine all the rest of it.  Jesus looks upon each one of those people in their diverse appearance as a pearl of great value, as treasure in a field worth spending all he has to buy.  This is how much Jesus values each one of us, and what lengths Jesus goes to die and be raised for us, to save us.  
We are the yeast that leavens the whole dough.  We are the seeds that grow together into a large shrub to be the kingdom of God, followers of Jesus, active in the world.  We are the disciples of the kingdom of heaven, as Jesus says at the end of our gospel reading for this morning.  We have heard these old parables of Jesus – timeless descriptions of the kingdom of heaven. We bring them out, and then we can consider what new descriptions or parables we can tell or imagine about the kingdom of heaven today.  What is the kingdom of heaven like?
    The three other gospels record Jesus teaching parables about the kingdom of God.  Matthew is unique in talking about the kingdom of heaven, probably because as a faithful Jewish person, he is avoiding using the name of God directly.  Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God more than any other topic except for money, actually; about 80 times in the four gospels, depending on how you count.  Even as adults, just as I talked with the children during the children’s sermon, we first may imagine the kingdom of heaven as the future place we go when we die.  Pearly gates, bright light, sun shining in the clouds, the people we love who have died reuniting with us, the embrace of God – all of these things may come to mind when we hear that phrase, “the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus is talking about a future reality, another space and time.  However, with his coming, his being born and living and walking among us, he teaches us here that we also can experience glimpses of God’s intention for us, his faithful people NOW, here on earth, just as we pray in the Lord’s prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.”  The kingdom of heaven is not just a future place we go when we die, but God’s vision for humanity on Earth as we strive to follow Jesus’ way.
    So for example, if Jesus calls us to be yeast, as Christians we can think of ourselves as yeast mixed in the dough of the world, permeating our communities, sharing in tangible ways God’s joy, peace, hope, and love.  We can do this now, and Jesus calls us to do this now, not to wait until a future promised kingdom of heaven when we die.  We think about what values, actions, and ways of being in the world are most important to us as Christians – we think about the greatest treasure that is worth living for and worth dying for, just as that man finds, reburies and then sells all he has to buy that field.  You know the saying, we are not to be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good.  We cling to the good news and hope of our treasure in heaven, and we also hear this good news that we can see the inbreaking goodness of God through Jesus Christ right here, right now, today – in the church, and when we leave the church to go out in the world!
    It can certainly be challenging on some days to trust in Jesus’ words that the kingdom of heaven has come near.  War in Iran and elsewhere.  Forest fires, flooding, and extreme temperatures.  The incidents of evil we encounter in the world.  Yet, we do have God sightings that we share with one another to encourage one another!  We do experience the kingdom of heaven in tangible simple things like yeast, mustard seed, pearls and fish.  
    In a previous congregation I served there was a newly retired couple who moved into town, joined our church, and sadly and tragically, the husband died suddenly of a heart attack within a month of them moving.  The widow had no family other than an adult daughter with severe disabilities who lived in a facility nearby, which is why they had moved.  She had not had much time to make many friends or connections.  She was deeply grieving and lost in many ways without her husband, yet she had her faith, and she had us, the church.  We put together a meal train.  Members took her out to lunch and coffee and check in on her regularly, including bringing her to church and other church activities because she didn’t want to go by herself.  People from the church helped her move and downsize into a more affordable apartment and got her connected to legal and financial services to help her as her husband was the one who had taken care of all of those things.  We found her a mental health counselor.  The church was the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, at work in the world.  Truly, I do not know what this woman would have done without the church in this difficult, unpredictable situation.
Jesus gives us a vision of what we are to do as his called, chosen, and infinitely beloved disciples – grow into branches of a generous, hospitable community; leaven your community with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Strive to see yourself and others as people of great value to God.  Remember our greatest treasure is Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Look forward to the hope of heaven.  What is the kingdom of heaven like?  Jesus invites us to use our imagination, and to trust that he will lead us there.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.