This Is What The Kingdom Is Like

What if you got to heaven and found out that God had decided to let everyone in?

Sermon for Pentecost 18A 9/22/02

Maryann M. Meador Matthew 20: 1 – 16

Once upon a time, in a small town, a town a little bit like Rockford, there lived a woman with her son. No one knew how old or young she was. She was sort of ageless.

She had a big old house, with a wrap around front porch and a very deep backyard, shaded with trees. It was hard to tell exactly how big or small the house was; if you stood in the front of it, you would think it went on forever.

One day, the woman was sitting on the front porch, and a young boy walked by.

His name was Andrew.

They greeted each other, and spoke, and the woman invited Andrew in to for some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and lemonade.

Inside, Andrew was amazed and thrilled to discover everything he had ever dreamed of. There were toys of every kind and color there; big wheels, and trampolines, and a swimming pool and a baseball field and a huge screen TV and a gameboy, and there was lots of food, all his favorites; cookies and cake and candy and french fries and hamburgers and pizza and pop and lemonade and if there was anything else that he just thought about in his heart, the woman would immediately fix it for him. They laughed and played together, the woman and her son and Andrew, and had wonderful, long talks, and told jokes and laughed and just thoroughly enjoyed each others company. They found that they just loved being together. Andrew’s favorite part of spending time in the house was sitting on the big, comfy sofa between the woman and her son and listening to the wonderful stories they told.

The woman and her son told Andrew to feel free to go and invite other children to visit the house anytime.

And Andrew did. And other children came, and they all enjoyed the company of the woman and her son and the boy, and they jumped and played and ate and told stories and just thoroughly enjoyed each others company. They especially loved sitting on the big comfy sofa and listening to the wonderful stories the woman and her son told.

Every morning, the woman would go out and sit on the big old front porch, enjoying her coffee, and as other children walked by, she would invite them in.

Many came, and they all thought this is better than any amusement park or pizza party or anyplace else they’d ever been.

So the woman and her son were happy. They thoroughly enjoyed the company of the happy children.

Outside of the house, the children went to school, and they went to church and they were with their families. But their favorite place in the whole world was the house with the woman and her son and all the wonderful things that were always prepared and ready for them. And they truly loved listening to the stories that the woman and her son told.

Some of the children told other children about the house, and invited them to come. And they came, and were amazed and thrilled with all the wonderful things in the house, and with how fun and loving the woman and her son were, and how fabulous the stories they told were.

And some of the children didn’t. They thought: I found it first; if I tell others about it, it won’t be as good, or there might not be room for me to eat and play and to sit and listen to the stories of the woman and her son.

It got to the point where all the children in the town knew about the woman and her son and the house, except for one little girl.

No one had told her about the woman and her son and the wonderful house.

But one day, almost as if it were ordained, the little girl went for a walk and strolled right by the woman’s house.

And there she was, drinking coffee on the front porch. The woman invited the little girl in for some fresh baked cookies and lemonade.

And although the little girl was hesitant at first, she went up the steps to the front porch and sat with the woman in one of those big white wicker chairs, and they visited and got to know one another.

The little girls’ name was Mary. The woman invited Mary in to the house to play. And Mary was hesitant at first, but then she looked up and saw the woman’s son standing in the doorway, smiling at her and beckoning her to come in. He really looked like a person you could trust with your life.