Keep It Simple
Matthew 13:10-17[1]
Most of you know that I’ve been talking about
some of the slogans of the “Twelve Step” movement lately. They’re not
necessarily biblically based, but they represent the wisdom of those who’ve
faced and overcome debilitating hardships in their lives. Their experiences of
making the journey from trauma through healing to serenity provide lessons for
us all. That’s true of today’s slogan as well: “Keep It Simple.” Of course,
these days, that’s a slogan that’s not confined to the Twelve Step movement.
But it is one of the Twelve Step slogans. And in that context, it refers to
focusing on what you can actually do about the people, circumstances, and
events in your life. And that means letting go the things you can’t do anything
about. “Keeping it simple” this way helps us keep our heads on straight when we
feel overwhelmed by the parts of our lives that we cannot control.
That’s not something we do naturally. At least
I don’t. When life feels like it’s spiraling out of control, we pull out all
the stops to try to make things run the way we want them to. It’s a normal
response to stress and anxiety. But the problem is that the “normal” ways we
respond to stress and anxiety usually make things worse. We misuse substances
to numb our feelings. We take those feelings out on the people closest to us.
We ramp up our efforts to control our lives to get the outcomes we want, which
only increases our stress and anxiety, especially when there really is nothing
we can do about whatever may be causing the problem in the first place. The
only real solution is to accept that the problem is out of our control and
focus on maintaining healthy attitudes and life choices. Usually that means
“keeping it simple” by sticking to our daily routines. In the Twelve-Step movement,
they speak of doing the “next right thing.” When that’s our focus, it helps us
to keep things “simple.”
I think our strange lesson from the Gospel of
Matthew reflects this in a way. It’s a strange lesson because it sounds like
Jesus was saying that he was trying to prevent people from turning to God. I
would say that in reality, he was trying to get people to acknowledge that all
their efforts to control their own sense of self-righteousness was getting in
the way of the simplicity of how God actually wanted them to live their lives!
It was their own obsession with measuring their piety by external means that
was preventing them from examining their hearts and responding to Jesus and his
message. In a very real sense, they had “shut” their own eyes and “stopped”
their own ears from hearing Jesus.
Even that perspective sounds pretty edgy. Part
of the problem is that the Gospel of Matthew came out of a time of extreme
crisis. The early Christians for whom Matthew was writing his Gospel were
likely Jewish converts. But because of their faith in Jesus, they had not only
been expelled from their synagogues, but also likely had been shunned by their
families. They were treated like heretics and blasphemers. When we have to live
with that kind of hostility, it can affect the way we treat people. We tend to
react to hostility by becoming defensive and even angry toward those who are
attacking us. We tend to “circle the wagons,” so to speak, and we may attack
everyone outside the circle. When we do, we not only only harm others,
including those who just happen be “in the way,” we also harm ourselves. When
we adopt that kind of attitude, we see “enemies” everywhere.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the context in
which Matthew’s Gospel was written. The problem comes up when we internalize
the attitude that everyone who is not “with us” is “against us” (contrast Mk
9:40!). When we do that, our religion becomes a convenient outlet for the
stress and anxiety we may feel about the normal conflicts we face in life.
Those conflicts come about simply because we live in a world full of other
people who differ from us in all kinds of ways. When we view “difference” as a
threat, it turns us into people who are closed-minded and hard-hearted,
wielding our faith like a club, so focused on defending ourselves that we
attack everyone who is “outside” what we perceive to be “our circle.”
But Jesus cut through all of that toxic
religion and taught that our faith is about what God is doing in this world to
bring peace, justice, freedom, and love to all people everywhere. Jesus called
that the “kingdom of God.” He knew that his vision for the world was very
different from the way things work. The Romans were still in power, and they
wielded that power with cruelty and brutality. The wealthy oppressed the poor
with no accountability. Religious leaders used their position not to serve the
people but to gain wealth and power for themselves. Suffering, violence,
injustice, and just plain meanness were overwhelming the world when Jesus was
teaching about the “kingdom of God.” I can understand why some of his followers
withdrew from the world in fear and hostility. And of course, we still face
those challenges to this day. And it still leads many good people to retreat
behind their faith like it’s a castle wall.
That’s why he told the disciples that there
were some who wouldn’t get the point of his parables. He used parables to teach
them about the “mystery” or the “secret” of the kingdom of God. And that secret
is this: despite appearances to the contrary, God’s kingdom is working now to
change all things and all people. God really is working to bring peace,
justice, freedom, and love to all people everywhere. We see it in the “Parable
of the Sower,” where the “fruit” produced by the good soil far exceeds all
expectations. We see it in the “Parable of the Mustard Seed,” where a tiny seed
becomes a “large tree.” We see it in the “Parable of the Leaven” where the
yeast inevitably works its way through a large batch of dough. The idea is that
the change the kingdom of God is bringing will inevitably work its way through
this whole world.
One of the lessons I think Jesus wanted
believers to come away with is an attitude toward others that differed from the
religious people of his day. Despite all that remains wrong with this world, I
think Jesus wanted those who followed him to fully embrace the hope that one
day the kingdom of God will right all the wrongs. One day, God will restore all
people and all creation to the way God intended when he made it “very good.”
When we embrace this vision of what God is doing in the world, it makes it
possible for us to extend the same generous welcome that God has given us to
those we may see as “outsiders.” When we embrace Jesus’ vision of what God is
doing in the world, we don’t have to worry about who’s “with us” and who’s
“against us.” Because God’s plan is to bring us all together in his love. That
means we can “Keep It Simple” when it comes to how we live our Christian lives.
We can set aside our fears and hostilities and do our best to love God with all
our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We “Keep It Simple” by
keeping love as the focus of our faith.
[1] ©
2026 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 7/19/2026 for
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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