July 26: ‘You only see what you know’

Guest Speaker: Eun Jung Oh

 Scripture

Psalm 105:1–11, 45b

Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52

There is a Korean saying: “You only see what you know.”

There is a simple truth in those words.

When someone is thinking about buying a certain car, they suddenly begin to notice that same car everywhere. It is not because the cars suddenly appeared. They were there all along. The only thing that changed was where their attention was.

Two people can stand in the same place, look at the same scene, and yet see very different things. Because seeing is never just about our eyes.

We often think that seeing is automatic. But it isn’t.

As we grow and move through life, we learn how to see. Our experiences, our knowledge, our values, and our expectations shape the way we understand the world around us.

Jesus invites us to look beyond appearances and see what God is doing, even in the smallest and most ordinary things.

What does the kingdom of heaven really look like?

Each Gospel was written for a different community. Mark wrote for Christians facing persecution. Luke wrote for Gentile believers learning to follow Jesus. John wrote for people asking, “Who is Jesus?” Matthew wrote for Jewish believers who had grown up hearing the stories of Abraham, Moses, and the prophets.

They believed Jesus was the promised Messiah. But they were living through one of the darkest moments in their history. Jerusalem had been destroyed. The Temple was gone. Rome was still in power. Everything they had relied on seemed to be falling apart. Many wondered how they could remain faithful to God.

Matthew usually says “the kingdom of heaven” instead of “the kingdom of God.” Both expressions refer to the same truth. Matthew follows the Jewish tradition of showing deep reverence for God's name.

When we remember who Matthew’s first readers were, these parables sound very different. Jesus is not simply telling stories. He is teaching people how to recognize God’s kingdom, even when it seems hidden.

But nothing around them looked like God’s victory. Rome still ruled. The Temple was gone. Hope was fading. Perhaps they wondered, “If God is truly King, where is God’s kingdom?”

That is still a question many Christians ask today.

We ask it when violence seems stronger than peace. We ask it when injustice seems to have the final word. We ask it when our prayers seem to go unanswered.

Jesus does not reject that longing. But He changes the way people understand God’s kingdom.

He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.”

Imagine hearing those words for the first time.

They were waiting for strength, but Jesus spoke about a tiny seed. They were hoping for a great victory, but Jesus spoke about yeast quietly working through dough. But it was nothing like they expected.

Why do we overlook something as small as a mustard seed? Because we expect important things to look important. We look for power, size, and success. But God’s kingdom often begins in ways that seem small and insignificant.

A mustard seed keeps growing. Yeast disappears into the dough, yet it transforms the whole loaf. That is how God’s kingdom works.

It begins quietly, in places people easily overlook, so it often seems as though nothing is happening at all.

Jesus continues with two more stories.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.”

 “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.”

These two stories are different, but they make the same point.

In one story, a man finds something he was not looking for. In the other, a merchant finally finds the one pearl he has been searching for. Both discover something so valuable that everything else becomes less important.

What matters is not how they found it. What matters is that they recognized its value.

The treasure had been hidden in the field all along. Many people may have walked across that same field without ever noticing it. Nothing seemed unusual. Nothing appeared to be happening. Yet the treasure was there.

Jesus uses this image to show us something about the way God works. God often works quietly and patiently, long before we recognize what God is doing. God’s work is not always dramatic or obvious. More often, God is at work in ordinary places and ordinary moments.

Isn’t that often true in our own lives?

There are times when we pray and nothing seems to change. We wait, but God seems silent. We wonder if God is really at work.

Jesus invites us to look again. God’s kingdom is already among us. God is already at work, whether we see it or not.

That is why Jesus tells this short parable.

A man finds a treasure hidden in a field. We are not told how he knew it was treasure. Jesus does not explain that part. But somehow, he recognized what others had missed. The treasure had always been there. Its value did not change the moment he found it. What changed was the man.

Once he saw the treasure, everything looked different. He was no longer thinking about what he had to give up. He was thinking about what he had found. So, he went with joy and sold everything to buy that field.

Jesus says God’s kingdom is like that. God has been at work all along. The question is not whether God is present, but whether we recognize what God is doing.

Faith does not create God’s kingdom. Faith teaches us to see the kingdom that God is already bringing into the world. And once we see it, everything else begins to find its proper place.

Jesus is not only teaching His disciples how to recognize the kingdom. He is also teaching them how to live with hope.

Jesus also compares the kingdom of heaven to a fishing net. The net is already in the water, gathering fish of every kind. God’s kingdom is where God is at work. It is where God’s love, justice, and mercy are changing people's lives. That work has already begun.

But the story is not over. One day, God will make everything right. Evil will be removed, justice will be done, and God’s kingdom will be complete.

For now, we live between promise and fulfillment. God’s kingdom has already begun, but we still wait for its fullness. Waiting is not easy. Some prayers are answered quickly. Others seem to remain unanswered for years. But even while we wait, we do not wait without hope. Jesus tells these parables to remind us that God’s kingdom is not measured by what we can see today. We can live with hope because God's promises never fail.

One New Testament scholar, N. T. Wright, reminds us that God’s future has already broken into the present through Jesus Christ.

That means we do not simply wait for God’s kingdom after death. We are called to live out the kingdom of heaven here and now. We begin living by its values today. Every act of forgiveness, every work of mercy, every pursuit of justice, and every choice to love becomes a sign of the kingdom breaking into our world.

George Eldon Ladd reminds us that the church is not the kingdom itself. It is the community of the kingdom. God brings the kingdom. We bear witness to it.

When we forgive instead of seeking revenge, welcome those who are forgotten, stand beside those who suffer, and hold on to hope in a broken world, we become signs of God’s kingdom. Through our lives, others catch a glimpse of what God is doing.

So perhaps Jesus leaves us with one final question.

What are we missing?

We began with a Korean saying: “You only see what you know.”

Saint Augustine reminds us that what we repeatedly look at shapes who we become.

Over time, our hearts and our character are shaped by what we choose to keep before our eyes. As we keep our eyes on Christ, our way of seeing begins to change. We begin to see the world through His eyes, and little by little, we become more like Him.

Faith teaches us not simply what to believe, but how to see.  

The world may not look very different tomorrow morning.

But perhaps we will. Amen.