Introduction
We live in a day and age when marketing is the key to getting ahead, to being successful. Marketers want their headlines to stand out in the crowd to encourage searchers to click and connect with their content. And I am not just talking about the marketers who are peddling products, but anyone who wants what is the ultimate goal…attention.
Get the attention of people—of an audience—and the possibilities for success are all at your fingertips
Companies aim to get attention through sensational ad placements and promises. News outlets aim to get attention through cleverly worded headlines—but when conditions are right, they get to use those two fantastically alluring words…Breaking News!
But we know that most of this is what’s called…clickbait.
Taken for its denotative meaning, clickbait does what all content marketers want—it helps attract attention and encourage visitors to click a link to a particular web page.
David Ambrogio, a paid research specialist offers a definition that touches on what the word “clickbait” means, saying, “Clickbait is any content with sensationalist headlines used to encourage clicks to drive ad revenue.”
The problem with clickbait, says Andrew Selepak, a professor and director of a graduate social media program at the University of Florida is, “Clickbait is tricking people into consuming your content by making them believe it will be better than what it really is. And in doing so you take something from your audience without fulfilling your part of the deal: creating useful, quality content.”
Selepak does further the considerations of this topic, saying, “But clickbait isn’t necessarily bad. While we often view clickbait negatively, because it is associated with fake news and online hucksters, if your company has a solid product that can actually help consumers, getting people to your site by a hook isn’t such a bad thing.”
Selepak offers P.T. Barnum’s “Greatest Show on Earth” label as an example of pre-internet clickbait, saying, “While it is debatable that P.T. Barnum truly had the greatest show on Earth, his clickbait advertising did get people to come see his show, and what they saw was entertaining. P.T. Barnum knew well that it was good business to make sure customers got what they expected, saying in the 1880’s, ‘You may advertise a spurious article and induce many people to buy it once, but they will denounce you as an imposter and swindler when they learn its truth, and your business will gradually die out and leave you poor.’”
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This is the message conveyed by our gospel reading for today. The marketing Jesus enlists is astonishing and incredibly good news. In fact, this is the way the announcement is framed in the Gospels.
Breaking news: The kingdom of God is upon us!
Breaking news: The kingdom of God is within you!
Breaking news: The kingdom of God is open to all.
It’s fair to say that most people— after hearing breaking news— want details, more information, more background or more understanding. If we’re like this, we will stay tuned to our TV, or consult online sites regularly. We want to know more.
And this is what Jesus gives in our text. He provides details and information—some context to relate to—giving the disciples understanding and insight. The kingdom of God has broken into history. It shatters everything! What does this incredible, amazing and daring action mean? Well, let’s click the headlines and find out.
Move 1:
Clickbait breaking news #1: The mustard seed.
This seed is so small when sowing it, it’s almost invisible. Yet from this virtually invisible seed, a huge shrub develops, large enough for birds (no doubt the little sparrows of which Jesus spoke on other occasions) to flit about, nest and rest.
This is an image of the kingdom of God. Its power is so great that no matter how small the work, no matter how small the seed sown, it results in something great and amazing.
Some commentators believe the reference to the birds speaks to the nature of the kingdom as a hospitable place where all can find shelter and rest. The kingdom of God, in other words, is not a thorny shrub where little birds are uncomfortable, pierced, judged and unwelcome.
The metaphor also reminds us we cannot do everything. All we can do is plant seeds. Some “seeds” might be virtually invisible to the eyes of others— insignificant, meaningless, unimportant. But, although we may never see the shrub, these seeds grow and become a work that is important and meaningful—the bring forth huge blessings.
Move 2
Clickbait breaking news #2: Yeast.
The meaning of this metaphor is similar to the previous one. That which is small, virtually invisible, yields an astounding product much larger than itself.
In this case, the emphasis is not on external material growth, but something happening inwardly. The leaven works within the dough. Dough without yeast is heavy, thick, inert and tasteless. Dough into which leaven has been introduced is completely different. The kingdom of God is a changing agent; it causes expansion, development, movement, a metamorphosis. It starts from within and grows into an outward alteration.
Move 3:
Clickbait breaking news #3 and #4: The treasure in a field and an expensive pearl.
It was not uncommon in the first century A.D. for someone who had something quite valuable to bury the precious item in his backyard or field. The object was thereby protected from marauders and thieves.
Jesus’ parable supposes that someone has found a treasure in a field accidentally. What is he going to do? He is going to do anything and everything he can to buy the field so he can legally claim the treasure in the field.
This is different from the purchase of a priceless pearl because the pearl is not discovered accidentally. The pearl is discovered by someone who is shopping for precious gems, or something similar. He finds this incredible pearl, and knowing its value, sells off everything he owns to purchase it.
Now while these parable have their differences, the breaking news is still that the kingdom of God is more precious than anything in this world. Give up everything to possess the kingdom!
This, in fact, is Jesus’ message time and again. Jesus is always inviting people to leave everything and follow him—and in doing so they will gain everything. Deny yourself. Pick up your cross and carry it. There is a hidden quality to the Kingdom of God—the treasure is buried, the pearl is sequestered within the shell, waiting to be revealed, it is something to be sought out at all costs.
Some people stumble upon the kingdom of God anyway, albeit accidentally. Some are searching for it and find it. But in any case, once discovered, you divest yourself of anything that would deny complete possession of this incredible treasure because it’s worth so much more.
Move 4:
Clickbait breaking news #5: The Fishing Net
Most exciting of all perhaps (for a people living under the thumb of the Roman Empire), is the message that someday the Kingdom of God will triumph over evil.
This last parable provides further details about the “breaking news” of the Kingdom of God and is the announcement that the Kingdom of God is not just a present, spiritual reality, but also an inevitable future physical reality. This eschatological dimension of the kingdom reminds us that the tares will someday be separated from the wheat (13:24-30); someday the “bad” will be separated from the good (v. 38). Evil will be separated from the righteous.
This is indeed good news for these people as it is for us today, because the times in which we live are dangerous, confusing and crushing times. We are beset by so many conflict and antagonistic ways of thinking. Evil and unrighteousness are all around us. We are often beleaguered and “hunkering in the bunker” of despair and uncertainty. But this breaking news message reminds us to step out into the light of the certain victory and triumph of righteousness. We can leave all of this in the hands of God and go back to being the church, being a mustard seed, being the yeast in the loaf. We can cast our nets and know they will be filled with goodness when we pull them in.
Conclusion
So what does all of this mean to us?
Well it is as Jesus says to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
We do not, and should not, hide our light under a bushel basket (see 5:14-15). We should and must break the news of Jesus Christ to the world. Because no matter where we fall in the clickbait debate, we all can agree on the resulting principle: Share the Good news, the great, accurate headlines that entice people to pay attention— and, when they click, when they ask, we don’t disappoint them—with conditions or judgements or threats. We don’t show them an imposter of Christ, a swindler of false hope. Rather, we give them the breaking news they need to hear, the breaking news that will get their attention, the breaking news that will truly change their life.
Breaking news: Small beginnings bring forth huge blessings.
Breaking news: Inward growth results in outward alteration.
Breaking news: Buried treasure found! And it’s worth more than we can imagine.
Breaking news: From bankruptcy to the good life in the blink of an eye.
Breaking news: Evil defeated. Love wins.
We are agents of the new Kingdom! We are heralds and messengers breaking the best possible news upon a world eager to hear, and pay attention to, some good news.
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So may we embrace our role as marketers. Let us get our headlines and breaking news to as many as we can. Because this news is just too good to keep to ourselves. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, August 30, 2020
God of small seeds and mighty plants; God of rising up and changing from the inside out; God of treasures waiting to be found… you take our lives and with your love and grace, your infinite wisdom and guidance, you produce acts of loving kindness able to transform this world.
You hear our cries and find us when we are lost and wandering in fear. You bring us home with you so that we may be made whole, rejoicing in your goodness.
So we thank you for the mustard seed, for the wonders of yeast, for the treasure you freely give, and for how these gifts teach us to love. Help us then, to joyfully serve you all our days, knowing that you always there with what we need, always at work to transform us.
And while we give you thanks for the Word you hide like a treasure in our heart, for the leaven which is able to penetrate to every area of our life, for the seed that is able to grow into a mighty plant, we know these gifts are not just for a few, but for all, and you implore us to share these gifts, to share your Word with a world in need.
Help us then to make following Christ the most important act of our daily lives, to—above all—concentrate upon doing your will and sharing the Good News you have proclaimed through Jesus to a world longing for the very gifts you offer to all. For you have shown us that in doing so lives are transformed, and the world is made better.
So show us where we can plant seeds of love that will flourish. Show us how your yeast can be kneaded into lives trying to rise up. Help us reveal your treasures in ways that others will see them as the priceless treasures for their lives. Show us how to cast a net that can pull others away from evil, and find the love waiting for them.
May this be our joyfully service to you and to your world longing for the transformation you offer to all.
Hear now the prayers of our hearts, offered in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray, saying, “Our…”