Matthew 13:44-52

Precious Treasure!

            The church is like a family gathering. People only show up for the food and games. The church is like a corporate business where we have more bosses than we have employees. The church is like a tornado shelter. It’s only used when everything else is falling apart. We use comparisons all the time to explain difficult teachings, or simply to draw attention to certain ideas or truths. It’s not usually hard to understand what these comparisons mean to convey, or at least it’s not meant to be. For this is exactly what a parable is. A parable is often described as a heavenly truth conveyed through an earthly reality. So, if we can understand modern day comparisons, what makes it so hard to understand the ones Jesus gives us? Of course, the answer is simple… we don’t always know what he’s referring to. We didn’t live at that time to know the comparison he’s making. That is, the cultural component which makes the comparison understandable is lost on us, because we’re removed from it. Hence, we have greater difficulty deciphering Jesus’s parables.

            For unlike the last two parables we read, we have no explanation from Jesus because the disciples understood them right away. So now, I have to ask, do we? Can you comprehend the meaning behind these parables as easily as Jesus’ disciples did? Or are you lost on what Jesus is teaching? So, let us dive into the parables and see if we can learn what Jesus means.

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            Let’s start with the fact that Jesus used parables in the first place. For Jesus wasn’t simply trying another way to teach people. This wasn’t some plan B in his teaching curriculum. Rather, Jesus taught in parables so that his enemies would be even more confused. But was that confusion meant for his followers? Of course not! He spoke in such a way that the illumination of faith would yield a straightforward answer and meaning. For sometimes our struggle isn’t the cultural component, but rather that we haven’t read enough Scripture or simply being weak in faith. For consider the first two parables Jesus tells us.  “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it,” Matthew 13:44-46. These two parables make the same point. There is something that is so valuable that is worth giving up everything else for. The hidden treasure couldn’t be claimed until the man had bought the field, hence he hides it so no one else steals it from him. The pearl is perhaps the hidden gem that no one else recognizes since it’s being sold. So, the only questions that remain concerning these parables are: 1) what is so valuable? and 2) who is the one buying it?

            So, what do you think? How would you answer those two questions? Do you know where I’m going already? To the first question, let’s start with perhaps the most common gripe from church leaders all across our country, that many people don’t take faith seriously enough. What could be more precious to us than Jesus or our faith? What could be more important to someone than hearing the very words of God and receiving his gifts? Isn’t it the duty of every Christian to give all they have for the sake of Christ’s death and resurrection for us? Just as Jesus tells the rich young man, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me,” Mark 10:21. How dare we as Christians give anything less than our best to our Lord! Should we withhold even one penny from him, we’d be risking the hidden treasure or pearl slipping through our fingers. For there is a cost to discipleship that must be weighed lest we come up short in this race. Do we not understand this? Could this possibly be any less confusing?

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            So, questions answered, right? Actually, no. For there’s just a little problem with such an interpretation. It’s not all about you. Even if we give up everything we have… it’s still not enough! As Isaiah writes, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment,” Isaiah 64:6. Even our best works are worthless in the sight of God. And who among us came wandering to God and can claim that we found him? No, quite the opposite, we couldn’t even search for him because we were dead in our trespasses and sins. (Ephesians 2:1). Because of our sin, we are incapable of even lifting a finger, much more “digging” for the hidden treasure of God. And while faith is indeed meant to be precious to us, it’s not because we worked for it. Jesus and faith are precious because we didn’t work for it. For I have yet to see any one of us, even myself, give our absolute best to the Lord. We still fail and fall short, but that’s the amazing thing about faith. In spite of our failures and shortcomings, we still have every gift of God!

            For if the hidden treasure and valuable pearl aren’t faith, then what are they? And who is the one seeking them? Now, it should be clear the only answer left… because we had them reversed all along. The one who is seeking isn’t us, but Jesus! As Jesus himself says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” Luke 19:10. Yes! It’s Jesus who searches for the hidden treasure. It’s Jesus who gives all that he has when he finds it. Jesus does give up everything. He gave up his throne, his glory, his power and majesty. He gave up his own life upon the cross, even being buried in a tomb. Jesus died in order to purchase… YOU! That’s right! YOU are the hidden treasure. You are the pearl of great value. You are the one our Lord digs out of the ground to rescue you from coffin and grave, from death and sin, from Satan and hell. You are the one God valued so much that he gave everything he had to purchase you for life and eternity! After all, it’s our most favorite bible verse… “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16. God has searched. God has found. God has sold everything, giving his own Son that he may have YOU! Such is the great catch in the net, that God goes to and fro, seeking to catch people from every nation and tribe and language. For he will cast his net and on the last day, sort out the good from the evil. Thus, we have learned:

YOU ARE THE TREASURE JESUS SEEKS!

            “Have you understood all these things?” Matthew 13:51. So, let us draw out of our treasure both old and new. Let us bring together all the works of God among his people of old and among his church in this new age of Christ. In this, we shall see all the wondrous promises of God and their fulfillment in Christ that we shall understand the gifts of faith and eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!