0113 FINDING BURIED TREASURE

FINDING BURIED TREASURE

Today we were reading Matthew 13, which contains several of Jesus’ parables. Let’s focus in on one of those parables today and see what we can learn from it.

“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.”

Much of this story is not surprising at all. The kingdom is like a treasure. A man sells all he has and trades it in for the kingdom. I get it. In eternity, I will not regret anything that I have given up for the sake of heaven. As I die to myself and sacrifice my desires for the kingdom, I will find that what I gain is worth it.

But there are two curious details about the story that cause me to do a double-take.  The man finds the treasure. Why not take the treasure with him? Why bury it? Why buy the field? What does all that mean? 

And the second curious detail is that the man “in his joy” went and sold all he had in order to buy the field. That’s not as curious as the first. I mean, he anticipated that all would go well. But when I think of the story, I feel a certain anxiety. I hope the current owner of the field doesn’t know about what I found.

It seems to me a matter of ethics. Why not find out who owns the field, and see if this is his treasure? If you don’t own the field, and you don’t own the treasure, you are really sort of being sneaky and taking a risk that someone else will step up and claim it.

But I think Jesus is not talking about Christian ethics here. The treasure he is describing is actually available to all. It is not the property of someone else, so that I have to secretly keep that person from knowing about what I found. This treasure, and the land on which I find it, are common to everyone. So I will take the details of his story as what it means, not what I think about in the flesh.

One day, I discover the truth about the kingdom of God: the truth that I can live forever. I can be forgiven. I can be fulfilled. He gives good gifts to me, without withholding any good thing from me. It’s worth more to me than anything in this world. So, I take it all in. I hide it in my heart. It becomes my little secret. 

Then I do my research while it is buried. I make sure that it is not too good to be true. And having done my research, having tested the truth for myself, having confirmed the value from other witnesses, I am ready. Ready to trade everything for the invisible kingdom.

I make a vow. I go under the water, buried in baptism with Christ. Then, dead to myself, I am raised to a new life, and am new inside. You can’t see what I now have, for it is invisible to the human eye. But I give up my pride, my ambitions, my idols, all of my earthly goals that bring me satisfaction for only the time between now and the grave. I bet my life that there is more. And I do so gladly, because I am convinced that this treasure is worth more than everything I own—my land, my house, my possessions, my family and friends, my career, my reputation. It is all garbage to me, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

This is the great trade. The buried treasure. The chance to know and be known by the Maker of the Universe. To be a child of God. My friends might not understand. My financial advisors might think I have lost my mind, because I seem to be throwing my money away. But I know something they don’t know. So it is with great joy that I trade it all in to be born again. Remade from the inside out. There will be fruit that you will see in my life. But know that it is my own secret. Only I know whether or not there has been a change in me.

And so I see the center of this story. Just like the one pearl of great price, I gladly give up all I have in this life to own it.

Do me a favor: In a hundred years, ask me if the trade was worth it. I bet we will both say a hearty Amen to that.