ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST - A
July 27, 2008
"Jesus Is The Great Treasure That Finds Us"
St. Matthew 13:44-46
Who is who? There is nothing like a good mystery, a good mind teaser
that tests our ability to observe, recall, and analyze information.
The two little parables contained in our Gospel readings today are
just such things. They are only three verses in total but the lack of
details challenges us to try to understand their meaning. The parable
of the "Wheat and the Weeds," that we had last week, was relatively
easy to understand because Jesus explained who and what everything
was; the Sower is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good
seed are the sons of the Kingdom, and so on. Here we are faced with
two tiny parables that seem to be saying roughly the same thing. But,
are they? The question we are compelled to ask ourselves is; what is
the Lord Jesus Christ intending to say? What is the meaning of these
parables? What is He saying to me? What is He saying to me here
today? What do these parables have to do with my life?
Let's look at the first of these parables to see what is going on.
Jesus says; "The Kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a
field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went
and sold all he had and bought that field." It seems simple enough, a
man has found a treasure and gave up everything in his life to gain
it. Clearly the treasure must remind us of God's promises and of
course the fulfillment of those promises is Jesus Christ. When we
find Him, by the work of the Holy Spirit, we are to grab hold, being
prepared to pay the highest price for our discipleship.
What could be of greater value than Jesus Christ? What could be more
important than to have a relationship with our Redeemer? For those
who have experienced the love of God in their lives, Jesus is the
priceless treasure. The world desperately needs the treasury of God's
promises for it is lost to sin and guilt, it is poverty-stricken,
spiritually bankrupt, broke, destitute, ruined. We all urgently need
Christ because we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
We all need forgiveness, and that is the very thing that God
promises, that is the very thing that Jesus became flesh and went to
the cross to do, to bring us forgiveness. He is our treasure because
He washes away our sins with His own holy and precious blood. He
freely offers us this priceless gift, that is the forgiveness of
sins, and the life everlasting. What could be of greater value? How
can we hold back on God when He gave the very best treasure to us,
His only Son Jesus Christ. There is nothing greater than God and He
is His own gift to us. The only response possible is to give
everything that we own back to God to secure this treasure while
there is time. Jesus reminds us that; "Whoever finds his life will
lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it." (Matt.
10:39). And He instructs us to take up the cross and follow Him.
The treasure awaits us in the field. The Lord is with us and waits to
be found. Jesus is not confined to heaven but He is waiting close at
hand, in the means that He has instituted. Jesus is ready and waiting
for us right where He promised He would be. He comes to us in His
holy Scriptures, the living Word of God that proclaims the promise of
forgiveness and declares that Jesus is the One who brings life. Jesus
comes to us and offers His forgiveness in the waters of Baptism and
in His Body and Blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. Jesus
is right in the midst of us, for He promises that; "where two or
three come together in My name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:20).
The risen Lord comforted His disciples as He was about to ascend into
heaven with the words; "I am with you always, to the very end of the
age" (Matt. 28:20). Jesus came down to earth so that we might go to
heaven, He is here and waits for us to find Him by His calling.
Even though the promises of God are intended for all, not all will
find them because they are blinded by their self-righteousness. Jesus
prayed to His Father and said; "I praise You Father, Lord of heaven
and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and
learned, and revealed them to the little children" (Matt. 11:25).
Some cannot and will not find the promises of God and the salvation
which comes through them because they live in the darkness of their
sin and see no need for Jesus Christ the Light of the world.
Let us consider the second parable for a moment. Jesus says; "Again,
the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.
When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he
had and bought it." It seems to speak about much the same thing as
the first parable. A pearl of great value is found and it cost
everything that the merchant had. Again, it seems to emphasise that
the promises of God, which are manifested in the person of Jesus
Christ and the forgiveness of sins leading to eternal life that He
offers, are the most valuable thing. The cost of discipleship can be
high but the price of our salvation, no matter what the cost, is
always worth it, it is always a good deal. The pearl of great price
reminds us that there is only one pearl, only One Lord and Saviour,
there is only One source of forgiveness, and there is only One way to
heaven. Jesus says; "I am the way and the Truth and the Life. No one
comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
There is no pearl or treasure that can compare with the value of
Jesus Christ. Not only is He God in the flesh but He is also the
Saviour of a sinful humanity. Jesus Christ went to the cross to
sacrifice Himself in our stead for our sins. He is the One who
reconciles us with the Father while mankind remains largely ignorant
in its sin. We are sinful and wicked yet God remains faithful and
just, faithful to His promises, faithful at forgiving us, faithful at
bringing about His purposes in the world for our benefit. Nothing can
compare with the value of a relationship with God through Jesus
Christ, nothing. Not wealth, not education, not success, not
position, nothing can compare with Jesus Christ. "Worthy is the Lamb,
who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and praise!" (Rev. 5:12).
I am not totally convinced that the mystery is solved. Who is who in
this parable? Do we understand it correctly? Have we solved the
mystery? The interpretation that you have just heard is the tradition
of the church that stretches back almost to Biblical times. Many of
the great saint throughout history would have gladly accepted that
the purchasers of the field or of the pearl are Christians. It has
not been uncommon from early times that Christians paid for their
faith with their own lives, either being lion food, or burned at the
stake, or beheaded, or simply shot. The cost of being a disciple of
Jesus Christ was high way back when, just as it is in many parts of
the world today. Thus a tradition has grown up that emphasises the
high cost of discipleship.
But I wonder? Who is who? Is it possible that we should interpret the
meaning of this parable in the converse manner? Perhaps there is
another side to this coin that would yield worth while fruit? This in
no way changes anything that I said before nor does it send us
sliding down the slippery slope of heresy. But consider what the
parables say; a man is buying something that he believes is of the
greatest value, paying for it with everything that he owns.
So, here is the question: What did I ever pay? What did you ever pay
for the treasure of God's promises? Who then did the paying and for
what? Who is Who?
It is not by chance that Jesus Christ is called the Redeemer. He is
the One who redeemed us. He is the One who paid the price for sin
with everything that He owned. He paid for sin with His perfect life
and death on a cross. St. John records in his Revelation; "You were
slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe
and language and people and nation" (Rev. 5:9). And St. Paul wrote
about Christ's substitutionary atonement to the Ephesians, that is
the payment for our sin that He did in our place; "In Him we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance
with the riches of God's grace" (Eph. 1:7). Jesus declares this of
Himself; "The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and
to give His life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:28). Jesus Christ is
the One doing the buying, He is the man who purchased the field with
the treasure, He is the man who traded everything for the great pearl.
And what was so valuable to Jesus Christ that He would willingly give
up His very life for? What did He care about so much that no earthly
cost was too high? Jesus bought you! You are the treasure in the
midst of the world, you are the valuable pearl amongst the others. We
confess in the explanation of the Second Article of the Creed; "I
believe that Jesus Christ...has redeemed me, a lost and condemned
creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from
the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy,
precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may
be His own..." Moses wrote concerning the Israelites; "The LORD has
declared this day that you are His people, His treasured possession
as He promised" (Deut. 26:18). You are the one bought by the Lamb of
God. You are the one that the Lord considered so worth the price that
He willingly paid with His own blood. We are not just valueless human
beings, our value is not based on what we will do or have done with
our lives, it is not something that we create but our value is based
solely on the fact that God loves us, that He considers us His
precious treasure, and that He paid a tremendous price for you and
me. These are not just words but God backs them up and went to the
limit to show His love for us in Jesus Christ. He went to the cross
for us. "God so loved the world that He gave His One and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal
life." (John 3:16). We are a treasured possession called by the Holy
Ghost through the Gospel, enlightened with His gifts, sanctified and
kept in the true faith unto life eternal. This is most certainly true.
God considers us His precious treasured possession and values us
enough to search us out and buy us back from sin, death and the
devil. It is a glorious mystery that God should love sinful mankind
and what can our response be but to treasure God for what He has done
for us? Because He first loved us we can now treasure Him and give up
our all for the joy of the salvation that Jesus Christ so freely
offers. Now we can go back to the first interpretation of this
parable and bend the knee and praise God because He is our treasured
possession, He is the Pearl of great price. We know the value of what
we have in Jesus Christ because of what He was willing to pay for us.
We are His precious treasured possession and He is ours.
Think about these interpretations and ponder the mystery of it all.
Ponder the greatest mystery and be comforted by the Gospel as you say
to yourself; "I have been bought by the blood of the Lamb" and
remember that Jesus Christ never has or ever will regret the price
because He considered you worth it and He has testified to your value
in His holy reliable word of Scripture. Amen.
Prepared By
Pastor Donald A. Schieman
Grace Lutheran Church
Camrose, Alberta, Canada
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