11th Sunday after Pentecost (July 27, 2008)

“Treasure Discovered!”
Matthew 13:44-52

INI

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Often times during the course of a sermon I will talk about the black and white nature of the Christian faith. For example, when Jesus talks about how to get to heaven, he says in John 14, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.” That’s a black and white statement. In the question of how we are saved, there is one answer. Jesus is the only way. You will not find salvation in Islam…in Buddhism…in secular humanism. There is only one religion that leads to eternal life: the Christian faith. We talk about a lot of our doctrine in this way. We believe in infant baptism, because we believe that all of us are conceived in sin and all are in need of forgiveness. The Bible tells us to make disciples of all nations, and that includes little babies. Therefore we baptize them. We don’t say, “Well, it doesn’t really matter if you baptize babies or not…baptism gives them salvation. That’s not something you mess around with.

But there are other matters of the Christian faith that have a dual nature. For example, in the Lord’s Supper, what is it that we believe we receive? We believe that in the Lord’s Supper we receive both bread and wine and the body and blood of our Lord Jesus. What do we believe about the nature of our Lord Jesus Christ? We believe that he is both true God and true man. What is it that we believe about our personal nature? We believe that we are what the Latin language calls simul justus et peccator. “Simultaneously, a saint and a sinner.” In each of these cases, the Christian faith reveals a mystery to us. Two different things seem to be going on at the same time.

In order to understand the series of parables in our Holy Gospel for today, this is something we must come to grips with. Sometimes God’s Word can be telling us two things at the same time. Whenever we read something in the Bible, it’s helpful to ask that important Lutheran question you learned back in confirmation class: “What does this mean?” There are four different parables today. All of them talk about the “kingdom of heaven.” 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.” The kingdom of heaven is like: “a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” The kingdom of heaven is like: “a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.” And finally, the kingdom of heaven is like: “a master of a house, who brings out what is new and what is old.”

The obvious question before us is, “What do these parables mean?” All four of them refer to something valuable and involve a man showing great desire and care for that valuable treasure. Obviously the kingdom of heaven is very valuable…it’s when Jesus comes to bring the kingdom of heaven that he comes to forgive sins and offer mankind salvation and new life. That is, by far, the most valuable thing you and I could ever receive. Heaven is, quite simply, worth giving up everything. The treasures of heaven far surpass the treasures of earth. Each and every one of us should be prepared to give up anything and everything in a moment’s notice for the sake of Christ’s kingdom. If the choice comes between career and faith…choose faith. If the choice comes between family and faith…choose faith. If the choice comes between earthly comfort and heavenly reward…the choice is abundantly clear.

Jesus’ words place a heavy price on the kingdom of heaven…it costs everything! The man who hid the treasure sold all he had and bought that field. The merchant who found the pearl of value sold everything he had to get it. The problem is that there is nothing you or I possess that is capable of purchasing heaven for us. Even if you and I gave up all our earthly possessions…our heirlooms…our retirement funds…that would never earn us heaven. There is no good deed on earth you can perform that will earn you heaven. After all, the prophet Isaiah reminded us that all our righteous deeds are like “filthy rags” before God. It doesn’t matter how much money you’ve given to the church…it doesn’t matter if you’ve built hospitals in Africa for underprivileged children…it doesn’t matter what self-righteous deed you’ve performed or how much earthly “good will” you’ve accumulated. None of it will buy the field…none of it will buy that pearl.

And that’s where you and I find the key to these parables…think bread and wine, yet body and blood…think true God, yet true man. A man sells everything to buy the field…a man sells everything to buy the pearl…you and I are that man…and yet you and I can’t be that man. You and I have nothing to offer…nothing of value that will obtain the kingdom of heaven for us. So instead…the kingdom of heaven is not about what you and I do…but instead it’s about what Jesus does for us. You and I are the man who is to give up everything for heaven…but who have nothing to give. Jesus is the man who did give up everything in our place, for us. We are the treasure seekers…and yet we are the treasure itself that has been discovered by our Lord Jesus. These parables tell us about the lengths you and I should go to for the kingdom…and yet they also show us that the kingdom is all about Jesus going to the greatest of lengths for you and me.

St. Paul describes it this way: “(Jesus) made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” You do that for a treasure. And Jesus did that for you and me. You are the treasure…you are the pearl…you are the catch of fish…you are the valuable items put out for show. Christ died for you. He did it for you and regarded you as worthy of laying down his life. He carried all of your shame and sin and guilt upon himself and made you his treasure.

Back in June, for Father’s Day, the kids got me a DVD of the movie National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. I’m a big fan of historical adventures and I really enjoyed the first National Treasure movie. In this installment, Nicolas Cage plays Ben Gates, a famous historical treasure hunter. According to the story, his great-great grandfather, Thomas Gates, had hidden a clue to finding a lost native American city of gold called “Cibola.” The legend had Thomas Gates writing the clue to that treasure on a page of John Wilkes’ Booth’s diary. But that page was missing. Another man turns up early in the movie claiming to have the missing page to that diary, but rather than having a clue, it appears to implicate Ben Gates’ great-great grandfather as an accomplice in the assassination of President Lincoln. Ben Gates then goes on to try to find the treasure to clear his relative’s name. The treasure is then the key to his name being able to be cleared.

Many of us would like our name connected to treasure—and in the kingdom of heaven it is. Though people may look at you and me and say, “Oh that guy’s a horrible sinner,” or “This person’s a mess of a person,” God looks at us and says we are his treasure. In fact, the Bible has a special word that it uses to refer to God’s people as his treasure. That Hebrew word is segullah. It means “treasured possession.” You see it in our Old Testament reading today. “You are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” God first spoke that about his people Israel…they were his segullah…his treasured possession. Jesus tells us a parable about a man who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old. He shows that God’s treasured possession is not just the people of the old covenant, but those of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. You and I are God’s segullah. We are the thing he values most. Jesus shows us just how much you and I are treasured by laying down his life…“selling everything” so we could be purchased as his people.

When God looks at you, he discovers a treasure…one worth paying any price to have. You need never fear where you stand in relationship to God, as long as there is Jesus Christ and his cross to pay for your sins. The kingdom that comes when Jesus dies on the cross is worth everything…and everything has been paid by the one who calls us his segullah, his “treasured possession.” In Jesus’ name…Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.