10th Sunday after Pentecost.
July 24, 2005
Matthew 13:44-52.

^13:44"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
⁴⁵"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; ⁴⁶on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
⁴⁷"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; ⁴⁸when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. ⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous ⁵⁰and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
⁵¹"Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." ⁵²And he said 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." (NRS).

Your Greatest Opportunity

  Are you ready to seize a great opportunity when it comes along? Are you ready and willing to take advantage of a great deal when you find it? Or do you usually let great deals and opportunities go by and then later regret it? Have you spent more time enjoying the benefit of seized opportunities or more time regretting lost ones?

  In a series of three short parables or similes, Jesus tells us something about the nature of his kingdom. It comes to us like a great, unexpected opportunity with benefits beyond belief. And when it does we can do one of two things. We can seize the opportunity and enjoy the benefits, or we can pass it by and forever regret that decision. Jesus does not want us to live to regret having missed the kingdom of heaven. So through these three similes he trains us for the kingdom of heaven that we may find the treasure God offers.

  You probably learned what a simile is in elementary school. It’s a way of explaining something unknown by showing how it is like or similar to some other thing that is known. For example, where my family lived in West Africa, there is no snow. But every few years they may get a little hail. So I explained a little about snow by saying that it was similar to or like hail. That’s what Jesus is doing. We don’t know what the kingdom of heaven is really like. We can’t see God and we rarely recognize his work in this world. So Jesus explains a little about the kingdom by showing how it is like something we know more about, treasures and sorting the good from the bad.

  The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; 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; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

  What do these two similes tell us about the kingdom? How is the kingdom of heaven like finding a treasure or a pearl of great value? Well, looking at it from our perspective, the kingdom of heaven is something we find rather unexpectedly. Some of us are like the man who finds the treasure in the field. It’s not too likely that he was our treasure hunting. We get the impression that he accidentally found the treasure. But when he did find it, he recognized what he had and did what was necessary to keep that treasure. He sold all he had to get the money to buy that field and so have the right to the treasure. We might think of finding gold or oil in a field that we don’t own. We keep quiet about our find and figure out how to buy the land so that we have the right to the gold or oil.

  By the kingdom of heaven we mean being under God’s direction and protection, being in a good relationship with him and ultimately to be in his presence as at creation. For most people, those outside the Church, finding the kingdom of heaven is like finding buried treasure. They’re not looking for it. We encounter the kingdom through the Word of God. But most people are not looking for the Word. They neither read Bibles nor attend churches. Ordinarily they will not find the kingdom. From their perspective, it is only by chance that they encounter the Word that speaks of the kingdom, maybe through meeting a Christian or seeing a movie or reading a book. Some of them, through this chance encounter realize that they have found a treasure, a diamond beyond compare. And they grab it. They do what they must to get it.

  Like a buried treasure, you should not pass up the kingdom of heaven for like a buried treasure, you cannot plan to find the kingdom or cause it to be. You cannot know when or if you will again hear the Word. You cannot say for example, that you will attend to the Gospel when you are old. The treasure or pearl will be gone! For it’s not really chance. It’s God calling. He makes the chance encounter happen. He allows you to find the treasure or pearl. If you let it go by, you may never see it again. After all you weren’t looking for it in the first place!

  Others of us are like the pearl dealer. He was looking for pearls so in a way it is not entirely surprising that he should find an especially great one. Yet this one was so great, of such great value that he recognized that it was a unique treasure. He too sold all he had and bought it. It seems that pearls were to people long ago what diamonds are to us today. So it’s like a diamond dealer finding the biggest diamond he’s ever seen. It’s a once-in-a-life-time find, a once-in-a-life-time opportunity.

  This is what most of us are like. The fact that we are in this church today says that we have found something. We have had at least a glimpse or a taste of the kingdom. We are at least looking for it! The question then is whether or not we have found this diamond or pearl of great value. Are we getting closer to it or farther away? Are we drawing nearer to God through regular use of the Word and Sacraments, or are we neglecting them and really backing off?

  We too are faced with a great opportunity that is not really chance. God is calling you and me. Through his Word and Sacraments he has opened wide the door to the kingdom, the door to his presence. Will we enter?

  There is another way in which the kingdom is like finding a treasure or pearl. The kingdom is of incomparable value. Why would someone go on a treasure hunt and risk everything he owned, even his own life to get it? We have all kinds of books and movies about it. Obviously we think and dream about it. We even make artificial treasure hunts in the form of lotteries. What do we hope or wish to find? What good is a treasure chest full of gold coins? It represents security and happiness. We assume that with all that wealth we will have all we will need and want for the rest of our life. We will live happily ever after! How sad that for all but a handful of the billions and billions of people who have lived that this dream will remain only a dream. There are so very few treasures. In many places there are none at all.

  The kingdom of heaven is a treasure that brings eternal security and happiness. And unlike the treasures of this world, God offers it to everyone. He wants all of us to enter the kingdom. It’s neither a one in ten million chance of winning a lottery nor a one in ten billion chance of accidentally finding a lost pirate treasure chest full of gold! The kingdom of heaven comes to us in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. God brought the kingdom to us in his son. Through Jesus the Christ, we are under God’s direction and protection; we are in a good relationship with him and one day we will be in his presence as at creation. That is the treasure God hold’s out to us: absolute security and happiness.

  Nothing else can compare with the kingdom. There is no earthly solution to pain, suffering and death, to suicide bombers and war, to struggling to earn a living. But there is a heavenly solution, the kingdom of heaven! God will bring our struggles to and end, transform us through the resurrection of the dead and take us into his presence. We hear this and know it to be true because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. And like a treasure that you find by a stroke of unimaginable good luck, the kingdom comes by grace through faith in Christ. It is the gift of God. All we need do to “find” the kingdom is to see Jesus. So there is the treasure, the pearl of great value right before our eyes!

  What will we do? Will we be like the men who sold everything to get the treasure and pearl? Or will we let the opportunity slip by? All too often we fail to recognize the value of the kingdom because we focus on its imperfect form in this life. Now the wheat and the weeds grow together; now the good and bad fish share the lake. But don’t forget that there is wheat, there are good fish and there is a day coming when the weeds and the bad fish will be removed and the righteous will shine like the sun!

  I am not a great risk taker. It would be hard for me to sell all I have to buy a field with gold in it, to “throw all your eggs in one basket.” It is equally difficult to hear Jesus’ word, believe it and count on it. It’s hard to throw your lot in with Jesus, to put all your trust and hope in him. To do that, we need to be convinced that he really rose from the dead and ascended into heaven where he now prepares a place for us. The only way we will know that is to listen to his word and let him prove his word in daily life. Some of us will, some of us won’t. Some of us will grasp the treasure and some of us will pass it by.

  And that brings us to the simile about the net. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

  As we heard last week, in this age, there are both wheat and weeds in God’s field. There are good fish and bad fish in his water. And just as a fisherman keeps the good fish he’s looking for and throws out the bad ones that get in the way, so at the end of the age, the angels of God will separate us, the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats. This is part of the treasure that is the kingdom of heaven. In the end, there will be no evil, nothing bad. All the troubles we have now will be gone. But for all who let the treasure or pearl slip away in this age, the kingdom will become their hell. They will be separated from God and thrown into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

  No we don’t know what that is. Nor do we want to find out! Nevertheless, Jesus uses the statement several times in the Gospels and the book of Revelation ends with the devil, his angels and all unbelievers being thrown alive into the lake of fire. It is a reality, just as real as the kingdom of heaven is. So the kingdom is not a treasure one wants to let slip away. The alternative is literally hell. It is much worse than loosing a treasure and kicking yourself for the rest of your life because the kingdom of heaven is infinitely greater than any earthly treasure.

  “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said 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.”

  If we have understood Jesus’ teaching then we have been trained for the kingdom of heaven. He is making us scribes, or teachers of others. If we understand that the kingdom of heaven is a great treasure, a once-in-a-life-time opportunity; if we have made it our one true hope and dream, then we have a treasure and are ready to help others find that treasure. The new and old most probably refer to the things that God has revealed throughout history. He spoke long ago about the kingdom through Moses and the prophets. Then in more recent times he spoke through Jesus and the apostles. These words of God both old and new, reveal to us the otherwise hidden kingdom of heaven. More than that, they bring the kingdom to us!

  Today, every Sunday, and every other time we listen to the Word of Christ, we have the chance to find true treasure, the kingdom of heaven. We have the chance to be included in the good fish caught in God’s net. This is the greatest opportunity of your life. So as Jesus always said, Let anyone with ears listen!