Matthew 13:44-50

“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.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away 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 fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Every so often, we hear of a great master work of art discovered in some unlikely place. A picture has been hanging on the wall of someone’s house (maybe even for generations in a family). Now, the person has become aware that it is fantastically valuable.

There was a story like this a couple of years ago. A lost Rembrandt painting from around 1632 had been discovered after it fell off the wall of a country home in Italy, and was taken to a man to be repaired. From the article:

(The restorer’s words) “This is the moment [discovering this lost master work having been covered in varnish] in which we must overcome the vertigo capable of making us sink into that wonderful sense of belonging to history. It is a thrill that has no equal, which vibrates until it drags you into an unstoppable impulse of morbid curiosity. I don’t fight it and I let myself be carried away by the spell.”

…okay. Anyway, this idea of having become unexpectedly aware of a treasure of unimaginable worth in one’s possession.

The Trip Home

The trip home with the object must have been quite a bit different from the one there. Having somewhat casually tossed it into the backseat of the car, perhaps without any sort of protective wrapping—now (with this new appraisal), it is in whatever one uses to properly transport a very valuable painting. The transporting materials are worth significantly more that the person thought the painting was worth on the way there. He shall heretofore treasure this object, taking out an insurance policy on it, placing it in his home much more carefully so as to avoid the possibility of any further drops or other dangers to this precious object. It is the most valuable thing he has. Protecting it: his new top priority.

A Couple of Parables

Jesus tells a couple of parables in the early part of our text, of a man’s finding of a hidden treasure in a field, and of the discovery of a pearl of great price. In each case the discoverer considers the discovery to be worthy of being made his new top priority. He sells all he has, that he might have it. Nothing he has acquired for himself previously is as important as this discovery he has made. He gives it all up in exchange.

Jesus tells these parables. He says the kingdom of heaven is like them. He’s emphasizing in these parables, the value of what has been found, and the priority that has been placed on it. Something priceless has been acquired in exchange for everything else the person had.

A Third Parable

There is a third parable in our text—the one about the net in which is gathered every kind of fish in the sea to be sorted. While in the first parables there was nothing but light (the discovery of a fortune, and a person’s acquiring of it), in this there is a darkness. The kingdom of heaven is also like certain of the ones gathered being separated out to be thrown away—thrown into a furnace, even, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Of all that are gathered, the good are kept; the bad are discarded.

Ourselves In The Parable?

Our first instinct might be to imagine ourself the one finding the treasure in the field, or the pearl of great price. Since Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like… we go ahead and consider the treasure and the pearl to be that kingdom, and us the one having valued it so highly, that we gave up everything else in order to have it.

Let that sink in for a second. Maybe you’re already sensing the darkness that’s looming.

Having put yourself into the parable as the treasure-finder, you start thinking about the discrepancy between you and these: sold everything in exchange for the treasure—guys. They could never be you, could they (considering that the treasure represents God’s kingdom)? You look back and think about the regrets you have when it comes to your devotion to God’s kingdom, the opportunities you’ve missed to treasure God and His kingdom that greatly. You think about the spiritual danger you’ve put yourself in during times in which you were caught up in sin of some kind (like Paul talks about in the epistle lesson), or just didn’t have the time of day for it for one reason or another. God has required devotion like that—the kind that places highest value on the kingdom (it’s what the very first commandment is about (the “greatest Commandment”, Jesus calls it); you haven’t fulfilled it.

So, you might be asking yourself, Am I to be considered among those bad ones, who’ll be separated out—not for God’s kingdom, but for punishment?

St. Paul to the Philippians:

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (3:7-8).

Paul’s words help us to put these parables a little more in perspective. It can’t work for us to put ourselves into them as ones who accomplish the getting of the kingdom through our unflinching devotion. We aren’t capable of it. It requires perfection we don’t have. We fail at prioritizing it as the most important thing. We may try. We recognize its importance, but see agonizingly clearly, that we fall short.

Christ In The Parables

In Paul’s estimation, Christ has done everything. He has made Paul aware that nothing he has (and he’s had a lot: wealth, power, the respect of people) none of it is of any worth if he does not have Christ. He has caused Paul to let everything else drop to the side, and to repent whenever he has failed to do so. Paul doesn’t come out in that quote as one with proud accomplishments, but rather as one who has received the grace of God in Christ.

By looking at what happens in the parables in a slightly different way, we can consider what it is to know Christ in the way Paul expresses.

He found you. And He exchanged everything He had for you. Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). Though you were hardly any treasure (dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:1), Jesus put the highest value on you. Again, it can be said (as in those passages), that He exchanged everything He had for you. This one whose life exhibited in every second of it, the correct prioritization of God’s kingdom humbly allowed Himself to be punished as if He were the only offender. And all of it was so that when the angels come and separate the evil from the righteous, you are found among the righteous!

What if we are to put Christ into the illustration of the master work painting found hiding in plain sight? We said the trip back with the newly appraised item was different from the trip there, with the person now protecting his newly found treasure. Think of what happened in your Baptism. Through God’s Sacrament of water and the Word you were made precious; you were given an entirely new appraisal—if you will. Jesus brought you home with Him—not casually, as if you were some item of common value, but shielded from harm by none other than the Holy Spirit, Who wraps you in the protections of God’s Word and Supper—treating you as if you are his possession of greatest value, His top priority.

That isn’t someone who gets separated out to be thrown away. That’s one of those who are gathered into the kingdom. It’s one of the forgiven ones who is connected to Christ through faith. The kingdom of heaven is like that. Praise be to God. Amen.