11 Pentecost, Year A

"TREASURE"
Proper 12 -- I Kings 3: 5 – 12; Psalm 119: 126 – 132; Romans 8: 26 – 34; Matthew 13: 31 – 33, 44 – 49a
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, July 27th, 2008

Do you have a treasure?

The treasure I think of is a life-changing treasure, something that makes (or made) everything different from what preceded it, and what followed it.

This treasure could be an object, it could be an event. It could be worth little or nothing to someone else, but it means everything to you.

On the other hand, it could be quite valuable, worth lots of money, or it could even be a large sum of money itself.

Today, we hear five short parables about the Kingdom of heaven. They come at us in rapid-fire succession, each one beginning with the phrase, “The Kingdom of heaven is like…” Two of the five have to do with treasure, life-changing treasure.

It is these two parables that we will look at during this sermon….they are the “Parable of the Hidden Treasure”, and the “Parable of the Pearl of Great Price”.[1]

The two parables deal with life-changing treasure, one of which is found quite by accident (the treasure in the field)[2], and the other is the result of a deliberate search.

In each case, the implication our Lord seems to be making is that the treasure that is discovered changes everything! In fact, the treasure is so valuable that it costs everything the finder has in order to obtain it!

That would explain the situation Jesus’ disciples found themselves in…they’d set aside everything in their lives to follow Jesus. Think of Matthew, the tax collector, sitting at his tax booth[3]….Jesus comes along, and says, “Follow me.” And Matthew does, (apparently) right then and there…..We get the impression that Matthew didn’t think about it for very long before he got up and followed the Lord.

Likewise, hear Simon Peter’s words to the Lord, as we read them in Matthew 19: 27….Speaking to Jesus, Peter says, “We have left everything to follow you.”

Indeed they had….For, you see, the kingdom of heaven is so valuable that everything else pales in comparison.

Things that were formerly important to us, suddenly aren’t. Relationships that may have formed the central reality of our lives, now fade into obscurity. Goals that defined who were once were, now don’t.

You see, the kingdom is so valuable that the costs associated with entering it are all worth it!

That seems to be Jesus’ point when He says that the finder of the buried treasure sold all that he had in order to get that buried treasure.

Likewise, the merchant who was in search of the perfect pearl (by the way, pearls had all the value that diamonds do today in the ancient world) sold all that he had to have that perfect gem.

The kingdom costs a great deal in order to enter it….Like Peter, we are asked to assess the importance of things in our lives. We are called to determine their value to us. And then, we are asked to set them all aside in importance. Like Peter, we have to come to that place where we can stand beside him and nod our heads in agreement, saying, “Lord, we have left everything to follow you.” That is the cost of obtaining the kingdom.

So, do you have a treasure? Is it a life-changing treasure, whose value surpasses all other things/relationships and goals in your life?

Is it a treasure that totally defines the central reality of your life? The kingdom of heaven is to be such a treasure, a costly treasure around which all the rest of life is organized.

May God grant us the ability to assess the value of the treasures of our lives, and to realize the surpassing value of the kingdom.

AMEN.

_____________________________________________

[1] These titles are not original to Matthew’s gospel text, but have been supplied by biblical scholars.
[2] Apparently, in biblical times, it was customary for a person to safeguard money or valuables by finding a place to bury them. Jesus uses this practice again in His “Parable of the Talents” (Matthew 25: 14 – 30), where the servant who was given one talent went and hid it in the ground.
[3] Matthew 9: 9