In Jesus Holy Name July 26, 2020
Text: Matthew 13:44 Pentecost VIII - Redeemer
“The Parables of Matthew 13”
Hidden Treasure & A Pearl of Great Price
A pair of treasure hunters using their metal detectors, Adam Staples and Lisa Grace, made the discovery of a lifetime when they unearthed a hoard of ancient coins worth around $6 million in a field in Somerset, in the West of England. These two treasure hunters were walking through the countryside, waving their metal detector too and froe like those who walk our California beaches looking for lost coins.
The two treasure hunters unearthed 2,571 Anglo-Saxon and Norman coins in January when they were searching farmland with their trusty metal detectors. They reported their find to the authorities as required by UK law, and the coins were soon sent to the British Museum for evaluation. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/british-museum-treasure-coins-1636096
The British Museum has been assessing the find for the past seven months,
The owner of the land where the coins were found is entitled to half of the proceeds. Adam and Lisa are keeping the exact location of their discovery under wraps at the present time.
The Anglo-Saxon King Harold II was on the throne for just nine months before he died during the Battle of Hastings in 1066. These coins are particularly rare due to his short reign. I tried to update myself on the English history prior to the battle. What I discovered was shifting alliances, murders and intrigue as people tried to survive, just to maintain their property and lives. It is obvious that with the political turmoil these coins were buried by a wealthy English Earl who had supported King Harold, but not so sure of his future under a Norman King. It is obvious he never returned for his buried treasure.
When reading the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price, I am reminded of walking along the beach, looking for Sea Glass. Many in our church camping group have visited this “glass beach”, near Fort Bragg. Glass beach gets its name from the smooth colorful glass pieces that have been tossed by the sea and bleached in the sun for decades. Usually one side of the glass is frost covered and the other shiny, the effect of sun, sand and waves.
The extremely rare red pieces, or “rubies” on the beach might come from perfume bottles, or even some types of beer bottles, like the ones made by Anchor Hocking for Schlitz Beer in the 1950’s.
Pinks, lavenders, purples, lime greens and other rare shades come from things like perfume bottles, and art glass. Some of the glass was originally clear but was changed by the magnesium or selenium minerals in the sand. Over time the sun causes the magnesium and selenium to oxidize, creating lavender and pink colors.
These are treasures everyone wants to see when visiting Northern California.
It is easy to imagine the excitement of the English Treasure hunters, who with their metal detectors found 6 million dollars’ worth of 11th century coins. Their excitement does not compare to the treasure Jesus speaks of, as He stands in a boat, pushed off a few yards from shore, along the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus was a great storyteller. He used parables that are filled with serious theology. “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.
In this short parable you can imagine a man walking with staff in hand. He is probably on pressing business in the city and decides to take a shortcut through a field. This was a courtesy allowed. As he is waking along, in a hurry, “thunk.” He trips, falls into the dirt.
He looks to see what he tripped over and sees the corner of a chest sticking up among the weeds. He begins to dig, getting more excited as each handful of dirt is pulled away from his find. Beneath the surface he finds a chest filled with gold coins issued in Rome 70 years earlier, a secret, he realizes, that died with a wealthy man, the previous landowner, much like the discovery of coins in England.
He buries the treasure deep and marks the spot and skipping to the city, he decides he will sell all he has and will buy the field.
This parable is like the man and woman walking here and there in a field with their metal detector. Not expecting to find something so precious, just hoping to get lucky. This parable is about people who are searching for spiritual truth, some assurance of eternal life. They have been searching here and there when they stumble upon Jesus and His message of grace and mercy. It is worth everything.
What is worth so much that a man sells everything he has and in joy, buys the field? The Apostle Paul offers this answer: “….Whatever gain I had, I count as loss for the sake of Jesus Christ. 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 rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” (Philippians)
Last Sunday we sang a wonderful song titled: “Knowing You”
“All I once held dear, built my life upon, all this world reveres
All I once thought gain I have counted loss: Knowing You, Jesus
There is no greater thing… you are my joy, my righteousness, you
Are my all.”
The kingdom of heaven is more precious that gold coins found in a field in England or in the wreckage of a Spanish ship on the bottom of the ocean. To possess the “kingdom of heaven” is to possess the blessings of forgiveness, purchased on the cross of Jesus on a Jerusalem hillside. In the moment of His death God transferred all of His righteousness to anyone who kneels under the cross. Then all of their broken commandments are placed on the shoulders of Jesus and erased from God’s memory, as far as the east is from the west. The resurrection of Jesus from death and the grave guarantees it to be true.
Just in case the crowds and his disciples missed the first story, Jesus reiterates the story with the parable of the pearl of great price. A merchant was willing to sell all he had in order to possess the one pearl of great value. May I suggest to you that “you” are the merchant. Maybe you have been searching for spiritual truth in other places, and in your research you find Jesus. Jesus gave everything. He gave His perfect life so that you might be redeemed, purchased by God.
Let me say it again. You are the merchant. Much like Lee Stroble who searched and searched and found Jesus and His words of truth are that precious pearl. God’s love purchased your eternal destination through the sacrifice of His Son.
In the gospels, the phrase “kingdom of God” and kingdom of heaven” are repeated over and over again. Not just a few times, but dozens and dozens of times. It is clear that Jesus talked to his disciples about the “kingdom of God” almost every day. It’s no small subject. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer Jesus said that we are to petition God that His “kingdom” might “come.”
What is the kingdom of God? What is this kingdom of Heaven in these two parables? Ask 10 different theologians and you will receive 10 different answers. When you and I hear the word “kingdom” we usually understand it to be a literal piece of real estate. It always includes land, dirt, some sort of property with measurable boundaries, under the control of a ruler, or king.
William Barclay offers this helpful definition: The kingdom of God is “a society upon earth in which God’s will is as perfectly done as it is in heaven.” The kingdom of God is first of all a society, an organized group of men and women “on earth.” It is a place where the will of God is done.
The kingdom of God will be made up of men and women (i.e. Corrie TenBoom or others) who have decided to live by God’s values at all costs. We have made a moral commitment to the truth and values of the gospel that guides everything we do. It guides us how we raise our children, how we conduct our business, how we treat other people.
Hebrews 12:28 says that God is going to give “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” Everything that is of this world is shakeable. The buildings crumble to dust. Companies go into bankruptcy. Our degrees fade. Our houses age, creak and crumble, our cars rust out, but the kingdom of God lasts forever. The kingdom of God is demonstrated by people holding hands creating human chains to protect the police from those who would cause them harm.
The third parable, the Parable of the Net explains where is history going? Philosophers have pondered that question for thousands of years. Should we accept the Hindu view that history is an endless cycle of reincarnation? If history is going nowhere, then your life is just a momentary blip on the radar screen of the universe, you pop up, you fly across the screen you disappear never to be heard from again. If history has no goal, then life has no meaning. No, Jesus gives the answer it is in the parable of the Net.
History has an end. (read the Parable of the Net) Paul writes: “Our citizenship is n heaven. We eagerly await our Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control will transform our bodies to be fashioned like his glorious resurrected body.” This is our hope. (Philippians 3:201-21)
