Treasures in Heaven
Luke 6:37-38
Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. 38 “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”
Let’s sit back and think for a moment of what it would be like to live in Judea and the Galilean Jesus’ day. In that time, people of different nations and races stayed to themselves. For example, Jews and Samaritans had a long-running feud, and it was rare that a Samaritan would help a Jew or a Jew would help a Samaritan. Jesus traveled to Samaria, and we have some good stories of what happened there. It’s no mystery that his disciples did not understand when Jesus helped the woman at the well to draw water. He was breaking several cultural norms and the fact that he was helping a Samaritan woman really bothered the disciples. They learned about loving one’s neighbor from that encounter.
The three commandments we find in Luke chapter 6 verses 37 to 38 about judgment are quite interesting. They are an expansion of Jesus saying that we should love our neighbors. In verse 37, it says do not judge and you will not be judged. It continues with do not condemn and you will not be condemned. It ends with forgiveness. Since there are three expressions here, we know that this is a divine command because the number three in Scripture represents God.
Verse 38 tells us we will be given as much as we give to others. Jesus then used a metaphorical example from his culture to help us understand that. When a woman went to the market to buy wheat, the buyer would have his own measuring cups. In fact, each house had its own size of measuring cups. Therefore, a cup of wheat from a vendor or house was not the same as another. When a woman went to buy wheat from the vendor, he would scoop it up with his measuring cup, but he would not shake the measuring cup. The reason he would not shake the measuring cup is because then the wheat would settle, and he would have to give more to the buyer than he wanted to. Therefore, in a way, he was cheating when he said he would give a full measure of wheat for a certain amount of money.
Those of us who have baked a cake, or cookies, know that when you measure out flour, you have to take a spoon and push down the flour in order to get a true cupful. If your recipe called for 2 cups of flour and you did not shake it down or spoon it down, then you might not have enough flour, and your recipe may not come out as well as you thought it would. Well, Jesus is saying the same thing can happen to us.
Let me tell you a quick story. There was a church which on the Sunday before every Thanksgiving had a food drive for the local food pantry. People would bring in cans and boxes and other types of nonperishable food and the pastor would bless it at the worship service. The next day, the food was packaged into boxes to be taken to the food bank. While it was being packed, one packer noticed that several of the items were past their expiration date. The packers considered this unacceptable and went through all the food and removed all the expired dates.
The Zohar, which are some of the mystical books of Christianity and Judaism, says that when we receive blessings from God, we are to share those blessings with others. When people receive blessings from us, they will be thankful, which will send more blessings down from heaven. The Zohar also says that the “quality” of the blessings shared will be equivalent to the blessings received. If I apply this concept to the story, I think you can see what might happen to the people who were giving the expired food.
Now let’s apply it to something more tangible to us when we get to heaven. First, we will be forgiven for all our sins on earth, and that’s a promise that Jesus has given us. A question is will you have heavenly treasures which Jesus told us to store up on? So, using expired food is a metaphor. Think about what it means for a person who gives expired food. They’re not giving the best that the Lord has given them. Of course, they will be forgiven for doing this, but what kind of treasure did they store up in heaven? Therefore, it might be wise to think about the treasures that we store up in heaven by the actions that we do here on earth.
I’m going to use part of a joke about getting into heaven. Imagine that your treasures in heaven you earned determine the car you get to drive on the golden roads in heaven. Which would you rather have, a Rolls-Royce or a Ford Fiesta without air conditioning? Each of us must decide about how we are going to create those treasures in heaven that Jesus spoke about. No doubt that even if you don’t have treasures in heaven, you’re still getting in because Jesus offers forgiveness for all sins if you asked for that forgiveness. Jesus thought it was important that we store up treasures in heaven and that’s based on what we do here on this earth. A reason for us to be on this earth is so that God can see how much we trust and believe in him. Therefore, believe in Jesus and his words and actions because that is the ticket to get into heaven and to get the Rolls-Royce.
