Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have you ever really wanted something?
I mean really longed for it? Desired, needed, craved, hungered for something so bad that it hurt?
I know that I do that with some food. I’ll start thinking about something around midday. During the course of the afternoon, I’ll be working, but every once in a while the thought will come back into my head. At first it’s not too bad, but by about 3:00 I may be staring at my computer screen, and instead of seeing the words I just typed,
I’ll see a picture of a huge Porterhouse steak … or guacamole dip with chips … or a large dish or butter pecan ice cream.
By 5:00 I can smell it. I lick my lips in anticipation. I drive home with my thoughts on whatever that delectable food may be. And then I get home, run into the kitchen and fix a baloney sandwich.
Sometimes, on a good day, I can pretend it’s a Porterhouse, but never butter pecan ice cream.
There are different addictions and yearnings in this world. Different people seem to crave different things. For some it’s drugs. For others money. For some it’s power over others.
For some it’s physical addictions. Bigger muscles, tighter abs. For some it’s just plain lust.
Our OT lesson for this morning opens with Solomon, the King of Israel, having had a dream.
It’s probably no different than a dream that a lot of us have had. Only in ours, it wasn’t God that was talking to us, but perhaps a genie in a bottle that washed up on the shore of a pristine beach.
The genie always tells us to make three wishes and most people, if the jokes are any indication, wish for money, some kind of power, and to live forever.
In Solomon’s dream, God says just about the same thing to him: “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Now, think about this man Solomon. His father was King David, but he hadn’t ascended to the throne without some controversy. His brother, Adonijah, had tried to take the throne against the will of David.
And there were other ticklish problems that confronted King Solomon from almost the moment that he was placed into the position of authority.
There were peace treaties to be made and Temples to be built.
But probably the thing that weighed heaviest on the mind and on the heart of Solomon was the responsibility of ruling over the chosen people of God.
He had wealth. He had power. He had numerous wives and concubines. He also had a promise from God that the line of David would continue forever.
So when God asked him what he desired, Solomon first, thanked Him for what he already had and then asked God for something that was pleasing to the Lord. He asked for Wisdom. He asked for a discerning heart.
Solomon knew that people were going to come to him for answers to all sorts of problems and questions. He knew that God looked favorably on these people. God had rescued them from Egypt. He had guided them as a pillar of fire and a pillar of cloud through the Sinai desert and established them in the Promised Land.
God had led them by appointing judges and then anointing kings to guide the lives of His people. And now, that awesome responsibility rested on the back of Solomon.
So Solomon asked for and God granted him a wise and discerning heart.
That discerning heart and mind given to Solomon is also given to us. We too, have been given a gift.
We may not be as wise as Solomon in the ways of the world. We may not have the same opportunities as Solomon to establish an empire, expand a kingdom, to build a Temple of gold and ivory.
We may not live as kings.
But, we have been given a gift. A gift given by God through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In our Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus tells his disciples some parables.
Now, were going to talk a little about those parables in a minute, but I want to skip down to the 51st verse of today’s lesson. It reads: "Have you understood all these things?" Jesus asked.
The disciples answer with a decisive, “YES!”
The one thing that we know about the disciples is that they didn’t get it. Not yet anyway.
They were still thinking of Jesus along the lines of a “King David” type of Messiah. They didn’t “get it” until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We’ve got it. Through the miracle of Holy Baptism and the hearing of God’s Word, we have received the discerning mind of a King Solomon.
But, I have to be truthful. Sometimes, being human, our minds aren’t always on the same wavelength.
The first two parables in today’s lesson are evidence of that.
Theologians have argued, for decades….for centuries, as to the meaning of these two parables.
The first parable is about a man who’s out in a field. We can assume that he’s probably out there working. But, he may have been just passing through the field.
While he’s out there, he stumbles across a treasure.
Immediately upon finding it, he hides it again and then goes and sells everything he owns so he can buy the field where it’s buried.
The second parable is about another man. This one is a merchant. He’s on the prowl, searching for the best pearls money can buy. He finally finds this magnificent specimen and immediately sells everything he owns and buys this extraordinary pearl.
Pretty straight forward, but this is where the questions arise.
Who’s the man in each of these parables and what is the treasure? What is the pearl of great price?
Some theologians have thought that in both cases the man in the parables is God. The treasure, the pearl….that’s you and me. That’s all Christians.
God found, or chose us. He picked us to be His children.
And once He found us, He paid everything He had. He paid the ultimate price, the death of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
We were the most valuable precious thing in His eyes.
That brings up one problem for me.
Don’t get me wrong. I like the way that sounds. Theologically, it has a pretty good ring to it.
God chooses us. He does all the work. He pays the great price to obtain us.
The problem. What made us, what made me, so valuable in His eyes?
We, all of us, are nothing but poor miserable sinners. Our works are as filthy rags before the eyes of God. We have done nothing to deserve the love of God.
So what would make us valuable to God? What would make him look at us as treasure?
That brings us to the other possibility in this parable.
Who’s the man in the first parable? Well, let’s go back to a previous parable that Jesus told.
Remember the one we’ve been talking about regarding scattering the seed. The seed was the Word of God. And it landed in several different areas. On a path, in the rocks, in the weeds and in fertile soil.
This man seems to be out for a walk or going about his daily routine of working in the field. He isn’t necessarily searching for anything. Life is about the here and now.
You go to work. You earn a living. You accumulate “stuff.” But suddenly, one day, quite by accident you find something.
It wasn’t something you did, it was something that was already there.
It was a seed that had been planted.
But now, instead of just kicking at the dust of the road or thinking about what’s going to happen tomorrow, this newfound treasure becomes your LIFE.
This treasure is worth sacrificing everything you own to hold on to. Nothing you have ever purchased. Nothing you have ever owned has the value of this treasure.
This treasure is the Word of God and this Word contains the ultimate treasure – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And once you have it you will sacrifice everything to keep it.
How about the second man? The merchant. He’s a little different than the fellow in the first parable.
This man is a seeker. He has scoured the countryside. He has traveled the world trying to find the perfect treasure. The perfect pearl with all its luminescence.
This man is like the individual who has studied the all of the great religions of the world. He has sat and meditated. He has communed with nature. He has studied the writings of the great philosophers and perhaps even made a pilgrimage to some far away holy shrine.
Always seeking, but never finding the perfection he so desires.
And this is where the two stories are the same. After years of searching, he discovers something that has always been there. A pearl of indescribable value.
This pearl is the Gospel of Jesus. The truth about God. The story of how God so loved the world that He gave his only Son that whosoever believeth in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. The story of an innocent baby born of a virgin mother. The story of His suffering and death and victorious resurrection from the grave.
Both of these men get it. They understand what Jesus was talking about. The kingdom of heaven is the Gospel of Christ.
It is the love of God, the grace of God, the gift of God to an undeserving world.
And just like the man in the field, the merchant sells all he possesses to hold onto the priceless pearl.
Now, if you are going to ask me which of the interpretations I believe, the answer is the same as the disciples. YES!
I believe that we are valuable in God’s eyes, not because we have done anything to deserve it, but because of what Jesus did for us.
He washed us in the blood of the cross and made us righteous, made us perfect in the eyes of God.
We confess that we believe that.
We confess it in the words of the creed. We confess it through Baptism and through partaking of body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion.
We believe because of the discerning heart and mind given to us by God through the Holy Spirit.
And now if we would only crave it. If we would be willing to do what the two men in the parables did. Give everything we own to hold dearly to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If we would only crave the Word like we do the trappings of this world.
If only we would yearn for the opportunity to worship.
If only we would hunger for the body and blood and the forgiveness and eternal life offered through them.
That is my prayer. Please join me.
God, Father of the universe, creator of all good things. We thank You for the many blessings of this life. We thank You for the discerning hearts and minds you have given to us. We thank You for the gift of the Spirit who continues to work in us, guiding us, leading us, comforting us, pleading for us when we stumble. We thank You for the most precious treasure, the priceless pearl of this world and the next, Your Son Jesus Christ. We ask that You would create in us clean hearts and renew our spirits. Create in us a longing for Your Word and Sacraments. Help us as Your children to keep our hearts and minds on the cross of Jesus. And lastly, dear Father, move us to tell others about this wonderful gift. Make us seed planters. Help us all to spread the Good News of the Gospel. To share this wonderful treasure You have given to us.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, Your Son our Lord to whom be glory now and forever. Amen.
