Hidden Treasure

Ann Beaty

Fellowship Hall Worship Service
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

July 4, 2010

Text: Matthew 13:44

Matthew is the only gospel writer who uses the phrase "the kingdom of heaven is like…" The other Gospel writers use the phrase "the kingdom of God is like..." There is no difference in meaning between the two phrases and so you’ll hear us use both of them in our sermons this summer on parables.

With each of these stories, Jesus is teaching us something about God’s kingdom – which we also talk about as God’s reign, God’s rule, God’s intended realm of living both in the here and now on earth and in the future in heaven.  The stories help us learn more about how God desires to live in “kingdom relationship” with us – on earth and in heaven.

The short parable I chose for today from Matthew’s gospel has been plucked out from a number of parables in chapter 13.  It’s important to know that each parable leading up to the one in verse 44 gives the message that no one finds the kingdom on their own. 

The kingdom seeks us out.  God, in Christ, takes the first step.  God always takes the first step so that we can enter into the kingdom and experience the treasure that it is.  All that we are asked to do is to accept this gift and live in relationship with Jesus – the one who came to bring God’s message of living in the kingdom to us.

So, the parable today says that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.  First of all, I wonder:  What man?  A farmer?  A shepherd?  A traveler?  A hiker?  We aren't told.  Probably because it is not important.

Then, I wonder, what was he doing in the field?  Was he plowing? Was he moving rocks?  Was he planting? Was he a real-estate agent looking the property over?  Was he out looking for lost sheep or cows?  Was he poking his nose into his neighbor's business? We aren't told.  Probably because it is not important.

Then, there is the treasure itself.  What sort of treasure did the man find?  Was it gold, silver, precious stones, a family heirloom?  And how was the treasure hidden?  Who buried it and when?  Did he have to dig around to find it?  We aren't told.  Again, probably because it is not important.

It’s natural for us to read the story and ask all these questions because we aren’t given much to go on for detail.  But when I can let go of my tendency to over-think it, I suspect part of what Matthew wants us to know is that only ONE THING is important:  How do we respond to the kingly rule of Jesus in our lives?  How do we respond with joy to God’s desire for us to experience the treasure of living in loving relationship with our God?

A man finds a treasure - an unexpected treasure.  We don't know what it was. But whatever it was, it was precious and it was valuable. It was precious and valuable enough that he sold everything he had in order to buy the field with the treasure.

You may have heard me talk before in sermons about God’s grace using 3 terms that come from our Methodist Wesleyan heritage – prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace.  ONE grace – THREE ways to describe how we experience it in life.

Prevenient grace is that love of God that exists in us before we ever recognize it.  Pre- “comes before”.  The treasure is there, but it is hidden - we haven’t found it or experienced the joy of it yet.

Then, justifying grace happens in us - that moment, or moments, when we discover the treasure exists – we experience God’s love in some known and recognizable way and we experience the joy of living in the midst of God’s kingdom here and now.

And then, there is sanctifying grace – the way the Holy Spirit continues to work in our lives moving us on towards salvation – toward our healing and wholeness through grace and living in the kingdom in relationship with God through Jesus.

It seems to me that discovering the hidden treasure and experiencing the joy that comes with that gift is what God’s “justifying grace” is all about. 

A clergy friend of mine, Tina Carter, tells this story about herself and experiencing God’s justifying grace:  “I grew up with a wonderful mom who introduced me to a wonderful sense of wonder about the world and the universe that God had created, but she didn’t really get the whole Jesus thing.

Jesus was something I heard about only when we attended church - the Roman Catholic Church.  I heard about God’s love, but I also learned a lot about sin and my own sins.  But even if I hadn’t learned so much about sin I still would have had a sense of how often I did things that were hurtful to myself or the community in which I lived.

I always felt that the selfish things I did made me not quite worthy to be in the presence of God.

As a thirteen year old, singing in the children’s Christmas choir in the cathedral church, I remember kneeling before the altar before the service began and looking up at the huge crucifix hanging in the midst of the altar area.  I looked up and saw Jesus on that cross and noticed the tear in his eyes.

At that moment I said out loud – “I know that I am not worthy to receive but I want you to be my Lord – the Lord of my life”.  That’s right, even at thirteen and in all my adolescent craziness, I was suddenly very aware of the most incredible and awesome love that God intended just for me.  I was aware that I did not deserve to be in the presence of such a God.  I realized that God sent Jesus as a bridge so that I might be able to be in loving relationship with that God.

That moment was a moment when grace appeared in my life and I knew I was living in the kingdom of God.

In that moment, Tina experienced that hidden treasure that is talked about in our parable.  It is not something we find. It is not really even something we go looking for.  It is something that finds us.  We can put ourselves in places to experience God’s grace – through coming to church and worship – especially special worship like the candle light on Christmas Eve or the hallelujah chorus on Easter morning, through participating in the sacraments of baptism and holy communion, in prayer, through nature, with family and friends, but IT comes and find us just as it found Tina that day kneeling in front of that altar in her Catholic Church.

When the treasure finds us, it should fill us with so much joy and so much longing for it we are willing to do anything and everything to be totally devoted to the kingdom!  Living in loving relationship with Jesus is worth everything.  Nothing else compares to it.  When we experience that, we can live life knowing that whatever we are going through and in all our goodness and in all our imperfections, God loves us and strengthens us for this journey here in life and beyond.

God’s ultimate desire is to be in relationship with us – loving us – whether we are a 13 year old fairly clueless girl who can not even imagine the extent to which she will make mistakes or do things right in the course of her life ahead, or whether we are a still sometimes clueless 47 year old woman who has done some things right and some things not so right.

There is no sin, nothing that is bigger than God’s grace – God’s treasure for us.  All of us are earnestly being pursued by a God who loves us.  We are all creatures living in time – in this time - and there will be times when we feel close to God and times when we feel far from God.  There will be times when the Holy Spirit is so active in the room we can feel the hairs on the back of our neck stand up and times when we feel dryer in our soul than West Texas in August.  “Just because you can’t feel it doesn’t mean it isn’t real”. (modified quote from “City of Angels”)

Our response to this gift of hidden treasure is really simple.  It is to be faithful – to return again and again to the field and open ourselves to the possibility of receiving the treasure.  Amen.

Resources:

Justifying Grace; Rev. Tina Carter; September 2002