Parables of an Unexpected Treasure

Parables of an Unexpected Treasure Matthew 13:44-46 Today, we are going to think about things that happen to us unexpectedly, maybe, for something good! Some years ago, I came home to some bad news, out of which a nice surprise came. The well at the house went dead. We didn’t have any water. What could be wrong, the house was only a few years old. After a lot of investigation, and with a number of concerns mounting, it seemed the problem was at the bottom of the 350foot well. The short story is, the motor had burned out and I was looking at a $1,000 bill for a new pump. Then the pump man said, "I think this was hit by lightning." A light went off in my head, "Lightning, insurance, coverage, maybe - yes!" Oh, what a relief, what a nice surprise, to get a better system and hopefully to have it paid for already through insurance. Sometimes in the little or larger tragedies of life, an unexpected blessing appears. As you know, Gabe and Sarah suffered the tragedy of Bristol’s passing here recently. Well, on top of that, they had a head-on collision the other day at 68 miles an hour with a deer. It was surprising that they were only going 68 as the speed limit was 70 and Gabe was driving – which meant they normally would have been doing 78. The good news was that everybody was okay. The bad news was Sarah’s relatively new Murano was totaled and they still owed quite a bit on it. What would the insurance say? Well, after some haggling, they settled with the insurance company and were able to pay off the loan, AND had enough money left over to pay off another loan, AND got a new, better Murano for less monthly payments. Unexpected difficulties sometimes turn into unexpected blessings. Thank you, Jesus! The first parable we have today is all about unexpected surprises. Let’s tell the rest of this story. Many, many years ago a very wealthy man in Palestine heard that an army was about to invade the country. The enemy was one of the great powers of the world, and his nation had few defenses. The rich man was afraid the countryside would be overrun by enemy troops, with all manner of looting and burning. He didn't want the invading army to find his wealth and take it, so he went about the task of hiding his treasure. There were no banks to deposit his money, no lock-boxes to hide it away. So in the dead of the night he slipped out and buried his treasure in a field not far from his house. The conquering army came. They took many of the people captive, including this very wealthy man and carried them all into exile. There the man died, and the secret of his buried treasure died with him. The years slipped by - perhaps a generation or two. One day a farmer was cultivating the very field where the treasure was buried. The farmer was a poor man - too poor to own the land. He was more like a tenant farmer. He had 2 it hard all his life. For him, life has been dull and boring - a treadmill where he had to keep up a rapid pace day in and day out just to stay even. His days were commonplace and his toil drudgery. For the most part, hope and expectancy had died. There was no light in his eyes anymore, no spring in his step. No one could convince him of a silver lining behind every cloud. On this particular day, he faced the same routine. He arose before the sun was up in order to get in a full day's work. Once again, he was doing what he had done so often, following his oxen down one dull row after another, breaking up the field for spring planting. This day begins like any other day. Suddenly, his plow scrapes against something, and he is angry. He thought he had gotten all the troublesome rocks out of the field but here is another. As he scratches around at the rock to throw it aside, he finds there is a shimmering mark on the object, and he realizes that this is not rock, but metal. As he looks more closely, he discovers that the metal is a part of a chest. The chest has been buried there for perhaps 50 or a hundred years; its hinges and its lock have been weakened by rust. The man's heart is now in his throat. His body is quivering; a light has come into his eyes. His hands tremble as he lifts the top off the chest and takes a look. What he sees is unbelievable - it can't be - he must be dreaming. There glittering in the sunlight is a heap of gold and silver and precious jewels. He is bewildered as well as excited. What is he to do? He quickly covers the treasure over again, goes to the side of the field and gets a rock to mark the place, and leaves immediately. He gathers everything he has that is of any value and begins to go from place to place to sell it all. When he has done so, when he has sold everything he has, he takes the money and goes and purchases the field that he has been tilling all these many years. That's the story, and the central lesson is clear: Jesus says - that is what the Kingdom is like. Everything you own is little more than items for a yard sale in comparison to the supreme worth of the Kingdom. You can't put a price tag on being included in the fellowship and company of the church on earth as it is in heaven (or we might better say the company of the church in heaven as it ought to be on earth). It's too rich an experience, it is a gift, and that is surprising, especially in our material world. Surprises are wonderful! What really gives us happiness, what really makes life worth living is not always something we seek after, rather it can be a by-product of our life and troubles. For example: a spontaneous hug and kiss from your child or a loved one, just when you need it most, because they sense you have had a hard day. You can't buy that! Or the thank-you from a friend to whom you've given a hand when you knew s/he needed it and you hear the weight of emotion lifting in their voice when they say, "I couldn't 3 have made it without you!" I got a thank you from our former DS Troy Howell back last September; a very nice note of appreciation for helping him out on occasion. I kept it by my computer so I could see it every day, intending to send him a reply in due course. I finally sent him a response on July 1st, his first day of retirement, as my note of appreciation for him. I treasure our unexpected friendship. Many of the finest things in life are those kinds of surprises. I got another one the other day. Someone left me a voice mail. As I opened it to listen, my iPhone transcribed it, so I read it first. It was a short message and it ended with “love you, thanks, bye.” I thought, “Well, that was nice, she loves me, a little more than I expected.” I might have some family members and a few friends that might say that, “love you,” but I didn’t expect that from this person. However, when I listened to the actual voice mail she left, all she said was, “Hi, it’s xxx. I’ll try to give you a call later, guess you not in, thanks, bye.” No “love you.” Where did the “love you” go? Well, that’s okay, actually I feel a little more comfortable with that; but on the other hand, it’s nice to know you’re loved even unexpectedly or in this case, a little mysteriously. Many of God's actions could be described that way. God acts in unexpected, even mysterious or miraculous ways, too. Those who hear the gospel find invaluable gifts of grace unexpectedly. Jesus is as always, a perfect example of the unexpected. Like the farmer in Jesus' parable, the people of Jesus' day found treasure where they hadn’t expected to find anything of value: "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Some received life's greatest gift even though they were not looking for it. Jesus was born in a manger, not in a king's palace. Angels announced His birth to shepherds, not to royalty. Jesus called fishermen, not scholars; tax collectors, not rabbis, to be His disciples. He associated with sinners more than with the righteous. He said that the first shall be last and the last first. Jesus taught that the things of real value in life are freely available to everyone, such as God’s love and providence, that clothes the grasses with glory, provides for the birds and accounts for every hair on our heads; or God's grace that forgives our sin, heals our brokenness, and brings us to new birth and new life. Those who could not hear the good news were the ones who refused to see God's action in the unexpected. The realization of unexpected surprises or blessings come only to those who are open, to those who are alive to the moment and who respond to what life is offering now. The farmer was not searching for treasure, but he had the ability to recognize its value once he had found it. God's kingdom comes to us, not when we try harder, but when we look closer. Jesus said the Kingdom is in the midst of you - the Kingdom has come upon you. That means that we don't work to achieve it. We look 4 for it and receive it as we discover it. The heart of this parable is the worth of the kingdom. In my mind, the words of so many hymns start marching through; “I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord” or “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God… His Kingdom is forever” or “Lead On, O King Eternal” that sings, “…with deeds of love and mercy, Thy heavenly Kingdom comes.” Jesus tells another parable immediately following the parable of the buried treasure. The Parable of the Pearl is a story about a rich merchant (the opposite of our poor farmer) who is on a continual search for goodly pearls. One day, he found the most treasured pearl in all the world, the most beautiful, perfect pearl he had ever seen. He went out and sold all that he had - all of his other pearls included - and bought that one pearl, the pearl of great price. For him, the value of the pearl was so great that parting with everything else was no sacrifice. Jesus says, in Luke 12:34, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Why did Jesus tell two parables at the same time with the same message? He didn't want anybody to miss the point. The poor and the rich receive the Kingdom the same way - by making it the priority of their lives. The reward is also the same for both - the poor, plodding plowman has nothing, and the successful merchant who has everything are both given what they both desperately need. The lesson is, that we are likely to find what we search for persistently, and we are likely to receive what we want passionately, if it is fellowship with God that we most desire. Jesus promises to meet our needs. Likewise, though, we live in the Kingdom only as we promise to make it the priority of our lives. Our danger is that we may partly believe in the treasure, but not enough to act upon our belief. We are not far from the Kingdom at any time, but as long as we are not within it, we might as well be far from it. If I see the treasure, but dare not give all that I am and all that I have to obtain it, then the whole experience is but one of loss and frustration. Martin Buber, a famous Jewish philosopher, said, "If there were a devil, it would not be one who decided against God, but one who, in eternity, came to no decision." Is there any hope for those who halt between two opinions and make no decision? Well, yes, for the God who gives the vision will also give us the power to follow it, if we ask Him in faith. A missionary who went to South America and lost his life in the field wrote in his diary, "He is no fool who gives up - what he cannot keep - in order to get - what he cannot lose." The Kingdom is like that, said Jesus. It will surprise you with its joys and riches. To enter and live in the Kingdom requires that we make it the priority of our lives.