Whose Treasure?

But just to read the great variety of thought which the scholars have poured into their efforts to understand the parables is enough to drive us back to look again more closely.

There was a point in the history of interpretation when the scholars told us that there was only one possible meaning to a parable, if only we could find and settle upon it.

But the parables before us today are like gems which we appreciate differently depending upon where we stand.

Not only the setting in the life of Jesus, but also the situations of our lives will make a difference in how they bring Gospel to us.

There have been times when I have used the parables of the buried treasure and the pearl as the Gospel text at a funeral.

Especially in that context, we can hear them as referring to Last Things, about what is ultimately important.

The pearl purchased

the treasure found

the assortment of dragnetted fish,

the treasure purged of junk --

are all about the joy of hearing the promise of God's kingdom and its final success despite all of the foes we face, including death,

when we are ready to enter the fullness of the kingdom.

All of our other worries are not of ultimate importance.

In contemplating death,

hang onto this one thing of surpassing value, the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ made to each of us in Holy Baptism,

to name us as his fellow heirs of the blessings of the Father.

That is a good word, a gospel word,

a word of encouragement which I have often preached, and which we need to hear...

...but it is not the only word which can spring from this text.

At this particular moment, we may not be in a time of despair and grief, so then how does this story reach us today?

-- Perhaps not as comfort, but instead as warning and challenge!

Listen again: The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field.

So, he was not the owner of the land, but instead was a hired hand who finds treasure in the field as he works.

Jewish law states that the one who finds treasure without identifying marks may keep it, but if the owner is clear, it must be given to that person.

The finder does not publicly claim it but re-hides it in the field...

so he must know to whom it belongs!

Rather than giving it up, he rashly sells all that he hasto buy the field.

But what will happen next?

He is holding the treasure, but he does not truly own it.

If he publicly claims it, then questions will be raised as to how he got it.

He has no way to live, because he has sold all that he has in order to get the field.

He is stuck, cornered by the temptation to corruption.

He is at a point of crisis.

The only way in which he can live justly is to acknowledge the one to whom the treasure truly belongs, and to wait upon the generosity of the true owner.

The kingdom of God is like that moment of crisis and that specific resolution to the crisis, Jesus seems to be saying.

Do we recognize the corrupting possibilities in the treasures of God?

We may stumble across them as in the treasure story, or we may discover them after a diligent search, as in the pearl story,

There those corrupting possibilities are:

--the promise of God,

--his word of grace and reproof,

--his presence in spoken word and acted-out word in Baptism and Holy Communion, his body, the church of all times and places.

All these wonderful things which have come to us in a variety of ways – what shall we do with them?

There is the corrupting possibility that we will try to ownthem, to claim them as our right and possession.

That is a dead end; it is not the truth.

These are all gifts to us,

just as light and life and all of creation are gifts to us.

All we can do

is to acknowledge

to whom they belong,

give them back,

in confidence that the Lord God will continue to be generous to us and invite us to useall these things which are properly his.

Instead of saying “mine, all mine,”

he wants us to acknowledge that it is “thine, all thine.”

Are any of these spiritual gifts of lesser value if we do not own or control them?

Of course not!

Their value is tied to how they connect us with the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby also connect us with each other.

So, for example,

the promise of God to be for us

is a precious promise which we hold but do not own.

It is a promise

that gives us peace of mind,

so that we know that the Lord Jesus will speak up for us at the right time, the needed time.

Steve Winger of Texas tells about his last college test – a final in logic class known for its difficult exams.

The professor instructed the class that they could bring as much information to the exam as could fit on a single piece of notebook paper.

Most students wrote as many facts as they could in very tiny script all over their sheet,

but one student instead brought in a blank sheet of paper which he placed on the floor beside his desk, and had a person who was a whiz in the subject carefully stand exactly on that piece of paper.

During the exam, he leaned down and told the student all that he needed to know for the questions posed.

The student got an A, the only one in the class.

He knew that he did not possess the treasure that he needed for the exam,

but he knew who did have it,

and he knew how to use that treasure of a person effectively!

He knew who could stand up for him and speak for him and with him at the crucial moment.

We get up and work diligently each day at home, at school, at a job, at leisure, at volunteering, at paid employment, or whatever.

Do we think that we are doing it in order to absolutely own something?

Are we rashly putting everything we have into grasping things that are not ours anyway?

Are we like the explorer of old who when he finally gets to the top of the mountain and is ready to plant his flag there discovers that a different flag of ownership is already there!?

In mundane matter and in matters of ultimate importance, there are fields for sale.

Are we proudly trying to buy them for our very own?

Or, are we understanding that they all belong to God, who gives them to us to use.

That does not make them any less a treasure, just not our own private treasure!

Remember that next week when we will be making our offering in procession,

It will be one of those times when we all walk down the aisle

--with those banks for the Habitat project,

--with our regular offering envelopes,

-- with special offerings,

--with things for the Shepherd of the Streets,

--school kits that you have been filling, or whatever.

Even if someone doesn't have any of those things, and walk with hands empty next Sunday morning,

we still walk together in that procession, because our very lives are the chief part of the offering.

We recognize that life itself is a gift, and part of the treasure that we do not own,but only useby the grace of God.

One of those great Luther hymns over which some folks groan when they see the number of stanzas, Luther sings this:

God saw my wretched state

And, mindful of his mercies great,

He planned for my salvation.

He turned to me a Father's heart,

He did not choose the easy part,

But gave his dearest treasure.

[LBW 299.4]

When we turn from everyday things to matters of ultimate importance, we know who that treasure is, the Lord Jesus,

and every day we need to return to our Baptism and by daily repentance drown our attempts to boss Jesus, to own him, to manipulate him, as Luther reminds us in the Small Catechism.

Everywhere we turn , then, there are everyday treasures and ultimate treasures.

Are we trying to make them our very own private hoards?

Or are we receiving them as gifts from God and using them in joy, delight, and thanksgiving?

Such a short and simple story Jesus tells, with such profound and disquieting implications for us!

Let everyone with ears hear his challenge, and sing our next hymn wholeheartedly:

thou and thou only, the first in my heart,

great God of heaven, my treasure thou art. [Be Thou My Vision, st.3]

Amen

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.