Sermons

INI

 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

 

It’s difficult.

We know that Jesus speaks truth.

More than that, we know that Jesus is Truth.

And yet, when He tells us this morning what the kingdom of heaven is like,

It seems to us to be something else entirely.

 

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, but experience often says otherwise.

Is it a treasure to you?

Do you value it above everything else?

Is it worth more than the field in which it is hidden?

How do you know?

 

Jesus says that when the treasure is found, the man joyfully goes and sells all he has and buys the field.

Is it really worth so much?
Is it really worth all you have?

 

Is the kingdom of heaven a treasure worth…your time?

Money comes and money goes, but everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day.

Everyone gets the same seven days in a week.

Is this kingdom worth yours?

Is it worth your Sunday morning?

Is it worth the time spent in study and meditation?

Is it worth the time praying with your children?

 

Is the kingdom of heaven worth your reputation?

Because if you show yourself to truly value that kingdom,

Your popularity is often one of the first things to go.

 

Is the kingdom of heaven worth having your own way?

Because in Jesus’ Kingdom, Jesus reigns.

It’s His will, and His way, all the time, every day.

 

Outside His kingdom, outside His reign, you can do ask you like.

You do it at your own peril, but still, as you like.

 

Outside Jesus’ kingdom you can keep all your other gods;

Money, power, time, people, sex, convenience, reputation –

All your other small “t” treasures –

You can keep them.

Maybe it seems easier if you don’t have a lot, but you do have a lot.

Monetarily speaking, you are the richest people to ever inhabit the earth.

Is the kingdom of heaven really worth so much?

Is the kingdom of heaven worth finding and possessing?

 

You look at your own life, and you can imagine Jesus’ parable sounding quite different:

 

“The kingdom of heaven is like a brick hidden in a field, which a man tripped over; then in his frustration he threw it aside, and sued the owner of the field.

 

But that’s not what Jesus said. What Jesus said was that,

 

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

 

And if that does not mean that you found the kingdom of heaven, sold what you had, and bought it,

Then what does it mean?

 

Hear what Moses speaks to Israel, to the Church:

 

“For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

 

You are the treasure.

You, dear Christians, are the treasure for which Jesus gives everything He has.

 

You are so valuable to Him, that He has spared no expense.

There is nothing He has, which He did not yield to win you back.

He saw you hiding in the field – in what was once a lush Garden,

In a fallen Eden, infested with thorns He found you naked and frightened.

 

Then in His joy He went and sold all he had and bought that field.

 

At Christmas He laid aside what was His from forever:
Power and glory, authority and honor, everything befitting Him as God – He surrendered.

And taking on human flesh, your flesh, He sought you out.

 

Years later, on Good Friday, Jesus gives everything else:

Body and Blood, sweat and tears, breath and life.

 

He does not give these reluctantly, as we do:

But “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.”

With joy, Jesus has surrendered everything to redeem you.

 

To be redeemed is to be purchased, to be bought back.

As Moses said to Israel,

God “has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery…”

 

Jesus has been cast into the earth in his burial,

That He might grab hold of you,

And raise you with Him in His resurrection.

 

This is what Paul writes to the Romans:

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

 

This is what we confess in the Small Catechism:

“I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord,

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness,

just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

This is most certainly true.”

 

You are the treasured possession, for which Jesus has given everything, and you are His.

 

Likewise, though, He is yours.

Remember, this parable is about the Kingdom of Heaven, and Jesus reigns.

If you belong to Him, He also belongs to you.

And so you really can sing our recessional hymn with gusto:

Jesus is your Savior and your King, and now your Treasure.

 

For you, this morning, this very Treasure,

This Jesus, who is Himself the Kingdom of Heaven, is hidden once again:

Not in a field, not in a story,

But under Bread and Wine –

Here to forgive, to bless, and to heal.

 

And you may depart here today with joy,

And celebrate Him Whom you have received for free.

And you can share Him with everyone who would rather be dirt than treasure,

Because He has bought the whole field.

 

INI