A Discerning Heart

Matthew 13:44-52

44 “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.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

47 “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. 48 When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. 49 This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

The top rated program on PBS Television is “The Antique Road show.”  Why is that?  Because everyone has dreamed of finding a lost Rembrandt in grandmas attic or discovering that the serving set we bought at the yard sale is really from the Louis XIV royal collection.  There is something exciting about a discovered treasure. 

In our text today Jesus taps into this natural curiosity to make a point about the Kingdom of Heaven.  “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.

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Treasure, and the buying power associated with it has driven men for centuries to go on great quests in search of it. Take for instance the Spanish explorer such as Hernan Cortez, who attacked the Aztecs and stole their gold, or Hernando de Soto, who went searching for treasure in Florida.  Also the gold rush of 1849 in California is a good example of the obsession men have with treasure. People have uprooted their families, risked bankruptcy, and even risked their own lives in search of treasure.  Today we might add the pursuit of the Lotto as our modern gold rush. 
 
The treasure hunter Mel Fisher, who found the treasure ship called the Atocha off of the Florida Keys, is maybe the most famous of all great treasure hunters.  For more than 20 years he pursued his dream of finding a sunken treasure ship. 

Unfortunately, the drive to find great riches and the wealth and power that come with them can lead people to act in very strange ways and be very costly.  Mel fisher faced poverty, bill collectors lawsuits divorce and eventually the death of his son, a daughter in law and his first mate in the pursuit of his treasure.

There is a book by John Steinbeck entitled “The Pearl”, which was written about a pearl of great price. The story goes like something like this:

A scorpion bit the baby of a man named Kino. In order to get money to pay for a doctor, Kino went diving for pearls. During his dive he found the “Pearl of the World,” the largest pearl ever found. Through the course of the story, many people tried to steal the pearl, and Kino killed some of them. His wife pleaded for him to get rid of the pearl on numerous occasions, but they needed it to pay for a doctor. Near the end of the story, the doctor gave the baby poison, because of his jealousy over not having the pearl and the baby died.  Robbers chased after Kino to kill him and his neighbors abandoned him and his family.  At the very end Kino threw the pearl back into the ocean.

In an attempt get this pearl, people lied, cheated, stole, and killed. Things are not much different in the real world today.  The executives at Enron and Worldcom and Adelphia lied cheated, stole defrauded all in attempt to gain great treasure of money. 

The stark reality is that greed and lust for money power influence is not limited to just top CEO’s.  All of us have our treasures that we pursue.  Why do we do these things?

The answer is quite simple we are not discerning the real treasure.  Jesus in the text reminds us that the fishermen after the catch sorted out the good from the bad. 

We don’t have to go in search of God’s kingdom.  It is given us in the Word and Sacraments.  God has lavished upon us the priceless treasure and we are simply to receive it. 

This treasure is the only one of lasting value.  The Mel fischer’s and CEO’s bmay be rich for a little while, but our treasure is forever.