Your house is burning down and you have just minutes to
escape. What do you take with you? What's your most valuable possession?
Your family? Ok, let's assume they make it out safe. What
one thing would you take? A wedding album? A piece of jewelry? Maybe your
computer or some family heirloom. Something irreplaceable right? Something that
might not be worth a lot of money, but to you, is worth saving more than all
those other things.
Today we conclude a series of parables from Matthew 13.
Today we hear Jesus talking treasure. The treasure buried in the field and the
pearl of great price. The kingdom of heaven is like these, he says. But what
does he mean? Let's take some time this morning and consider “valued
treasures”.
Well I hope I got you thinking for a moment before about
what you truly value. And in a crisis situation, perhaps your true values
become more clear. First make sure your family is safe. Then your own life.
Then worry about what can't be replaced, and then what can. But many of these
valuable things and people we take for granted until they are threatened. In
normal life, we tend not to think about what's most important.
What's most important, what's most valuable, what's the best
and brightest treasure for the Christian? The Gospel, of course! The good news
of Jesus and what he has done for us! This is our great treasure. Or you could
say, Jesus himself. Or our faith in him. Or eternal salvation. It all goes
together really. But lest we take this parable too lightly, and end this sermon
too quickly. Let's think about that a little more.
How often do we act like the man in the parable? Selling all
we have to obtain (or maintain) the kingdom? Do God and faith and church and
the Scriptures really come first for us? Or do we become distracted and complacent,
do we forget the treasure before us always? Are we mindful of our baptism, and
the daily forgiveness it brings? Do we appreciate that each breath we draw is a
precious gift we don't deserve in the least, and that even though our sins do
deserve death that God in Christ has promised us eternal life?
The more we ponder, the more we ought to be convicted. We have not always put God first.
Oh, but there's a sale at the mall! There's a big deadline
at work. My kids have a soccer game and a birthday party. And I need to see the
season premiere. And we have a busy weekend planned and company's coming over
and boy gas is expensive and did you see how much a pound of meat costs now and
yep there's that doctor's appointment and....
Where's your treasure? What's important? In the parable, the
man sells everything else to obtain the kingdom. That doesn't mean that Jesus
is telling us to do the same. Family and Work and Possessions and Reputation
are all good gifts of God. They have a proper place and role in the life of
God's people.
But they're not the true treasure. Martin Luther said it
well, “Take they our life, goods, fame, child and wife. Let these all be gone,
they yet have nothing won. The kingdom ours remaineth!”
Let's hope it doesn't take a crisis for us to see the
treasure. But the beauty of the treasure is that it shines brightest when we
need it most.
I recall standing in the room of a dying man of faith. It
was an unusual situation that the doctors could tell him – today is your
day. Say your goodbyes. And he still had his wits about himself to do
so.
And I was privileged to observe as he said his farewells to
his loved ones. He said all the things you might expect – expressing his love
for each one, giving words of advice. But the most poignant moment came when he
told them all, “the most important thing is this - keep the faith!” For
certainly, in his last hour, he knew where the treasure was. He could see what
was most important.
Paul says the same in our reading from Romans today. Nothing
can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ – not trouble, hardship,
nakedness, danger or sword. Not angels or demons, height nor depth nor anything
else in all of creation – not even life or death. Such a great treasure it is. Nothing else matters when you have Jesus, and
he has you.
And while many have read these parables and said, “gee, I
could do a better job of treasuring the kingdom” there is certainly more to it
than that. In the parables Jesus has been telling, he is the main character. The
farmer who sows the seed. The fisherman who casts the net. We could even see
him as the man who sells his possessions for the treasure in the field, or the
merchant who does the same for the pearl.
For certainly, Jesus gave his all. He gave his life. The one
man who never deserved death, who had no wages of his own sin, died in our
place on a Roman cross. He was tried like a criminal though he had no crime. He
was found guilty who had no guilt. He was put to death like a common thief and
buried like any other dead man. But no
one took his life from him, he laid it down of his own accord.
He gave more than just his physical life. He endured shame
and ridicule. He was humiliated and tortured. They even divided his garments
among them. But worst of all, he suffered the wrath of God for the sins of all
mankind. All the punishments of hell and damnation were laid on him, the one
who took our place. Yes, Jesus gave his all.
But why? Our catechism puts it this way, “He has purchased
and won me from sin, death, and hell, not with gold or silver, but with his
holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death, that I may be his
own, live under him in his kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness
innocence and blessedness”
He gave it all – to purchase us, to redeem us. You see, if
Jesus is the man buying the field or the pearl, then that makes us – you and me
– the treasure! You are the people of his treasured possession. Such is the kingdom of heaven.
The house was on fire, and Jesus ran in – to save me and you
and all of us. And he, and he only, was
consumed. It cost him his life. But it was worth it to him. For the joy set before him he endure the
cross, and scorned its shame. And that
joy was his love for you.
We love him for he first loved us. We serve him for he first
served us. We treasure him, for he has treasured us – valued us – put us before
himself.
And he still gives us his riches. Sure there's the earthly
wealth we enjoy – good gifts from God to be sure, but not the best. In the
words of absolution, we hear his own priceless forgiveness. At the altar, we
receive his own body and blood and the riches of his grace are for us again. In
the font he pours out, literally, life and spirit and grace – not just then but
in a daily flood of blessings.
This is the richness of the Gospel, the treasure of our
faith. That Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, treasures you. And nothing can
take that away, nothing can make that irrelevant. Nothing can tarnish the
treasure trove of blessings that are ours in Jesus Christ.
Such great treasuring love has implications, it has impact,
it moves us to action. When we are
loved, we so love others. When Jesus
does so much for us, we cannot help but do good for our neighbor. We can see in our neighbor the treasure that
Jesus does – a sinner, yes, but one bought by the holy, precious blood of
Christ, and therefore of great value to God and to us.
Then we have the parable of the Fish in the Net. Here again,
Christ shows that those who belong to him are valued. But it also shows the
separation between us and the unbeliever. Like fishermen separate the fish
caught in the net – throwing away those not worth keeping, so the angels with
separate the believers from the unbelievers on the last day.
And what separates us from the unbelievers, but faith alone.
Those who believe in Christ as savior and realize we can't win salvation for
ourselves but receive it as free gift from him. He saves us from the weeping
and gnashing of teeth, from the punishments we deserve, from being lost forever
– and he makes us his treasured possessions. Here is hope for us – when it
seems that the wicked prosper and the believers only suffer. When you see
Christians persecuted here and abroad. When you feel like the liars and
cheaters around you enjoy all the good things in life while your honesty and
hard work never pay off. Take heart. For the one who assigns true value to men
has esteemed you – and has your future secured.
Finally, Jesus commends the teachers who have learned these
things well, that is, the truths of the kingdom. Those who have received from
him the treasures of his grace. And those, who then, set these treasures before
others. Your pastor is privileged to set these treasures before you week in and
week out. To proclaim to you the grace and mercy of Christ, crucified for
sinners like you. To show you in new and old ways the unchanging truth that the
blood of Christ covers all, renews all, revives all. To set before you the
precious gifts of Christ's body and blood, given and shed for you, precious
treasures which renew and sustain you, his precious treasures.
And having been so treasured, and having received such
treasure, each of us daily sets these treasures before the world by our witness
and faith. As we fulfill our callings in life, and as we give answer for the
hope within us. All in Christ, and Christ in all of us, until the last day when
all true treasures are no longer hidden but revealed.
No comments:
Post a Comment