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Of Treasures In Fields

 “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.

 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls.  When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. (Matthew 13:44-46)

 

C. S. Lewis wrote that our desires are not strong enough. We are like children contented with playing in the mud in our yards because we cannot imagine going to the shore and building sand castles.

Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. According to the law, that treasure belonged to whoever owned the field, so the man who found it was making his acquisition of the treasure legal, but he had to sell everything he had to buy the field. It was a short-term loss of lesser possessions to gain a greater. We think we understand this, because we think we’d do it if we found a treasure. But we haven’t found a treasure.

Maybe we have the wrong hobbies. If we head a metal detector, collected beach glass, prospected for gold, silver, or gems, or even did genealogy, we might understand the idea of finding a treasure a little better. But let’s get back to the important point. Heaven is the treasure. Quite honestly, I don’t think most of us can get our minds around that. Yeah- streets of gold and all that wonderful stuff, but the real treasure of Heaven is God, and we just don’t get that. Rubies and diamonds are easy to imagine. God isn’t.

But the second comparison is what really got my attention today. We get it so wrong. At least I have gotten it so wrong. I read the first comparison:  Heaven is like a treasure. I read the second comparison: Heaven is like a pearl. In both cases, the hunter sells everything to gain the treasure. But do you see the error? It doesn’t say that the kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl. It says the kingdom of God is like a merchant looking for pearls. When God finds one, He sold everything He had and bought it.

What did God sell? His Son. He couldn’t sell the kingdom of Heaven or Himself because that would be impossible. But if His Son took the form of a human, God could exchange Him for all the pearls. It’s the same price, no matter how many pearls are involved, but it was the ultimate price paid for each one.

But then, most of us can’t imagine ourselves as a treasured pearl any more than we can imagine heaven as a treasure.

Lord, teach us how to treasure Heaven, for it is where You are. Teach us to imagine ourselves as a treasure that You have found.

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