Deuteronomy 7:6-9 Romans 8:28-39 Matthew 13:44-52
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “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.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. When we look out into the world, everywhere people are looking for answers. What is this life for? What is the point? Is there life after death, is there a purpose for me? Who is God, and where do I find Him? Our modern day culture has convinced us that part of being human is to discover what the truth is for us. And so people are always searching, always looking, always trying to find a god in our own image.
At first glance that is what it seems like our text is about, a man who goes searching, trying to find something worthwhile. Finally after years of searching the man finds a treasure hidden in a field, and upon finding it he is elated and excited. He quickly buries the treasure again where it is, and goes and sells all that he has and buys the field for himself. Now the treasure is his. Now he can use it for whatever he wants. Now he can truly serve himself.
Friends, it seems like this is us. We wander around and a few of us finally find a treasure, a purpose in life, a meaning. When we find it we give up all we have for it, and we keep it all for ourselves. After all, it makes us happy doesn’t it? It becomes the thing we live for.
We see this is so many ways in our world. I love this person, and I will live with them and sleep with them no matter what, because they make me happy. I love this job, and I will give up all I have to make sure I do the very best I can at it. I will even give up my family and friends. I love the latest fashion, and I will always make sure I look my best. I want my name listed first, I want my children taken care of first, I want, I want, I want.
You see what happens don’t you? We become idolators. We love things, even ideas of things more than we love God, and more than we love those around us. We turn inwardly on ourselves, and the ‘treasure’ we have discovered, curved so dreadfully inward that we cannot see past our own noses. And that friends, is the very definition of sin.
We search in other ways as well. We search for a God that we think will fit our own desires and goals for life, wrongfully thinking that if we like the God we discover, that will mean it is the true God. People in our world search for god and discover the false god of Islam, one that tells them what they must do to save themselves, and the blindly and foolishly follow that idol. They find the false god of Buddhism that tells them that they must find inner peace by meditation and fasting. They find the false god of Mormonism, who tells them that they too can be their own god and sleep with their many god wives as much as they want. For thousands of years, people have searched for the true god, but all that anyone has found are false gods, misleading gods, gods that cannot truly rescue from your sin and death.
Friends, you cannot find god on your own. Your sin is so great, it stinks so much it is so huge, that it cannot come into the presence of the True and Holy God. And your sin, your own guilt, and your own turning your back on the true God is so great that you have been blinded so that no matter how hard you search you cannot see and find God even if you want to. Your are guilty. You are sinful. You deserve death. And because you are lost and cannot find God, that is what you will get… if you are on your own.
So you see friends, today’s parable cannot be about you at all. It cannot be about your need to find “truth” in this world of lies. It cannot be about your finding of a god that suits our needs and wants. It cannot be about you, for in your sinful blindness, you could never find the field, let alone a treasure hidden within.
This parable is about Jesus. This parable is about him searching for and finding you. Hear the entire parable again. “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.” Do you see your God searching for you? Do you see your Lord Jesus purchasing and winning you for himself? The parable says we were buried in a field, something that one day will happen to us all. For because of our sin, one day each of us will be dead, and as a dead man buried with other dead. But even as you are dead in your sin, even as you are already seemingly buried in guilt and damnation, your God comes to find you.
Your God searches high and low, he looks everywhere for you. And when finally he finds you buried under your own sin, under your own guilt, he goes and gives up all that he has to buy you. Yes, all that he has. For your God gave up his high and mighty throne in heaven, and became a man like you and me. He came down here into the muck and mire of this world to buy you back, to bring you to heaven. Your God, came and fixed his eyes on the death you deserved, and he giving up all his possessions, even his clothing, hung on a cross to give up even his blood, his body, and his life on your behalf.
You see, God has searched for you – yes even you who turn your backs on Him in sin, you who chase after other gods. He searches for you, and finding you purchases your from sin death and the devil, “not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, innocent suffering and death.” And now that he has won you, you “may be his own and live under Him in His kingdom. In other words no longer do you have to search, for you are free. No longer do you need to find something to give meaning to your life, for your meaning is Christ crucified for you. No longer do you search, for you have been searched for and you have been found.
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. You belong to him, and always will.
God searches for you, His people, and when He finds you his treasured possession, he buys you on the cross.
Now you have life. Now you have grace. Now you belong to your God who found and rescued you. Amen.
