Treaure

Matthew 13:44-46; 51-52

What do you treasure most in your life? What is something that you would literally give all that you have and all that you are to preserving, keeping, or obtaining?

Consider carefully before immediately giving an answer.

We live in a time and place that is full of treasure. There are wonders to behold all around us, and a good many of them are for sale. A local bank draws customers with the base invitation--”ACQUIRE.” Apple recently threw all sorts of temptations at us. A month ago, it was a new, more colorful iPhone. This week, it was a fancy, incredibly lightweight, incredibly powerful iPad. The other computer companies are ready with their new toys, too, just in time for Christmas shopping. Car companies entice us to buy the latest, prettiest, most luxurious mode of transport. A realtor I have coffee with many mornings commented that business is good if you primarily market new homes--people want fresh homes with no traces of previous occupants with lots of space, little yards, and big garages. Treasure is everywhere. 

But would you sell all that you have to get any of it? Is any of it that valuable?

No, most of us see things for what they are. It is all stuff. Fun, entertaining, but in the end, just stuff. Most of us know that what we really want is something more, something that connects to our soul--that is real treasure. 

So, when asked to name our treasures, nearly everyone will answer with family or friends, a beloved. Even as we list our nearest and dearest, we will also name things like health, happiness, and hope--these things make life livable and they make our connections to others more profound because we hope that through our relationships, we can provide these three diamonds to those whom we love. 

Would you sell all that you have to acquire these treasures?

Most parents answer immediately they would give life itself to save their children. Spouses will sacrifice themselves completely in the effort to care for their partners--any visit with elderly couples battling the failing health of one reveal this heroic effort that often leaves the caregiver spent, emptied, and lost. Love often leads us to momentous exhaustions of resources, abilities, body, mind, and heart. 

So, we begin to see where Jesus was going in telling this set of parables.

Love is treasure. 

What a wonderful and noble ideal, but then we wander into the morass of the world as it is. We find ourselves distracted from what we know to be our true treasure. We find our resources diverted to things we really never intended to demand or control so much of who we are. A child confesses to a counselor that playing video games is not a diversion, but an obsession. A married man surrounded by beloved persons finds himself trapped by the internet and its pixilated fleshpots, ensnared in the most awful caricature of the most profound human connections. A family finds themselves envying a neighbor’s home despite the fact that the neighbor is battling through a divorce destroying everything she holds dear while they have dinner together most nights, celebrate school success, and count deep and lasting friendships as their true treasures. The temptation to forego what is really meaningful rises as the stuff around us glitters. 

Then there is the kingdom of God.

Christ calls us into the kingdom, but the problem is that we often cannot see the kingdom before us. It gets lost. 

That’s because God hides it in plain view. 

To find it, reconsider our greatest treasures. Reconsider the deepest connections we have with the people dearest to us. There is the shimmer of the kingdom of God. As we fall deeply, self-emptyingly in love with another, we are suddenly experiencing the way in which God connects to all creation. This is how much God loves all that is, and all people that are. This love is that which gives even the Son of God to us to bring us freedom, liberation, and resurrection in the midst of all that would destroy them. God enters our suffering--even in its most abysmal forms--to lift us from them. Such love is seated at the foundation of all of our loves, all expressions of our connection to one another and to the created order. Such love ensures the effectiveness and the sustenance of our deepest loves. Or, in short, it gives us hope in all things; i.e., ALL THINGS.

Such a treasure has no price. There is nothing that would not be traded for such a treasure, for it is the source of meaning, purpose, and life itself. 

Such a treasure has no price. 

That does not mean it is beyond our ability to gain, it means it is free; i.e., FREE. It is a gift from God to all of us. It is there, ready and waiting for us to open our eyes to it. Recall another parable--that of the Lost Boys (cf. the Prodigal [which is a misnomer--both sons in the story are equally lost]). The love of the Waiting Father is never in question. It is never absent or withdrawn. It is never something the boys have to earn. It is never something withheld until they can afford the price. No, it is always there, waiting their recognition of it. The Father welcomes them as soon as they see it, perceive it, and welcome it. His joy is complete when they enter his love freely and fully.

So, yes, the kingdom of God is a treasure of all treasures, for it makes our greatest treasure shine in eternal glory.