Three Kingdom Stories

Sermon Proper 12  July 24, 2011

Matthew 13:44-52

Rev.  Jeff Springer

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This morning our Gospel reading contains three parables or kingdom stories and a final comparison between a scribe or teacher who has been trained in the kingdom of heaven and a house holder who brings out treasures old and new. My prayer is that I may unpack these treasures for your benefit this morning.

The last couple of weeks Jesus has been teaching His church in the form of parables the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, mysteries that he has been revealing to the twelve and now to us. The past couple weeks we have had the luxury of Jesus explaining his parables but now it appears He has thrown out to us parables without explanation.  This of course can be troublesome because it opens it up to different interpretations.  We also do not have the benefit of finding further explanation in the other synoptic  Gospels that is Mark and Luke because these gospels do not record it.  These parables are exclusive to Matthew.  This is not, however, a problem with the text or with its inspired author Matthew, but our own flawed limitations.  Still we are not without clues to determine what Jesus meant.

The parable of the hidden treasure the first parable is connected to the parable of the sower and that of the weeds because they both involve a field, which is identified as the world. It is also connected to the parable of the leaven which precedes these parables in that just like the treasure the leaven is hidden in the dough but still causes the dough to rise.

The parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price have similar themes.  First at the center of the story is something of great value. Second, both the treasure and the pearl are found because someone is looking for them. Third, the finders sell everything to obtain the purchase price for the valuable items and fourthly, the items are finally purchased.

The next questions to answer are who do the purchasers represent, the subjects of the parable, and what does  the priceless item represent or the object of the parable.  We have a natural inclination because of the old Adam within us to assume that Jesus means for us to be the subject of the parable. Rev. Dr. David Scaer in his research on the Gospel of Matthew has found that without exception the commentaries he has come across interprets it this way. The other assumption is that the object of the parable is Jesus.

Jesus is the hidden treasure in the world. Jesus is the pearl of great price and we are to sell all our possessions to go find him and then to follow him.   Do I really need to preach more law at this point?  Are these parables to be interpreted as law as something you must do?

Yes the cost of discipleship is great.  But even St. Peter kept his fishing boat during the time of his preparation to become an Apostle.  It is easy to import into this text demands of the Sermon on the Mount, you remember cut off your hand if it causes you to sin.  If this were taken literally, which is not the meaning of Jesus, there would not be much left of us except bloody stumps. 

The demands of the Sermon of the Mount, also found in Matthew, were so great that Thomas Aquinas a Roman Catholic medieval scholar stated that these demands were placed upon the clergy and monastics and not the common people. The common people’s job was to keep the ten commandments. 

Aquinas is modifying what Jesus said to lessen the demands that Jesus teaches the Heavenly Father makes.   He presumes to be above the Father in this assessment. This is what happens when one interprets Jesus sermon only as law. In order to try and keep it,  it is modified to make it achievable. Aquinas misses the point that it is not the monastics or the clergy that is the subject of the sermon but Jesus. Jesus is the one who says that He fulfills the law every jot and tittle. This misapplication is a problem that persists to this day.

The other problem with importing from the Sermon on the Mount or the rich young ruler, “sell all your possessions and follow me,”  is that the man in the parable of the hidden treasurer  is trespassing.  He goes out into a field that he does not own and starts digging around and after finding the treasurer he then approaches the field’s owner about buying it. Does he tell the owner of the field about the treasurer? We do not know. If he does not, he is not only a trespasser but a thief.  It certainly appears to be unethical and breaks a few commandments.  Is this what Jesus is advocating for His disciples to find him regardless of the ethics.  Or let us put it in a mission context. Let us say that the object or the treasurer are the unsaved that Jesus would have his church save. Does this mean that Jesus licenses us to use any means to find these people and save them?  

Even though it is closer to the true meaning to say the object or the treasurer and the pearl is the church.  It is also true that Jesus is the subject of the parable. Jesus is the subject of the previous parables and with the proximity of these teachings to one another that Jesus would switch subjects even though He could is rather unlikely.   

Jesus in other parts of Matthew is compared to a thief in the night who brings the kingdom of heaven to earth, when the world least expects it. He is also the thief who binds up the strong man (Satan) and takes all his possessions.  Jesus comes to purchase with His own life that which was lost to Satan in the fall.

And so Jesus is the one who goes into the world and finds the hidden treasure, that is you the elect,  and sells all he has to purchase you.  He leaves behind His Heavenly home and puts aside his power and might empties himself and take on our flesh in order to redeem us. In the same way as the merchant he sells all he has, to purchase the pearl of great price.  In His eyes, you Christian are the pearl of great price. 

Despite the seeming ethical problems with the trespasser,  both transactions are perfectly legal.  Another word for purchase is redemption. Jesus gives all He has his very body and blood His very life to redeem you. These two kingdom stories are about redemption.

The third story the one of the good and bad fish reminds us of our parable of the wheat and weeds where the weeds and in this parable the bad fish are thrown out and exist in the everlasting horror of God’s wrath.  The angels will once again do the sorting of the righteous from the unrighteous. Those by faith receive the call and those by their sin reject the call, Jesus and His gifts and promises. It is a sober reminder that we will hear again in the judgment of the sheep and goats that there will come a final end to evil, that the answer to the Lord’s Prayer petition that the saints pray to deliver us from evil will be fulfilled.

Finally in the last verse we get an inside view of what Jesus means for His Apostles, Teachers and future pastors.  In this case we have a self understanding the Apostle and Evangelist Matthew who sees himself as the scribe. Matthew follows his Master Jesus’ lead by opening up the Old Testament to teach the new.  Throughout His gospel Mathew refers to Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and prophecies of the Old Testament. 

This is what Pastors do today. They preach the scripture opening them up so that the hearers may see Jesus in both the Word and Sacraments.  They are the called house holders who publically bring out treasurers both old and new.  This is why it also important that we and our children also learn the stories of the Old Testament so that we have familiarity and following along with the Pastor as he makes the connections to Jesus in the preaching of the sermon.

The treasure for you to know today is that in God’s kingdom, you are the treasurer and God seeks you out.  He emptied himself, made Himself poor in order to pay the price for your sin. This we proclaim every time we receive the sacrament, we receive His body and blood.  We receive the benefits of this transaction that Christ Jesus made to possess you. 

This is a great and wonderful truth and enables us to dwell securely in the shadow of our Lord’s wings, in His Church on earth.

May the peace that passes all understanding keep your minds and hearts in Christ Jesus.  Amen.