The Ultimate Treasure Hunt
By Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Family Minister
Matthew 13:44 – 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.
“Oh, Lord,” I sigh, grabbing my spade from underneath an old covering and trudging out to the field. “Is it going to be another hot day?” I ask, looking up to the sky. “If you’ve assigned me the life of a laborer, couldn’t you at least make it cooler?” I shake my head. Why should God change all the world’s weather just for me?
I see Josep across the way. Good old Josep, always doing just enough work to get his pay for the day, never more than that. I chuckle. He’s a good man, just not a very hard worker.
I wave at him, and he waves back. “How is your son?” I call out.
“As wicked as yesterday,” he calls back with a laugh. The Rabbi has been scolding his son more than usual lately, but I don’t think Josep knows what to do, so he just laughs it off.
The Rabbi. “Remember the stories,” he used to say. “They are good for difficult days.”
“Well, today is difficult, Rabbi,” I say out loud as my spade cuts into the ground. “Difficult. It’s hot.” The spade chops at the dirt. “Miriyam keeps asking when we will have enough to start our own home.” Chop. “And do you know what I say?” Chop.
I straighten up, and my back pops. “Jacob worked seven years for a dream, only to be cheated into working another seven years. What do you think of that, Miriyam? Will you wait fourteen years with me for a dream?”
I sigh, go back to digging. “Rabbi, you were right, but Miriyam just says, ‘Jacob, Jacob, Jacob! You’re not Jacob! And you don’t even work for your uncle!”
“What are you muttering about over there?” calls Josep.
“I’m reciting my lessons, like your son should be,” I call back, and Josep just laughs.
I keep moving, keep digging the furrows. This land hasn’t been dug in generations. It’s hard work, and my hands are sore. “How much longer, Lord?” I ask quietly.
My spade hits something hard. Perhaps a piece of flint under the dirt. I chop the ground a few more times. Dirt flies, but my spade keeps hitting something tough. I get on my knees. “What is this, Lord? Just another rock to get in the way? Another obstacle? Do you put these here to test me?” My breath is ragged as I mutter my prayers.
It is a piece of flint. “Ah, just a flat stone. Well, my friend stone, we both have to know our place. My place is to labor for a master, and your place is…” I get the edge of it and lift it out of the dirt, “…out of the way.” I fling it off to the side, and then my breath catches.
“And what are you?” I whisper. A clay box sits underneath the spot where the flat flint stone sat. By the markings pressed into it, it has to be hundreds of years old. Before the Exile.
I look up, looking at Josep. He has moved further away, and his back is turned. With shaking hands, I start to lift the box, then stop.
“Anything in the land belongs to the owner of the land.” I remember the twinkle in the Rabbi’s eye as he said this. “So if you ever find a buried treasure, leave it in the ground.” And I remember how he paused dramatically. “Then go buy that land!” he said with a fierce whisper.
Carefully, without lifting the box, I use the edge of my spade to break the edge of the box, just enough to see what’s inside. And I gasp.
“Leave it in the ground,” I mutter to myself. “It belongs to the land.” I hastily grab the flint, put it back on top of the box, but then I look around. I find a branch and stick it in the spot, put the dirt all around it, cover it all.
“Oh, Lord, thank you, thank you,” I pray. “Miriyam, our dreams are about to come true!” I laugh, then stifle it and look at Josep. He has seen nothing. “Ah, tonight. Tonight we will sell… we will sell everything! And then… then this land will be mine.” I eye the spot where the treasure sits. “And our dreams will come true.”
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“The kingdom of heaven is like…” Jesus told us stories. He didn’t want us to get caught in the details. The point isn’t to evaluate the right and wrong of the characters in the parable, but to see the heart of the message.
What matters most in your life? Is it the trouble you face today? Is it the arguments you had with your spouse this morning? Is it how long God is asking you to wait for something you want?
Or is it the Gospel, the Kingdom of God, to see God’s will in your life and to do God’s will for others? What would you give, what would you sacrifice, to know Jesus more? To know his love more deeply? To bring another soul to heaven?
If you take Jesus’ parable seriously, you come away with the thought that anything and everything you have is worth giving up for the sake of God’s kingdom. That there is no earthly treasure so valuable that you can’t let go of it if it means being with Jesus for eternity. That to save another soul from eternal death would be worth any price.
That feels intimidating. Near impossible, even. To give up everything? Anything? Yet, that is at the heart of Jesus’ story. What do we do with that?
There’s another truth at the heart of Jesus’ story. The truth that Jesus’ love for you, his forgiveness, his promises are not dependent on what we sacrifice. He is like the man in the field, who finds a treasure and will give up everything to claim it. That treasure is his people – you and me. He gave up his throne in heaven, gave up the worship of angels, gave up his own life, just to have you in his kingdom. We are the treasure that Jesus would give anything to have, not because we are inherently worth it, but because he made us, he wants us, and to save us is worth everything to him.
That’s the kind of love Jesus has for you. Love that gives everything for you. Love that stops and nothing to find you. And that’s a love worth giving anything to have.