2 Corinthians 4:1-18
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-46. 51-52
We make choices
in life, especially about what we value, often without even realizing we are
making those choices. I think about this
regularly, especially as it pertains to spending money. I often have conversations about this with my
kids, too. Are we going to eat out
tonight? Or would you rather I put $100
towards paying off your student loans.
Would I rather have that mocha and scone at the coffee shop, or would I
rather put that money towards a vacation with my family. Should I give the money we received from our
tax return to Hope Solutions, or should I put it away for college for the
kids? I try to be very intentional in
our spending choices, recognizing that every time I choose to buy something
that is a luxury or something to fix up the yard and or the house, which are
still a mess, frankly, I am also making a choice NOT to spend that money towards
my kids’ college expenses or towards feeding people who are in dire-straights
right now.
We come today to
some very interesting parables about the kingdom of heaven. And while there were a bunch of them that we
read today, there is definitely a predominant theme within them all, and
especially within the last two. The
kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that someone hid in a field, which someone
else found who then bought the field to obtain the treasure. And the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in
search of fine pearls. When he found one very precious pearl, he went and sold
all that he owned and bought it. Both of
these tell the story of something so valuable that the protagonist in the story
will give up everything to obtain it.
As you make your
choices in life, is there something that you would give up everything for? Everything?
Have any of you ever done that?
Given up everything for one thing?
Or for one person?
“The kingdom of
God is like…” Jesus spoke in these
parables and the disciples claimed that they have understood. But I find myself both deeply blessed by
these stories, but also a bit confused.
Is Jesus saying that we should seek the kingdom of heaven as the
merchant sought the pearl, and as the person who bought the field, give up all
we have to seek it because it and it alone is worth everything? That interpretation would make sense. We know that it is true. God’s realm, God’s life, the life and love
and connection that God offers should be and are worth everything. But that doesn’t seem to be what he is saying
here. Does Jesus mean that WE are like
that pearl or that treasure to God and God will give it all up for us? This too makes sense and is true. We know God did and does and will give up
everything out of the deepest and truest love for us. God gives up power, gives up control, gives
up life in order to have real and genuine relationships of love and care with
us. But I don’t think that’s really
what’s being said in these particular parables either. I think perhaps these parables are much more
straightforward. The kingdom of God is
the place where you come to KNOW what you really want, where you have the
opportunity to gain it, and where you will happily and joyfully give up
everything to attain it.
In which case, I
want to suggest, that the kingdom of God is much closer to us, ALWAYS, than we
imagine. The kingdom of God is here for
us to be part of it, for us to see it, for us to enter it. There are people who discover in this life
what that thing is that they want beyond everything else, and who seek that
out, being willing to give up everything for it, doing so, and finding their
bliss. It’s people who take risks, who
trust that God is with them in those risks, and put fear aside to seek out what
they want more than anything.
I used to have a
relative who had a dream of creating a successful business. He really wanted to be an entrepreneur and
create something that others found useful, valuable and that grew strong and
big. That was his dream. He tried again and again, starting random
businesses, which also failed again and again.
He was bankrupt on several occasions, without a penny in the world. But he wanted to do this. His family all thought he was nuts. Completely nuts! They would mention Paul and just shake their
heads. He was a fool in their
minds. A risky, stupid fool. They knew he’d never make it and wanted him
to just get a regular job, a real life.
They believed he’d be a sponger for his entire existence, just relying
on his family again and again to bail him out.
But he kept trying. He started
one business, then another, then another.
Through that time he lost a spouse, he alienated much of his
family. He lost everything again, and
again. He gave everything to try to reach
his pearl, to purchase the situation he wanted for himself. Finally, he came across the idea of beginning
a quick stop barber shop for both genders.
It took a little time, but Paul became the founder, owner, and CEO of
Super Cuts. He found his pearl of great
cost, and he spent everything to get it, despite his family’s judgment, despite
the losses he experienced. He is now
remarried to the love of his life, and he is extremely comfortably retired. I have to admit, that wouldn’t be my
goal. That wouldn’t be what I would want
or would see as blissful or the kingdom of God.
But it was what he wanted. He
wanted to create a business out of his imaginings and his gifts and he wanted
it to grow and succeed.
We may wonder
what this has to do with God. I mean his
search for this job was a pearl that we may not understand or value or find
godly at all. But I want to suggest to
you that God’s realm, the kingdom of God, that bliss of living in God’s light,
God’s way, God’s presence can often be found in your heart’s desires. God is in the dreams that you have,
especially when you invite God in, especially when you seek for God’s will in
your dreams, especially when you meditate on God’s call for your life. Our family member, Paul, was a man of deep
faith. He remains so. He took the wealth that he earned from his
company and has done much to contribute to the church and to Christ’s work in
the world with that money. His seeking
of his pearl was also an act of faith.
He trusted God to be there enough that even when he lost everything in
pursuit of what we might think of as a worldly goal, he knew God would sustain
him through the financial and emotional catastrophes and hard times. Even when he lost his wife, he did not cave
in, but kept working for his goal, seeking for that treasure.
Children are
often much closer to the kingdom of God than we are. Our children have dreams, they have visions, they
have hopes, they have sight that allows them to see the kingdom of God around
them. Recently a saw a post that said
that a child was asked to list the seven wonders of the world and she was
really struggling with it. Finally, the
teacher approached and asked her if she needed help. She replied that she thought she was done but
there were a couple more she could think of that didn’t fit into a simple list
of seven. The teacher asked what she had
so far. She listed as her seven wonders:
hearing, smelling, tasting, seeing, feeling, laughter, and love. She was seeing the kingdom of God, she was
experiencing the kingdom of God, not in the yearnings of her heart, but in the
joy of her heart. Children are better at
having awe and seeing the wonder and majesty in the world. We, as parents and grandparents, sometimes
are given the gift of seeing through their eyes. The kingdom of God is like the awe and wonder
of our children.
I saw another story about a child who was trying out for a
part in the school play. He had his heart set on being in it, but chances were
very good that he would not get a part.
On the day that the kids were learning what parts they were getting, the
boy’s mother went to pick him up from school with not a little amount of fear
and trepidation. But her son rushed up
to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement as he said, 'Guess what, Mom, I've been chosen to clap
and cheer.' Again, that vision into joy,
that vision into possibility, that vision into God’s kingdom with us no matter
what our lot in life.
In the book Finding Chika, Mitch Album wrote about a
time he and his wife took Chika down to Disneyland. He wrote,
“What I
remember most is what you did first. We
entered through Main Street, passing souvenir shops. The rides were up ahead and I wondered which
would make you scream, ‘Can we do that one?’
Instead
we passed a small pond, and a gray duck wandered out of the water. And with Astro Orbitor to your right, Thunder
Mountain to your left, and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle straight ahead, you pointed
down and yelled, ‘Look! A duck!’ And you
chased after it and giggled wildly, ‘Duck! Duck!’
I glanced
at Miss Janine who was smiling too. With
all those amusement park attractions calling, you got low to marvel at another
living creature….
…you came
along Chika. And maybe because I’m older
now, or maybe because your eyes were so much wider than mine, or maybe because
it’s simply different when the child is in your care, something stirred. I began to lean over, to see tiny miracles
the way you saw them. Baby ducks
running. Frogs hiding in the weeds. The wind lifting a leaf you were about to
grab. One of the best things a child can
do for an adult is to draw them down, closer to the ground, for clearer
reception to the voices of the earth…”
Chika, as with all
young children, saw the kingdom of God, experienced the kingdom of God. But as adults, sometimes we have a harder time hanging on to our dreams, our
hopes and our vision of God. We lose
sight of those deep, deep yearnings and tuggings at our hearts because we stop
having the faith that those come from God.
But the Kingdom of God is like the man who found a pearl of great value,
sold everything and went and bought it.
The Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field that when found,
the man who found it sold all he had to buy the field that contained that
treasure. And God wants you to be in and
part of the Kingdom of God. Not
tomorrow, not after you die, but NOW.
What is your
pearl? What is your treasure? And do you trust God enough to let God lead
you into the kingdom where you find, or with God’s help create, that which you
value the most? If you’ve forgotten what
that is, I invite you to take time with God and ask what dreams God planted
within you that you can’t remember. If
you’ve never had a dream like that, ask God what dreams God wants to plant
within you to seek out.
The Kingdom of
heaven is here. Waiting. For you.
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