Worth It

X marks the spot, treasure maps, scavenger hunts, metal detectors, …finding something hidden holds a certain appeal for us. It did to the crowd at the sea shore listening to Jesus that day, too. It was not an uncommon occurrence for them, either. Finding hidden treasures was not unheard of to them because the safest bank there was,… was your field. Thieves couldn’t easily locate your stash. The dirt was expected to be broken up. It also was not uncommon for people to die without digging up their treasures. So, as the field was being worked, someone else might happen to unearth it. And the law said that the owner of the field owned what was buried in the field. So, eagerly, the crowd listened eagerly as Jesus told the story:

There was this tenant farmer, the afternoon desert sun beat down on him as he worked the field. Mid-afternoon his hoe hit something – a rock, likely. He straightened and wiped his forehead. He swung and pulled, thinking he would unearth the rock and throw it to the edge of the field. But, as he pulled, he saw a glint. Was it the heat, or had he seen the sparkle of a new life? He quickly covered it over, went, joyfully collected all that he had, and traded it in for the field and its treasure. The Kingdom of heaven is like this hidden treasure.
1. What do we know about the man? He was a worker, not an owner.
2. What do we know about the find? The treasure was found by chance.
3. What happened? The man joyfully sold, gave up completely and forever, all that he had when he saw the glint of something better.

The kingdom of heaven is also like a merchant in search of pearls. Now, some commentators have suggested that Jesus offers a parable about a poor person and about a rich person, but I don’t think that that was Jesus’ point. In 1st Century Palestine, merchants were not thought well-of. The crowd by the sea shore would have envisioned one of those smarmy types of salespeople who sells things people want but don’t need at prices they can’t afford, this merchant was collecting pearls. He saw one that surpassed all the others, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
1. What do we know about the man? He was a slick wheeler-dealer searching for pearls.
2. What do we know about the find? We also know that in the 1st Century, pearls were very expensive. Pliny, a Roman historian in the 1st Century, recorded that pearls held, “the topmost rank among all things of price.” Cleopatra had a pearl that was worth more than what today would be the equivalent of a million dollars. They were a prized possession. But, the crowd would have heard something more than monetary value in the trading of a string of pearls for one pearl. People collected gods like good luck charms, Greek and Roman gods, gods for health, gods for harvest, gods for fertility, gods for thunder, gods for…well, everything, strung together like pearls on a string.
3. What happened? The slick wheeler-dealer is searching, and stringing together pearls – they will make him rich and secure. Then he finds one that is worth more than all the others strung together, and gives up all the others so he can have that one.

Perhaps the two parables are told together for us to notice the differences: a farm-hand found treasure by chance and the merchant sought after treasure and found it. Or maybe for us to notice the similarities: when they find the treasure, both relinquish all that they have because the Kingdom is worth it all, and they are no longer who they were before.

Remember our test for whether we have discerned the true meaning of a parable? Parables are riddles designed to “tease the mind into insight” (Dr. Douglas Hare) causing us to “look into the hidden aspects of our own values, our own lives. They bring to the surface unasked questions, and they reveal the answers we have always known, but refuse to acknowledge.” Remember Dr. Amy-Jill Levine’s warning that our reaction to a parable “should be one of resistance rather than acceptance…. Therefore, if we hear a parable and think, ‘I really like that’ or worse, fail to take any challenge, we are not listening well enough.”

If the meaning of the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price is that the Kingdom, when found, is worth all that you have, and transforms you when you give everything up for it so that you are no longer who you were before, does that challenge us?

I think it does.

For every one of us, there are those moments that the treasure of the Kingdom glimmers in the sunlight. We see it. It surprises us, as we do what is hard but we know is right, we see it in the eager love of a child, as we look into another person’s eyes and see the Face of Jesus.” (Buttrick) And we know that nothing compares. But then people praise our good pearls – our comfort, our good life, our security – and so we stand just at the threshold of passionate devotion. We just can’t quite relinquish those good pearls.

I posed two questions on Facebook this week that I think these parables force us to wrestle with. Some of you answered. Here are the questions: What does it actually mean to be Christian? What difference does it make? Take just a few seconds and think about your answer. What does it actually mean to be Christian? What difference does it make?

Here’s my answer: To be a Christian is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, who gave up his own will and did God’s will.

It isn’t enough to believe. It isn’t enough to be baptized and come to church and take communion. The man in field believed there was a treasure there, the merchant believed the pearl was exquisite. That didn’t change their lives. They didn’t make plans to come and view the treasure and the pearl on Sundays. The treasure changed their lives. What they had didn’t matter anymore. Who they were before didn’t matter anymore. They gave up what they had trusted before to keep them safe and secure and comfortable.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian, during WWII he was held by the Nazis in a concentration camp for two years before he was killed. He never gave up his faith or gave in to despair, he preached and ministered the whole time he was in the camp. In his now classic book, The Cost of Discipleship, he writes about grace. And he warns that being a Christian is more than a set of beliefs. It is more than knowing Jesus loves you and forgives you. Being a Christian requires response.

Bonhoeffer uses Peter walking on the water as an example of discipleship. “Peter knows he dare not climb out of the ship in his own strength – his very first step would be his undoing. And so he cries, “Lord, bid me come to thee upon the waters,” and Jesus answers, “Come.” Christ must first call him, for the step can only be taken at his word…..But when once Christ has called him, Peter has no alternative – he must leave the ship and come to him.”

What does it actually mean to be Christian? What difference does it make?

What difference will it make in your life? In your views? In your relationships? It is costly, and worth it.